Aragorn Boulanger aka Bishop and Ed Adams of the Ministry have decided to team up to bring you the most in-depth and high level Isolation and Illusions workshops ever given.

Aragorn will be responsible for making the impossible possible as he teaches Animation techniques with the body. He will mostly work on time perceptions and distortions. The stillness, or immobility, will be the first step. But it is to discover laws of the flow. Isolation will be a priory skill of course but we won’t spend much time on this. There will be more focus on global time and living movement awareness. That’s how Aragorn will introduce energy changes and bring pupils to popping, ticking, strobing, rewind, matrix effects, etc…
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We’ve been rather quiet about the European Juggling Convention this year because we’re sad not to be at our favorite juggling and manipulation festival. This year, it has a live stream , by Nathan Rae EJC live: Where the European Juggling Convention comes to you.
For me it’s generally stuttering too much to be watchable, pausing every 3 seconds to buffer But I’ll keep trying.
Last night featured Kelvin doing his thing with 1 and 2 acrylics in the open stage, which was amazing.

If there’s nothing live at the moment, there are a bunch of recorded highlights you can watch, my favorite is:

Be sure to stay to the end of the clip for a great ending!
[Edit: updated with Youtube link, cos ustream doesn't work so well: thanks Divus]

Video made by Luminous Fractal (how cool is that. He should have been on stage!!)

Good stuff all around, some great manipulators on stage in this teaser clip from the 2010 Madskillz Gala show.

Youtube Link

Yowsa! This was the first guy I ever saw do Fei-Cha in an old Internet Video called “Janitors”. In the interim he appears to have gone to Circus School in Montreal and has gotten some pretty sweet tricks nailed in his act. He also does slick combined hat manipulation and has a cute goofy ending. Win.

i found this video via Lewie Wests’ favourates. Why isn’t he a blogger yet anyway?

Okotanpe, who’s video JCJC went viral 2 years ago, recently featured presenting Contact Juggling on National Geographic. Excellent.
Much better TV than that rather annoying Fushigi brand ball advert.

Ryan’s been making more Isolationist Contact Juggling videos. Yippee*.
He made this one for contactjuggling.org forum moderator IMark, to thank him for a present, a new ball of course.

*a positive focus for some of his frustration with Fushigi

Strangely unique and surreal circus art from Alexander Calder. Suggested by one of our readers, Morgan Wilson.

From Wikipedia:

Alexander Calder (July 22, 1898 – November 11, 1976), also known as Sandy Calder, was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing the mobile. In addition to mobile and stabile sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry and jewelry.

Yeaaaaaaaah!

Some crazy dreadlocked northerner from Alaska has come across the best combination of hoop isolations and fire imaginable. So simple yet so effective, props to this guy for his props.

Imagine how that flame would illuminate a hoop at night…

Moar hoop isolation videos! I demand it!

Finger skills FTW, Jerry C rocks it like only a kid in his bedroom can. 4:14 makes me jump out of my chair and pump my fists in the air…  I can’t help it.

Ebbinghaus Illusion –
See the whole set of these wonderfully subversive Illusion Illusions on Flickr here.
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Kyle Johnson made a new juggling video and it is packed with interesting stuff. Good juggling all around (as usual), I like the weirder 3 ball stuff for the conceptual value.

Nice juggling, Kyle!

Some ridiculous partner poi from Greg Maldonado and Margaret Meloan of Performing Pair.

If you like this then check out the new Partner Poi DVD from Vulcan DVDs