The Bluenose Jugglers
History
Although juggling and the circus arts do not have a long history in Nova Scotia, this seedling is
definitely sprouting! The origins of our club are in a small group of
jugglers, unicyclists, mimes and tightrope walkers who began to meet in
1982 under the auspices of Portable Mime
Theatre. For the next several years jugglers continued to gather under
the 'Juggle Jam' banner to teach each other new tricks and work together
on routines. In time local performing groups like Fool's Paradise, Jest in
Time and Just Us grew from these gatherings.
These days the club meets under the auspices of the YMCA and is know as
the Bluenose Jugglers.
Visitors to the Club
Over the years the club has played host to many prominent teacher's and
performers including the internationally acclaimed clown Bob Berkey, circus teacher Hovey Burgess, mime Don
Reider, author Richard Dingman and
others.
Circus Stars
Many internationally famous performing jugglers have visited Halifax and
have been hosted by the club. These include Sergei
Ignatov, Vycheslav Anokhin, Victor Filipovitch, Evgenii Biljauer, Andrei
Nikolaev, Igor & Tatiana Aristov, Gennadi
Tregoub, and Valerii Tabenkov all of whom have been in Nova Scotia in
different travelling companies of the Moscow Circus, Elena Lev who came with the Cirque du Soleil, and Li
Li-ping, a marvellous antipodist who came as part of the Wuhan Circus. Not long ago the internationally
acclaimed Cirque du Soleil payed a visit to
Halifax.
Buskers
Many jugglers who are buskers have visited Nova Scotia as part of the
annual Halifax International Busker Festival that takes place in
Nova Scotia. Some of them include some of the finest professional buskers,
circus stars and cabaret performers from around the world, as well as
rising stars. Curious about the Buskers who've
been in Halifax? Take a look!
The International Jugglers' Association
Since its inception the club has worked closely with the International Jugglers' Association
(IJA) and the club has been represented at several of their conventions in
Santa Barbara, Purchase, N.Y., Baltimore, St. Louis, Montreal and Fargo
N.D. The Bluenose Jugglers are an official IJA Affiliate. Over the
years we have given many performances and demonstrations at festivals, in
parades, for benefits and during conventions. In 1990 we performed two
numbers in the internationally acclaimed Nova Scotia International Tattoo.
Over the past several of years there has been an explosion of interest and
the ranks of our club have swelled including both novice and experienced
jugglers.
Club Members
Bluenose Juggling Club Members have
distinguished themselves at various events. Find out more about who they
are and what they've done!
Get Involved!
These are only some of our achievements. Waiting in the wings is a
whole new generation of young jugglers already honing their skills!
For comments or suggestions please contact Bluenose Jugglers. Thanks for
visting us electronically!
We would like to acknowledge the generosity of Chebucto Community Net in making this website
possible.