Gandini Juggling

Stats for a busy period

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:04:00 GMT

Last Sunday we finished one of the most intensive three week periods of the year so far. Started with Smashed in Les Subsistances, followed by Chinoiseries in La Brèche, then Maison de Jonglage and finally BJC.

In this interval of time we did: 12 performances of 5 different shows. A total of 175 minutes of different material (more than half brand new) in 6 performing spaces in 4 cities, involving 12 jugglers and countless hours of practice and rehearsals.

Arron made this nice time-lapse of one of the Events at the BJC:

Clowns and Queens audition

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 21:20:00 GMT

Gandini Juggling are looking for jugglers with Dance and or Theatre experience for their new project 'Clowns & Queens'. We will be holding a day-long audition workshop on the 16th of April at Poole Lighthouse, starting off at 10:30am and finishing up at 17:30

Following on from the success of projects such as 'Smashed' and 'Blotched', 'Clowns Queens' will be a theatrical juggling show for jugglers who are willing to take risks!

Please email a CV and or video material of your work with an expression of interest to info@gandinijuggling.com

For more information on Poole lighthouse and how to get there please click here: http://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/how-to-get-here

Or for more information on Gandini Juggling, just click here for our website: http://www.gandinijuggling.com/

Iranian Clubs

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:53:00 GMT

Ryoko, who did nice pictures of Smashed, sent us an image today with the title "Iranian Jugglers":

Iranian Jugglers (Mary Ellen Mark-1969)

I found it completely fascinating, so I did a bit of reading up to find out that the clubs these men are holding are called Meels in the Pahlavani wrestling tradition of Iran. Practicioners of Pahlavani attend a particular gymnasium called Zurkhaneh where music is played live and athletes execute group exercises.

A quick youtube search for Zurkhaneh or Pahlavani yields a good collection of videos. Most of the manoeuvres with the Meels consist in swinging the clubs in different manners but there are some spectacular high throws as well. Although strict juggling is not part of the traditional repertoire, one can find pictures and footage of people juggling three or two in one hand.

Some people suggest that the Iranian clubs were introduced in India for the practice of the closely related martial art Malla-yuddha. A streamlined version of these clubs, known as Indian clubs, were exported and became popular in the 19th century in Europe and the US and subsequently ended up being one of the precursors of our present juggling club.

Danger

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:26:00 GMT

We just received this beautiful picture by Pascal Perennec taken at this years winter Circus festival in Quimper France.

I enjoyed seeing Chris Patfield in the photo, he joined the Smashed group late and brings a refreshingly personal energy to the proceedings.

Chris has just written some interesting thoughts on health and safety in relation to Circus.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/19/beauty-of-highwire-walking

Tables of information

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:34:00 GMT

Table from Downfall. This is one of my favorite pieces of the recent shows. I wanted to make something very minimal and non narrative, like a lot of things in recent years it came out more theatrical than we intended. Frederike's laugh was difficult not to react to in shows. We had a strategy to bite the inside of the mouth if laughter came...

On a seperate note below are some pre and post show comments and remarks after the recent premiere of Smashed at the Lynburry studio.

Total Theatre

http://totaltheatrereview.com/reviews/smashed

Blogs

http://talk2z.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/gandini-juggling/

Blog Run away with the circus

http://withthecircus.blogspot.com/2012/01/london-international-mime-festival-2012.html

London Dance

http://londondance.com/articles/reviews/gandini-jugglers-smashed-london-international-mime/

Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jan/19/smashed-review?CMP=twt_gu

BBC LONDON NEWS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16620124

Blog Sorrow Pennefather

http://sorrowpennefather.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-smashed-at-linbury-studio-theatre.html

TNT Magazine

http://www.tntmagazine.com/london/events/silent-treatment-the-london-international-mime-festival

blog Fruits for the Office

http://fruitfortheoffice.blogspot.com/2012/01/gandini-jugglers.html

London Evening Standard

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/article-24021289-going-for-the-juggler---gandini-juggling.do

Traces of Broken things

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:40:00 GMT

Our Friend Beinn Muir with whom we are currently collaborating on a book of juggling patterns sent the following after our recent shows at the Royal Opera House. We gathered the broken crockery from the last show.

"I had an idea that I wanted to ask you about on Thursday night. My parents live in Orkney and love to collect old pottery on the beach. I often do the same when I am there and at Christmas I found a fragment of an old ceramic ginger beer bottle from 1920! While we were there my parents kept on saying that they wanted broken pottery that they could throw in the sea to be tumbled and worn by the waves to be found by future generations. So now to my idea: would it be possible to collect together the broken crockery from your last show and keep it so that I can send it up to Orkney to be put in the sea for future generations to find? I thought it would have an interesting sense of persistence for such a wonderful series of shows in an amazing venue."

