Swedish Juggling Convention 2018!

Maria - 2018-04-05 19:37:49 UTC #

Swedish Juggling Convention 2018!

Well, JugglingEdge asked what it was like for me, so here we go...

Me and the Swedish Juggling Convention:
This was my 6th time going to the SJC, every year since 2013, and the second time it was held in Tranemo.

The venue:
Tranemo is a small town, and a little bit cumbersome to get to if you are not driving. At least 3 buses from the closest airport, or two buses from a somewhat large train station, or one bus from a small train station.

Other than that, the venue is great!
In the same building, there is:
Gym 1, 24h juggling space
Gym 2, extra juggling space during the day, sleeping hall during the night.
Small dining area
Small kitchen (mostly used by organisers for breakfast, coffee and tea for the participants)
Plenty of (hot) showers and toilets
Saunas
...even a swimming pool, that was open for the jugglers during a few hours on one of the days.

The show was held in an adjacent building, and there is a grocery store right across the street.

While the sleeping hall was a bit cold the first night, it got better for the second and third... At least I think so, I was wearing some extra clothes for those nights though. My sleeping bag is for summer camping, I'm sure it was not an issue for anyone with a warmer sleeping bag.

The jugglers:
About 45 people participated in the convention this year. Many of them were the Swedish jugglers that I am used to meeting at SJC, but there were also some new faces. As usual, all of them really nice people, and I didn't feel the slightest bit worried about leaving wallet and phone in the gym when going to eat in the dining area.

Food:
Included in the ticket price was simple breakfast (corn flakes with milk/yoghurt/vegan options, sandwiches with ham/cheese/hummus, orange juice, coffee, tea),
and a hot meal a day! (Choice between "meat" or "vegan" meal.) The food was good, but the best thing about food included in the ticket, in my opinion, is that everyone eats together. A good opportunity to chat with someone you don't know yet!

The show:
The gala show was held in a school building next to the gym. The performers were good, but there were too many "slow" acts. I got a bit bored, actually. I did enjoy the last acts, though, a ring act by Filip Zahradnický and a somewhat more "traditional" circus juggling act by Lauri Koskinen.
All five acts were solo acts. Some kind of duo or group act would have been nice.

Workshops:
There were workshops. I'm not that good at attending workshops if they are not about club passing... But I went to Speed Passing (of course), "Juggling technique" (with Lauri Koskinen) and part of the "Add movement to your juggling". I also tried a few throws from the ring juggling workshop.

The Club Passing:
Well, here is my main reason for going to juggling conventions! Most of the jugglers participated in the Speed Passing, which was great, but we didn't have enough time to actually let everyone pass with each other.
I passed a lot with O (often with 1-3 more jugglers), with V and with S. Mostly patterns that I have done before (if you want to know which ones they are in my log). I also passed a little bit with beginners.

The Games:
Pretty much the usual games. I participated in "Simon Says", "Jugglers Long Jump", "Gandini Crown Gladiators" and "Combat", but without any chance of winning any of them. No club passing, unfortunately.

Open stage/Renegade:
A combined Open Stage and Renegade was held in the main gym on the last evening. The open stage acts were nice. The renegade was OK but a bit too long, in the end it was just the same people coming up on stage over and over again to show a new trick. Nice tricks for sure, but after spending part of the afternoon watching games I wanted to juggle. It felt a little bit rude to walk away when most people stayed to watch, but eventually me and S did that anyway, and took our clubs to the second gym for some passing. S was only there over the day and had also spent time watching games, so we were happy when the renegade ended so we could find some more passers. Not that I don't enjoy 2-people passing with S, but we pass together every week anyway.

Other:
Great organising team that wants to keep organising the Swedish Juggling Convention, in the same place, for at least a few years. We are hoping for the convention to grow! Thank you!

A bit surprised that I didn't see anyone playing board games this year. There are usually at least a few people doing that in the evenings. I think most people spent the late evenings either juggling or in the sauna.

Great jugglers doing awesome tricks! Happy that a few of them also posted videos on Facebook after the convention.

Sometimes when people do awesome tricks I can't help feeling a little bit like it's useless for me to juggle, I'll never be close to their level anyway... At other times, it is inspiring and I just want to juggle more. Well. At least it is fun, and I think I am a decent club passer by now, though not a very good solo juggler.

#SJC2018 #ConventionReview