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The British Juggling Convention (BJC) is a yearly Juggling convention put on by British jugglers from a city or a university Juggling club. The event usually takes place in the second week of the Easter holidays, lasting from the Wednesday to Sunday. The event is not just for Toss Juggling but all forms of juggling. The BJC usually features a large list of workshops during the day, renegades at night, and a public show on the Saturday.
Cost
The BJC usually costs;
- Pre Reg - This includes the show ticket
- Adult - £50
- Child (11-16) - £25
- Registration - £60
- Day ticket
- Adult - £25
- Child - £12
- Show ticket - £10
Facilities
The convention usually always has;
British Young Juggler of the Year
This is a show/competition for young British jugglers to compete in to win the prise of British Young Juggler of the Year (BYJotY). This was first held in Perth 2005.
Competitors in the BYJotY are 21 or younger, British and are a juggler.
Each juggler performs for 2-5 minutes, using any prop they prefer.
Awards
The main title‚ "British Young Juggler of the Year", is voted for by the audience. It is left up to the audience as to what they think that title should mean. So if a juggler wants to win this prize they need to be either the best juggler of the night, or the most entertaining, or (better yet) the best, most entertaining juggler. Everybody in the audience is given a piece of paper and at the end each juggler will stand in front of a basket to show who's basket is who's and then the audience will go and put their vote in a basket.Gold and Silver Awards are decided on by a panel of three experts. The judges look at each act on its own merits, based on how well the juggler does what they do. e.g. If a juggler presents (with few or no drops) a choreographed routine of high professional standards in terms of technique, choreography, costume and music, and the judges feel they would book that act for a professional show, they could receive a Gold Award or, if presented with a street show style routine, the judges think they would put £10 in the hat at the end, that juggler would get a Gold Award too or, if shown a purely technical juggling routine, the judges think it could rank at the WJF, that juggler may get a Gold Award. In other words, if a juggler does what they do really well, they get Gold. If they are not so high standard they may get a Silver Award. For comparison, a BYJotY Gold Award Routine should be of the same standard, or higher, than an IJA Juniors Gold Medal.
Judges Choice Award. The judges get together and decide which young juggler was the most professional, stylish and skilled.
Convention Awards. Organisers from other conventions and festivals can award a place in their own public or gala shows to their favourite performer.
Vendors
Stalls are set up around the 24hour juggling hall to sell equipment. They usually open on part way through the Wednesday until the Sunday. This can be a good opportunity to get juggling equipment cheaper than usual.
Attendance
The BJC usually has from around 450 - 1000 jugglers attending the convention. Most arrive on the Wednesday, but usually everyone is there on the Saturday to see the Public show. Most people will camp when on site until the Sunday; however those who are performing or can afford it may stay in a Bed and Breakfast for the convention.
Public Show
The public show is put on every year for the BJC featuring a line up of professional jugglers. This show is also open to the public. The show features a compare who talks between the acts while they set up.
Fire Show
There is also sometimes a fire show. This will consist of a range of skills using fire being displayed, including Fire Breathing, Staff, Fire Clubs. This can only be done if the site gives permission for fire to take place on site.The Parade
The parade usually happens before the games on the way into the town centre.
The Games
On the Saturday of most conventions there will be games put on in the local town centre. The usual games include;- 5 Ball Endurance
- 5 Club Endurance
- Long distance passing
- Gladiators
- Unicycle Gladiators
- 3 Coin Endurance
The games usually last an hour and prizes are awarded to the winners of each game. The prizes are donated by the vendors that are at the convention.
The Meeting
At the end of the convention there is a meeting, which anyone can attend. The discussion includes how the BJC ran, positives and negatives of the week, and usually a decision on who will host next years BJC.
BJC's
2007 - Nottingham
The 2007 BJC will take place in Nottingham, run by the Nottingham Juggling Club. It will be held at Harvey Haddon, running from 11th April to 15th April. The BJC2007 is also featuring the WJF UK, that will be run alongside the BJC. The BJC2007 will be the 20th BJC.2006 - Bodmin, Cornwall
The 2006 convention took place at the dragon centre in Bodmin, Cornwall between 20th April to 23rd April 2006.The show featured Rio Yabe as the headline act, with Matt Hall as compere. The show was held in Redruth, Cornwall.
On site there was;
- Swamptemp - where the renegade, BYJotY, Juggle Jam and open stage took place.
- Food tent - where burgers (including the Bodmin Beast), and hot pasties were served.
- Beer Tent - With a stage and a large seating area and a bar.
- Swimming pool - that was available for use for an hour on Friday (6pm-7pm) and Sunday (6pm-7pm)
The pass was a laser cut surfboard with the BJC2006 logo on it. Children were only allowed the string for health and safety reasons.
Approximately 700 people attended.
Workshops included;
- Beginners club passing
- 3 balls blind behind the back (BBB)
- Performing for hobbyists - Matt Hall
- 1 Diablo vertax - Matt Hall
- Whip cracking for beginners
- Compèring - Luke Burrage
- Takeouts in Club passing
- Teaching circus skills to kids: Ideas/trick swap
- Pirouettes (360s) - basic pirouette technique - Norbi
- Nail in the nose
- First tricks with clubs
- Zen Wrestling
2005 - Perth, Scotland
The 2005 convention took place in Perth between 31st March and 3rd AprilGames Winners
5 Ball Endurance - Mad Martin - From Nottingham Juggling Club2004 - Derby
The 2004 BJC was held in Derby.2003 - Brighton
The 2003 BJC was held in Brighton.2002 - Whitstable, Kent
The 2002 BJC was held in Whitstable, Kent from March 29th to April 1st. It featured a 24 hour Juggling Hall a 24 hour Unicycle Hall Public Show in Kent's biggest theatre, the parade and games, renegade cabarets each night, live music each night, workshops, parties, chill out zones and plenty of juggling, camping, catering and late bar all on site.2001 - Cardiff
The 2001 BJC was held in Cardiff.2000 - York
The 2000 BJC was held in York.1999 - Durham
The 1999 BJC was held in Durham.1998 - Bath & Bristol
The 1998 BJC was held at Whitchurch Sports Centre, Bamfield, Whitchurch, Bristol. It started on Thursday 9th April until Sunday 12th April.1997 - Nottingham
The 1997 BJC was held in Nottingham. The event was held at Nottingham University. The camping was held 3 mile drive away (1 mile through the park) at Wollaton Hall and this reportedly costed £3.5k. Donations had been requested to help pay for this. Minibuses had been put on to take people from the campsite to the gym. The swimming pool was also available for use for a pound ago.On site there were 3 tents including a Swamp tent. The pass was a pea green wrist band. Jay Gilligan was in the public show.
1996 - Edinburgh
The 1996 BJC was held in Edinburgh from April 12th to April 14th.1995 - Norwich
The 1995 BJC was held in Norwich.1994 - Manchester
The 1994 BJC was held in Manchester.1993 - Birmingham
The 1993 BJC was held in Birmingham.1992 - Coventry
The 1992 BJC was held in Coventry between April 10th and April 12th.1991 - Leeds
The 1991 BJC was held in Leeds
"British Juggling Convention"