Jesse Joyner, PhD

This post is pure fun. My friend, Duke Holbrook, and I ventured out to Triangle Park in Lexington, KY this past Tuesday for some juggling. But this was no ordinary juggling. This was “ninja juggling.” There is a strict dress code for ninja juggling – all black. Duke recommended that we not don the black headgear, as we might draw some unnecessary attention from the authorities.

We met at 9pm. He was on time, but to my demise, I was a few minutes late. Ninjas must be punctual you know. But Duke seemed OK with my tardiness. He’s used to it. I was late this time because my wife wanted some 6-filter ionized biodegradable pure raw vegan water from the health food store. So I filled up the three jugs, got some other groceries, paid my dues at the cash register, and finally made it to ninja juggling.

The ninja juggler appears at the park, and then disappears. The prop of choice is the LED lighted beanbag. These are soft juggling balls with some very bright battery-powered lights. They leave streaks in the sky when you juggle them.

Duke and I did some individual juggling with 3, 4, and 5 balls each. Then we did some passing of 7, 8, and even an attempt at 9 between the two of us. We drew some onlookers, mostly college students roaming around with nothing else to do but watch two black silhouettes-of-men toss some colorful balls into the air.

The interesting thing about ninja juggling is that what is impressive during the daytime is not impressive at night. That means that we can execute all sorts of neat juggling tricks (like under the leg and behind the back) that have absolutely no “wow” factor in the dark (because you can’t really see body moves). What really shows up in ninja juggling are simple patterns with lots of swinging and twirling of the balls in fast motions. Basically, whatever leaves streaks looks cool.

And it was in a streak that Duke and I left. We came, we juggled, we ninja-ed, and we split. And the authorities never got close to us. I’m out.

www.jessethejuggler.com