Halloween Party with the Juggling Acts by ‘Chaos’

-- Rukmani Vinay Dasarapu.

Website url: https://www.k-digibiz.com/

There was a great deal of fun to be had last weekend, when children and their parents came to Halloween parties organized at Kydz Adda centers. The halls were given a ghoulish theme. Everything was cobwebbed. Each corner was stacked with pumpkins. Spooky witch hats and professional makeup artists helped the guests look eerier. "It looked amazing," said Aruna, a 28-year-old analyst.

But the most entertaining aspect was the juggling act performed, by Chaos – a Bengaluru based juggling group. Halloweener’s were in for a treat watching the tricks that Chaos presented. “These jugglers were brilliant. They kept the audience on their feet and were very funny” – said Megha, a freelance event organizer. 

Juggling has existed for centuries, it was not until the 1947 that the International Jugglers' Association was founded, to practice and promote the art of juggling. The study of different possibilities / patterns in juggling has attracted many mathematicians. Research on possible patterns of non-colliding throws have been identified and many jugglers can get trained on these. 

During their performance the Chaos weaved funny stories and demonstrated patterns from a simple Cascade to a complex Mills’ Mess. Krish a eleven-year-old recalled eight of the thirteen tricks performed at the show, “Box, Cascade, Chops, Dummy Elevator, Factory, Flash, Mills' Mess and Penguin”. The other toss patterns included - Shower, Snatch, Statue of Liberty, Tennis and Trampoline.

Recent research has demonstrated that regular juggling has a positive impact your neurological performance. BBC has published that scientists have observed a 5% increase in white matter - the cabling network of the brain. Felix Stephen, a 27-year-old software professional has been practicing juggling regularly for over an year, sharing his experience he said that, “It (juggling) can be a quick and an easy way to de-stress during the workday, it not keeps me fit and it is a lot fun. Juggling is the only sport which can be played at any time or place, you can either practice it alone or in a team”. 

Shivam Agarwal, a 25-year-old IT professional “For me learning new tricks and mastering it is the biggest motivator. I started juggling as a hobby however, within a few weeks into it I have noticed that it has impacted my life in more than one way. Being a sportsperson since childhood, I have started experimenting juggling skills into other sports like playing snooker with both my hands”. 

Juggling improves hand-eye coordination, reflexes, dexterity, peripheral vision, and when performed in a group it helps in team building. A Halloween guest Subramanian added that he was impressed with the jugglers’ performance, “I liked their team work, concentration and the tricks were awesome, I would love it if my four-year-old son can learn juggling as it is easier for young kids to pick new skills”. The Chaos group meets twice a week to practice juggling in teams. 

 When Mahit a Chaos team member was questioned on how jugglers are perceived by an audience now, he expressed that, “Though a majority of the audiences continue to stereotype jugglers as circus clowns, the truth is that any juggler is as likely to be a circus clown as a professor of Mathematics, if not both! Ever since Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, came up with his juggling theorem and invented a juggling robot, even more mathematicians and engineers are getting interested in juggling, both for artistic and academic reasons.”

Deepti Mahesh who runs the Kydz Adda, said her guests were blown away, “Chaos have made juggling look like so much fun, kids loved watching the tricks, it was presented interestingly in a skit format and the memory game was a fun way to bring awareness about the different juggling patterns. I personally liked the Hoola-hoop act”.

Little Halloweener’s enjoyed the games, dressing up in costumes, and towards the end of  the party they didn’t miss a chance to click a picture with their juggling stars.  

Juggling is a niche talent and if you are looking at learning this complex yet fun skill, please join the juggling-gym program offered at Fundamentals an activity center, headed by Gunjan Saraf. For more details please contact: info@thefunschool.in  / chaosbng@googlegroups.com , You may also visit the Chaos team website at: chaosbng.com