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| The cast of Juggle Jam 1 |
Venturing off on my own after 6.25 of childcare management
was bittersweet. On the one hand, I had more workday flexibility and tuition
percentage as a contractor of Edina Schools; on the other hand, I had no adult
support staff (other than Wendy, working full-time as a graphic designer) and I
was only beginning what proved to be a 4.5 year circumstantial depression
arising from our infertility news in May 1998. So yes, I “loved my work” and
was “living the dream,” but the struggles as a new small business owner seemed
legion.
But I knew the show must go on! Despite my personal and
professional challenges (including a 50% pay-cut when I left Wise Guys), I
showed up Monday through Saturday at my seven weekly clubs. In Winter 1999,
with sights set on our revamped show and our 4th IJA Festival trip, I led a
campaign among my 50 jugglers to re-name our company. Our top three choices
were “Edina Youth Juggling Company,” “Juggle Jam,” and something Wendy
proposed: “Jugheads.” Whereas the older kids preferred the suburb-specific
moniker, the younger Rec.-level kids overwhelmingly voted for “Jugheads,” and
that name stuck. The 3rd option was adopted to re-name our show.
That April, I took Wendy to an all-star figure skating show
for her 30th birthday. Right out of the gate, the pros appeared on the ice in
solos and groups, performing samples of their most difficult and entertaining
moves. Earlier that year, I had purchased a CD by The Brian Setzer Orchestra,
and his big band revamping of “Rock This Town”especially grabbed my attention.
With less than two months to go, I used that song to create our first Juggle
Jam grand opener. All 50 Jugheads juggled together along club-based lines with
intermittent solos of our top performers. That year also began my director’s
cold opener, preceding “Rock This Town” by introducing JJ’s 1-5 as Jesse
Ventura, Rod Serling, Jed Clampett, Gandalf, and Elwood Blues.
In addition to our cold and grand openers, JJ1 saw Wendy
greatly upgrade my vision of an awards ceremony set to Rudy music as seen in
‘96 & ‘97. With the help of parent volunteer Scott Harr, she took portraits
of each Jughead, typed in my awards, and created a presentation (including
group shots and candids) underscored by “Rudy: Main Title” by Jerry Goldsmith and
“Stay Gold” by Stevie Wonder. This solved my emotional inability to read the
awards live, and even adults with no Jugheads in JJ1 cited the Slide Show as a
highlight.
I have tried to instill patriotism in my Jugheads from the
start, before it was either cool or controversial. I choreographed “The Stars
and Stripes Forever!” for The Performance Team in JJ1 which we took to the MN
State Fair Amateur Talent Contest Semi-Finals. I repeated that routine in the
wake of 9/11 with JJ4’s re-named Ultimate Club. (FYI: P.T. in JJ’s 1-3 was
audition-based; U.C. is standards-based.)
In 2000, I formed my first SLT to help plan the show. The
SLT felt strongly to trace our new-and-improved show’s numerical name to our JH
independence, not to our trilogy of W.G. shows. Hence, Juggle Jam 2000 (aka
JJ2) graced two evenings that May, wherein we had 3rd graders for the first
time. It wasn’t until JJ3 that I finally moved our shows to a Fri.-Sat. night
tandem, less concerned with families who had cabin conflicts or other seasonal
duties. As far as rosters, we jumped to 70 kids in JJ3, 100 in JJ4, and 120
Jugheads in JJ5!
An especially heart-warming aspect of those early Juggle Jam
years was the number of kids who started with me as Wise Guys and continued
several years as Jugheads, steadily expanding our age range: 9th, 10th, 11th.
Next month, I’ll feature the joy of running the gamut of high school, fueled by
hearty rosters, international awards, persistently involved parents, and the
depth of our members’ commitment, fulfilling my calling and dream of
self-employed, mentor-based youth work.
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