The 24th annual Israeli Juggling Convention
Drawing 2,000 jugglers every year, the Israeli Juggling Convention is the second largest juggling festival in the world. It takes place in Gan HaShlosha National Park, a large site with hot springs, ancient Roman ruins, and a large gymnasium – perfect for juggling!
Jugglers camp all over the national park’s grounds – a huge city of tents filled with circus artists. The festival draws hundreds of families, hobbyists, and professional performers who live together throughout the five day festival. Meals are communal, provided by a volunteers working in a giant makeshift kitchen tent. Since the festival takes place over Passover, food is kosher and vegetarian. Some prefer to cook on their own, and at night you can see folks grilling meat by their tents under the stars.
Jugglers camp all over the national park’s grounds – a huge city of tents filled with circus artists. The festival draws hundreds of families, hobbyists, and professional performers who live together throughout the five day festival. Meals are communal, provided by a volunteers working in a giant makeshift kitchen tent. Since the festival takes place over Passover, food is kosher and vegetarian. Some prefer to cook on their own, and at night you can see folks grilling meat by their tents under the stars.
This year’s festival held a parade, games, gala shows, and the International Jugglers’ Association’s Middle-Eastern championships (the same program as the Mexican championships I wrote about a in 2015.)
Meeting friends you’ve never met before
If the circus world is small, the juggling world is even smaller.
The internet is full of juggling videos, juggling forums, juggling hashtags, and juggling celebrities. You’re a click away from contacting jugglers directly – and they’ll usually write back right away. This was my first time going to the Israeli convention, and managed to finally meet some friends I’d been talking to for years. We just hadn’t been in the same place before.
The IJC is a truly international event. This year’s participants came from Israel, Spain, Canada, the UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, the Ukraine, Taiwan, Finland, Argentina, the US, Germany, and beyond.
The International Gala
The International Gala is crown jewel of the Israeli Convention. I was invited to host the show this year – an honor, a privilege, and an incredible delight – emceeing a show with a cast of some of the best performers from around the world.
This year’s headliner was ChihHan Chao, a diabolo performer from Taiwan who invented a unique style of performing with the prop. He took the gold medal at Cirque du Demain this year – and you can see why:
You can see some of the other performers here:
This year’s IJC was an absolute delight. As festivals go, it’s a real winner – I’ve been to dozens of conventions around the world, and this one really takes the cake! There’s a lot more to say about this year’s festival, but I’ll leave it up to you to discover when you decide to go yourself. (Or, if you’d prefer, you can check out an incredible photo gallery on Facebook here!)
Juggling conventions and the community that they support are one of the reasons I still juggle today. Haven’t been to a convention before? Check out this excellent list of events curated by our pals over at the Juggling Edge – you might be surprised to find one in your hometown!