Remembering Gill Clarke

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:16:00 GMT

Gill Clarke
It is difficult in the emotion of the moment to speak calmly of the phenomenal influence and generosity that Gill had towards us. I hope to write something more coherent later.
I remember 20 years ago my excitement in a phone booth when Gill agreed to play with us. I remember Gill sneaking us in to Sue Davies dance classes in assorted spaces across London...i remember late night phone conversations about John Cage and about fragmenting juggling patterns...i remember dance sequences so beautifully eliptical they seemed to emanate from another planet...i remember her spending countless hours on movement detail that we probably never did justice to...i remember the weight of her body when she demonstrated a lift or lean...I remember how she called us Seamus and Katiushka...
i realize now that the wealth of these memories will stay with us always. There are traces of her in everything we do. If there was celestial justice though she would not have left so soon...
I am sure she touched a multitude of people with the same intensity that we felt and i suppose that is a rare gift to have had. We will miss her more than words can say, as a friend and as a teacher.
Sean G

D G C

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:41:00 GMT

In the midst of an intensive week of Smashed shows in the north of France we used our two days off to make a quick trip to the beautiful city of Amsterdam to premiere Tom Johnson's "Three Notes for Three Jugglers" and a first draft of his "Five-Ball Canons".

The performance was part of the festival of electronic music "Patterns+Pleasure" organized by Steim (studio for electro instrumental music), which designed and manufactured the sound balls used for the two compositions that they also commissioned.

Both pieces are highly minimalist in its elements and structure, requiring very precise timing in the juggling and making them substantial exercises in concentration.

In spite of minor glitches, we were very happy with the result and the audience seemed to have enjoyed it.

To add glamour to the occasion, the composer was in the audience, as was Luke Wilson, our number one fan this year and also interpreter of some earlier Johnson's pieces.

Photo by virtueel_platform

Photo by virtueel_platform

Sea of Theatricallity

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:21:00 GMT

In our early years we had a formalist commitment to juggling for juggling's sake. Two decade's ago we raged against narrative circus, placing our humble art form in an idealised box.

I remembered this recently during our residency at the National Theatre. We have been swimming in a sea of theatricality. Juggling has a cryptic and untapped theatrical potential. The archetypes which surround it, are perhaps its richest pickings. It's absurdness is its strength.

This year we have been playing with starting shows from images instead of structure. It has been a curious journey. From the Alexander Mcqueen inspired sketches at Circommedia to the a performance art inspired sketches of Blotched. Hopefully some of these ideas will mature in Clowns and Queens the company's large scale.

Pictures from these theatrical escapades below.

Perhaps we move away from the idea of juggling being a blank slate language, but rather a symbolically rich language which has many stories to tell. Perhaps also it will be fun to put juggling back into its idealised box...circular stages with the unadulterated joy of those parabolic arts, logarithmic, unfrontal, ephemeral...

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Symbolism - apples are not the only fruit

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:31:00 GMT

This beatifull picture launched me into daydreams of other fruit juggling shows. Hundreds of oranges, peaches and grapes with all their inherent symbolisms. And yet apples have something so perfect.

Photo by Maynard Case

Smashed Music

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 21:37:00 GMT

Below is the list of musics for Smashed. The list is for the long version of the show so some of the songs are not in all performances.

Above a beatiful picture of the second women scene which mostly gets performed in the long version of the show. Below the ever hungry Malte Steinmetz...

I've Always Wanted To Dance In Berlin-Little Jack Little
I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones-Hossier Hot Shots
Bach: French Suite #2 In C Minor, BWV 813 - Sarabande
The End of the World-Bill Frisell
Stand By Your Man-Tammy Wynette
In the Shade of the Old Apple-Mills Brothers, Louis Armstrong
That Cat Is High-The Ink Spots
Ezekiel Saw The Wheel-The Charioteers
Dreaming-Al Bowlly
Vivaldi: Il Farnace, RV 711 - Gelido In Ogni Vena

Summer plans

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 09:57:00 GMT

We have been away from the blog for a while now, so I thought I'd do a quick update.

After successfully premiering Motet in Helsinki just over a month ago, we've been mainly back in London except for a recent escapade to France where we performed Smashed at the Gare au Gorille festival in the beautiful Lannion region.

