I'm really behind on all the juggling stuff I've done recently.

Orinoco - 2014-11-09 13:42:43 UTC #

I'm really behind on all the juggling stuff I've done recently. I already can't remember half of it but I had a great time at Camvention 2014. Kev & I started with a less than successful excursion to find a full English (people of Cambridge please note: Costa do not do fry ups) so didn't start the convention until gone 11:00. I enjoyed juggling in the lovely hall & got in a lot of productive practice in between chatting with friends. I particularly enjoyed Glyn's idea for his bleating inflatable sheep. In the afternoon I managed to get through the initial qualifying of the combat tournament, but Jon Peat dispatched me pretty quickly 5-1 in the quarter final. This was the smoothest running combat tournament that I have participated in so far, although the major bottleneck always seems to be the same thing: pens. I even took part in some not 3 club gladiator games which is rare for me at any event other than Crawley. I did pretty well at Simon says only being thwarted by being too big to remain standing in the small circle. It was nice to see that the last three players in the numbers game were Crawley veterans Nemily, Glyn & myself, each of us employing our tried & tested underhanded tactics to progress. I think a lot of people consider this game to be for children & approach it accordingly. & that is why they always lose.

The Gala show opened with the kids from Cambridge Community Circus Youth Circus with a bit of a sympathy act, but as ever good on 'em for getting up there. 20 seconds into Bendy Bendini's Dan Cossette's mime routine I was fully prepared to absolutely hate it but was very pleasantly surprised when it quickly turned into a fun story flipping between what was going on in the child character's imagination & what was actually happening. Stumpy passed clubs with Gale while riding a giraffe. Jon Peat & Lewis Kennedy were Jon Peat & Lewis Kennedy with a wonderfully exuberant club passing routine. Elliot Walton & Oscar Richards did a nice synchronised poi routine which was better than most synch poi routines I've seen by simply being, you know, actually synchronised. Gale Francis performed her hoop isolations, Chazz Parham presented a contact & acro staff routine with a believable reptillian character. Closing the show was Alessandro Sacchi with some very nice bounce juggling with up to 7 balls, most notable I think for some slick over the shoulder turn round & go the other way stuff with 5 balls.

Well done Katie, Ceri-Anne, Brook et al for a fantastic day.

#camvention2014