A new infomercial marketing campaign in the U.S. threatens to rebrand contact juggling into…. Fushigi?
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There is a very special Christmas tree at www.contactjuggling.org.

Every year (since 2004) users from the site create new videos and place them under the tree for the delight of all contact jugglers worldwide on Christmas morning. This years tree (LINK) is set up to be awesome, with a new batch of videos ready to be uploaded and will be appearing in the thread very soon!

Previous Years

2004 , 2005 , 2006 ,  2007 , 2008 , 2009

Are you a fan of the annual tradition? Post youtube links to your favorite videos from past DotOrg Xmas Trees, and I’ll embed the videos in the comment section.

Workshop Details sent through from NoFitState Circus of a new class with the master of wigglly ball magic; Matt Hennem:

24th and 25th October 10.00-4.00
Cost £40 members £60 non-members
This 2 day masterclass will teach and explore illusionary movement and object manipulation. Email education(at)nofitstate.com for details. (The Ministry is assuming that this workshop is in Cardiff, Wales.. NoFitState never really mentioned this but their company is based there…)

No experience necessary – the class is devised to be totally accessible to complete beginners but will also challenge experienced jugglers, dancers, illusionists – anyone in fact. . .

The class will cover leans, glides, slides, moonwalk, popping, body/object based fixed point isolation, ball manipulation and more. . .

Learn from one of the top cabaret acts on the scene -
“a triumph. . . He conjures that rare magic that is no less entrancing for being simple.” – The Telegraph
“. . . simple and beautiful, inviting the suspension of disbelief as he seemingly levitated a crystal ball.” MusicOMH.com

Check out Matt’s Liquid Crystal Promo here:
http://juggling.tv/video/27/liquid-crystal

And his spot in the Ministry 2006 EJC video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Q_RGPHKjg

Ronan mailed us with this video, from the 2008 Clonakilty Juggling Convention.
This year’s convention will be on September 25th-27th 2009 – You’ve got one month until the awesomeness of the 5th Clonakilty Object Manipulation and Movement Convention in Ireland.
Current Artist list:
Matthias Romir (Experimental Club and Ball Juggling)
Aragorn Boulanger “Bishop” (Dance)
Nico (Contact Ball)
Nicolas Longuechaud (Hoop Manipulation)
Camille P (Club Swinging and Manipulation)
Cecilia Manfrini and Lukas Wiesner (Acrobatics, Contortion, Juggling)
Meg Claire Pike “MCP” (Staff)
Darragh McLoughlin (Ball Juggling)
Chloe De Buyl Pisco (Dance)
Ronan McLoughlin (Poi)

Poooooooo, it’s the weekend that term starts for me. Arrrrrrg.

[Ninja]

Mmmmmmmministry Berlin 2009…

Oh my god it was an amazing experience. we had people coming to us all the way from Australia and the United States… not to mention most of Western Europe being represented there. Such a large group of friendly, inspiring and interesting people helped to make the week in Berlin the huge success that it was.

Take 40 jugglers from all over the world, add in a twist of Jea9, a squeeze of Moon, a handful of Kelvin, A sprig of Colin and Ed, and then season with a pinch of Meg, and you end up with an official workshop of epic proportions. My brain is only just recovering, and I was one of the teachers! I hope the students will be able to come and give us their accounts soon too, but I think we melted their brains pretty bad…

Anyway, in the meantime whilst the we take the time to separate all the awesome moments that make up one amazing week in order to bring you a more coherent review, I’ll leave you hanging some more with the video trailer, sent to us today by Lhupo, who was commissioned by the Katakomben to film the event. Look out for an article in Kaskade magazine too…

More Lhupo: Lhupo’s channel on youtube

[/Ninja]

Ok, there have been some changes to the line up for the April workshop.

Unfortunately and with great regret, I must announce that Mr. OM is no longer going to be making an appearance at our workshops in Berlin on the 6-10th April. But fear not. Taking his place on the team is once again Emanuele ‘Moon’ Marchione, who will be teaching Multiball, from small to very large numbers. Moon’s innovative style of Multiball will be a fantastic addition to our line up, and we’re all very glad to have him with us once again.

Jeanine has also confirmed some workshops in Club and Staff Contact/Manipulation from Meghan ‘MCP’ Pike, which I am quite excited about. With the success of her tutorial website, DVD and highly technical spinning ability, I feel that Meg will be quite an asset at the workshops. Be prepared for some brain melting.

one other thing, last I heard, 40 places had gone already… If you haven’t booked yet, I’d get it in quick…

The Ministry have just launched their London advertising campaign for the MoM Berlin Contact Juggling workshops We recommend you sign up soon, as places are filling up fast. Details on MoM. and Katakomben.
All set to be bigger, better and more fab than last year.

Benjamin aka Mafiaboy wrote to tell us that Burn Crew Concept are organising a “little” convention in Paris at the end of the month (February 28th,29th,1st march) near the Eiffel tower.
While BCC roots are mostly fire; poi, staff, spinning and juggling and object manipulation, this convention has a theme of Contact and acrylics. Check out list of amazing workshops including: Pich, Vincent, LN, Gumop, Rithi, Cyril, Mistur, Moon.
Visit their site for all the details – or at least just to see their quality animation.

I’m bummed not to be going

I (Ryan Mellors) edited most of this series in the passenger seat while Dawn drove the car; admiring the scenery in between stops at Tim Hortons (where we would recharge on caffeine and latop power) and late-night diners. We drove 2000 miles through a slowly changing landscape, our car loaded with balls of all sizes, hoops, tetrahedrons, bendy sticks, half-spheres, blocks and a video camera. Our objective: build the community, find others like us and explore what this ‘contact juggling’ thing is all about. Shoot lots of video and get to Montreal without running out of money.

Thanks to all who came to the workshops and to all the supportive musicians who offered music for the project. Today marks the official release of the series; 9 short videos documenting the journey. Click below for the videos (RT: 38min,) descriptions and prop contents, as well as a download link in 720×480 .wmv.

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Jeff Calafato mailed us to offer you free break dance contact juggling workshops in Philly, PA.
8 – 10 PM every Monday night, EXCEPT city holidays.
This is a workshop for anyone Attending the Monday Philly PA “Juggling Club”!
location @ Lloyd Hall public recreation center. The gymnasium provides 5500 square feet of climate controlled juggling space and also has a large outdoor patio. It is located at 1 Boathouse Row, at the intersection of Kelly Drive and Waterworks Drive, just behind the Art Museum. (Waterworks Drive is also known as Aquarium Drive on older maps)
contact Jeff : Jcalafato at hotmail dot com

Aragorn Boulanger A.k.a. Bishop (Frankreich): Jonglierkatakomben in Berlin
As well as the MoM Berlin workshop coming up 6th to 10th April 2009, Katakomben have got Bishop with his windstyle of dance coming on the 23rd of January. As well as a whole host of juggling workshops, including excellent workshops from Sean Gandini & Kati Yla-Hokkala as well as Stefan Sing.

Bishop previously on MoM 1 and another

Some crazy 3 balls stuff from JJF 2008. Featuring: Komei Aoki, Yuri, Kai, Murakami, Tomoki Muramatsu, Kentaro Tsuchiya, Yuu Nishizaki, Teruki Okamoto, Yohei Tanaka.
I’m wondering if Wes means this with “be more japanese”
I love Mr Fuse music