Gandini Juggling on a paper tablecloth at Gare au Gorille.

Looking ahead, the summer will take us back to France again a few times. First to the French juggling convention in Rennes and after to a couple of different places to do Smashed, which is becoming increasingly popular in the country.

For the third consecutive year, we will be in residence at Watch this Space, outside the National Theatre. The ever supporting team led by Angus MacKechnie has commissioned a new piece which will be performed alongside other shows from the company repertoire. Have a look at the program below for more details.

Smashed as seen by Ryoko

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:34:00 GMT

The Smashed photographic project by Ryoko Uyama has taken a leap forward this week with the publication of a very nice booklet featuring the members of the cast and some images of the show.

This is Ryoko with the first copy in her hands, still fresh from the printer.

More pictures by Ryoko from our latest tour in France here.

Gandinis on Le Plus Grand

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:41:00 GMT

This coming Saturday, at 20:35h French time, we'll be on Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde, France 2 TV channel.

At Sea

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 18:58:00 GMT

Finished the French season and off to Scandinavia…

At the moment we are working on a new project with Maksim Komaro. The results will be shown in Helsinki the first week of May.

Last weekend we had a job in a cruise ship in the Baltic Sea, and the shows got me thinking. What a different world from the French world of new circus. It seems at times like there is a rigid dichotomy between what is a more "arty" or serious performance style and what is simple entertainment. Perhaps in other disciplines, like dance, one can only belong to one of those categories, but we are fortunate that our small juggling scene allows us to taste the best of both worlds. I wouldn't want to give up any of them!

La Brèche

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:39:00 GMT

It's a busy week here at Gandini house. A group of nine of us is in residency at La Brèche, in Cherbourg, where we will be doing two different shows.

On Thursday, in collaboration with L'Ensemble, we will perform the entire Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi; one juggling piece for each musical movement. We did a first general rehearsal today with the orchestra and it felt great. I always get exhilarated performing with live musicians.

On Sunday we are reviving and doing a longer version of Smashed, one of the latest theatrical pieces in our repertoire.

If you happen to be in Normandy this week come to see us. There will be other shows and workshops during the week as well.

Tabloid Juggling

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:47:00 GMT

So today we get an email from one of the researchers at ITV which i reproduce below.

I hope you don't mind me emailing out of the blue. My name is xxxx and I work in the UK on the television show Britain's Got Talent. I came across a video of you called 'Clapping Music' on YouTube and I wanted to get in touch.

He then proceeds to tell us we would be perfect for Britain has got Talent. Wow Steve Reich for Tabloid TV? What next, Table from Downfall? Which has all the performers sitting and virtually doing nothing for 10 minutes? Now we get a number of these every year as do most established performers and one politely says no thanks. This one however struck me as particularly absurd. Here is a supremely repetitive piece of juggling, 8 minutes of tiny variations on a 12 beat cycle and this researcher seems to think that this would be good on multicoloured Tabloid TV...

Actually Mat Ricardo has a nice series of letters which he exchanged with them which are a good summing of up of the absurdity of our relationship with the Tabloid Mothership... Depressing stuff.

Apples as temptation

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:46:00 GMT

This picture if from a project with japanese photographer Ryoko Uyama. Inspired by our show Smashed it will features the Smashed cast in Ryokos idiosyncratic domestic photos. The book should be out by end of May 2011.

Pedagogical escapades

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:22:00 GMT

Kati and I had Pedagogical January with intensensive workshops in Quebec City and Montreal, we have been fortunate over the years to meet many of the leading lights of the current juggling scene
whilst they were still learning, Joelle Huguening did workshops with us from the age of 11! I sometimes feel like i learn more from the students than they learn from us, but perhaps that is true of all teaching.
Teaching also makes you question what you do and teach, do i really apply what i am teaching to our own juggling, to our own creative process? Do i have as much energy and commitment as these kids?

We also had the unexpected pleasure of having a couple of cutting edge performers attend our workshops. It reassures me that the north American performance juggling scene has more and more diversity!

I miss the sound of snow crunching under my feet on the way to teach, miss French Canadian French. The journey home was via a week rehearsals for our new show Motet in Helsinki and a lecture in Madrid and Le Plus Cabaret in Paris. Its good to be home for a little bit.

In the photo the juggling specialists and teachers at the Montreal Circus School.

Mike Day Circularity

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:36:00 GMT

Mike Day's solos where some of my favorite moments from our early experimental shows. Here Mikes Solo 2 is reinvented by Erdal Inci.