Article Contributed on: 11/30/2007 8:43:23 AM
I had a well-charged camera for the Three Voices reading at The Vault in Ft. Collins on Nov. 29, not because I planned to take photos there, but because I made my way to the bar after seeing the
Condom Concoction Competition. One event featured a fiction, non-fiction and poetry MFA student from
CSU. The other encouraged safe sex awareness through art made of condoms.
But only one had
Matt France, a CSU student studying English and Japanese, showing off his contact juggling skills. If you've seen the 1986
Jim Henson movie
Labyrinth, you've seen contact juggling in the unforgettable moments where
David Bowie appears to twirl and whirl what looks to be a crystal ball and sometimes a bubble around his gloved hands.
I learned from France that he was doing his mysterious movements with an acrylic ball. And no gloved hands and no crazy 80s hairdo. Of course, he didn't need to try to fit in with Henson's creations.
"I do it everywhere I go, non-stop, probably five or six hours a day," said France, who is originally from Boulder.
He said he started to contact juggle six months ago because "it looked like fun. I enjoy dance and I used to be a raver."
More than mere fun, France has made money from his new skill. He said the most he's pulled in is $250 in three hours -- but he also gives credit to two friends, one a fellow contact juggler and the other a fire spinner, who teamed up with him to earn the cash.
France was kind enough to let me take pictures of him contact juggling. You never know when your camera might come in handy.