-- Jeremy Ansley --
Home   -   Photos    -   Bio    -   Contact    -   Links

- Personal Records -

- Juggling -

    For how many millennia has a human being picked up a stone or a fruit and
     tossed it from one hand to the other?  

   I believe this is such a basic and simple operation, that for as long as there have
  been humans there have been jugglers, whether that included manipulation of
  large scale objects or simply tossing an object from hand to hand.

   What we do know is that the earliest recorded evidence of juggling is Egyptian,
  and was found in the 15th Beni Hassan Tomb of an unknown prince, dating from
  the middle kingdom period, between 1994BC & 1781BC.

   So we have an earliest recording at around 4000 years ago, after this we can
  trace juggling through legends in China, Ireland, India, Persia & Europe! A lot of
  these are mythical type figures who manipulate up to nine objects, this is of
  course not impossible, I know I have thrown 9 myself!
   Whether true or not, what we can gain from these stories is the fact that there
  must have been jugglers around practising their craft in order to inspire the
  writers.
   There can also be found reference to indigenous juggling in the pacific islands,
  with historical descriptions of young girls juggling fruit & nuts in a shower pattern,
  this was provided in 1774 by George Foster, who sailed with Captain Cook on
  his 2nd pacific voyage.

   Now by fast forwarding we get to the early part of the twentieth century when
  jugglers filled theaters & stages with precision juggling.
   One of the greatest of these being Enrico Rastelli, the only juggler in the last
  100 years to receive a state funeral!

   If we move on we come to the contemporary jugglers who have pushed the limits
  with world records sitting at: 14 rings, 12 balls & 9 clubs! Along with the high
  numbers, a massive amount of new patterns have and are being continually
  created with 3/4/5 & more objects!
   Juggling has also become increasingly accessible to the general public, with
  numerous programs & circus schools which teach the ancient art of juggling.

  Essentially pointing towards the favourability of juggling as a complete tool for
  both the body and mind of human beings.

  Thanks to:
  "Research in Juggling history" - Arthur Lewbel
  "A History of Juggling" - Andrew Conway