Hello all. I've been juggling for a couple years now and have gotten good enough to perform, but I'm smart enough to know that juggling by itself gets boring and there's no way anybody (unless you're extremely extremely good and a professional) could carry a riveting performance for up to an hour or 45 minutes. So I took up magic and have gotten pretty decent at it, and I'm wondering about how many other magicians here use juggling in their magic routines? Do you mix in the juggling between tricks or keep it separate?

Also, I'm planning on doing kids' shows this Summer (and so on) for extra cash next to working at PetSmart (yeah huzzah), so what would you ultimately recommend for an up close performance? I'm focusing more on the older kids, 8+ so not so much the 3-7 who you need all the silliness to entertain. The shows wouldn't be on a stage but more on a custom built performance table. I prefer extremely close up magic, primarily with illusions similar to the two-dollar window, the bite out quarter and the cut & restored rope... which I suppose is a general preference, but kids don't go much for card-tricks anyhow and parents wouldn't likely approve of fire

I do a bit of juggling here and there, I don't really do it in my children's shows but I do a bit of it when I do my mutiplying balls routine on stage. As for what to get for this age group? Rocky Racoon or whatever Penguin is calling their version is a great little piece and while not exactly magic it can be incorporated into magic tricks and seems like it might be your style you being a bit of a jack of all trades. I would also look into some sponge balls or bunnies and maybe some paper tricks (mouth coils, hat tears, etc) oh and a good levitation trick is also a good way to go, maybe pick up an ITR. Those are just a few random suggestions of the millions of possibilities. The real secret is that you can pretty much make anything work as long as you do it properly, card tricks for example can be done for children but don't have them sign their name on the card, let them draw a self portrait and do an ambitious card routine with it, using patter that puts them right into the story. Fire well... some parents can be uppitty about that sort of stuff so maybe staying away is a good idea but you can pretty much make anyhting work with a little creativity.

I for one have found that most kids whether they are 3 or 13 find juggling fascinating. I am a magician who picked up juggling as well as some other stuff along the way and would say I am more of a variety artist now but getting to the point I am slowly working juggling into my act/show. Two possible ways of doing that, that I have come up with are, juggling while giving instructions at the beginning of your show and most of my shows have magic done to music at which time you could throw in some juggling.

my $.02 (USD)

Phillip P.

"Fake it till, you make it"

There are at least three routines in the 'world's greatest magic' shows that incorporate juggling. In all the routines, the juggling itself consists of less than 15 seconds of any of their total routines.

A good possibility would be with a multiplying balls routine. You could fit in a couple juggling interludes, and if you know a couple of good juggling tricks, then you might be able to keep your audience entertained.

Not sure if it's appropriate for kid's shows at people's houses, but you could also consider juggling fire or doing the old apple and sword juggle where you bite the apple as it comes by and chop the apple in half at the end. You could also juggle eggs (fake wooden eggs or real eggs). You could do a little comedy and switch real/fake eggs, do egg bag, silk to egg, etc.

I've also seen extreme juggling which was very entertaining. This stuff was pretty wild though. The guy (I think his name was Wally Eastwood or something like that) was juggling pingpong balls using only his mouth and played a complicated tune on a xylophone on the floor using eight balls. That's an act in itself. Perhaps you could think of something creative and entertaining like that. I don't have that much talent, but maybe you could play twinkle twinkle little star on a xylophone with three balls. Just some ideas for you.

Last but not last, you could also try to teach interested kids to juggle. You could invite a couple kids up and show them how to do it, or you could bring a bunch of cheap beanbags or silks and let the audience try juggling.

Mike