silly injured fat guy, pirouettes are for kids! {Steve's farewell to pirouettes}

Music by: Quix*o*tic.

I've had a long love/hate relationship with pirouettes. When I first started juggling and watching juggle vids on youtube, I literally laughed out loud watching people do pirouettes. It looked so completely ridiculous. From my "beginning juggler" point of view, I thought juggling was hard enough without trying to spin around like a god damn ballerina. Eventually, I tried a few 3ball 1up 360s, and I decided to learn the 3up360. It was far more challenging than I would have imagined, and that personal challenge is the only thing that really drove me to practice pirouettes at all for my first couple years of juggling... That, and also because everyone else was jumping off the bridge too ;)

Despite countless hours of practice, and being able to successfully do several 360 variations with 3-6 balls, I never felt very comfortable with pirouettes. I blame it on my complete lack of balance and grace, and my fat ass... But, even when I got skinny again about a year ago, my pirouettes didn't seem to improve. After a while, I started getting really really really sick of watching people spin around over and over and over **cough, WJF, cough**. Pirouettes were fun for a while, but totally overdone and boring. I became much more interested in complex siteswap patterns, and creative juggling with a lower number of objects.

I actually stopped practicing pirouettes after my most recent knee injury in December of 2009, almost a year ago. I have repeatedly injured the same knee about a dozen times over the last 10 years, and it's totally fucked now. Gaining about 60 pounds since last December didn't really help either.

Today, despite the 100 degree temperature, I went out to the yard for a juggle session. I've been doing a few strengthening exercises for my knee recently, and it's starting to feel a bit less fucked. I thought to myself, "I wonder if I could still do any spin tricks..." So, I tried a few 3ups... easy... Tried a few 4ups... still easy... but not at all satisfying... I am so done with pirouettes...

Then I had the idea to make this video - my farewell to pirouettes!!! I nailed so many of these tricks on the first or second try, which really surprised me. The only trick that took me more than a few tries was the 1hi4lo.

In conclusion; I'm officially done practicing pirouettes, 360s, whatever you wanna call 'em... The only way I would bother to try a spin trick again is if I'm forced to in a game of JUGGLE, or if someone bets me money that I won't do it... or if I'm drunk... I just wanted to make this video today for sentimental and documentational purposes.

This video kinda sucks... I paid very little attention to the framing/lighting/etc, all the tricks are stupid and sloppy, and the video ends with utter silliness... Hope you enjoy it anyway!


P.S. If you don't understand the intro and title to the video, it's a spoof on a very old "Trix" cereal commercial, with the catch phrase "silly rabbit, trix are for kids!" The format of "silly (blank), (blank) is for (blank)" has become a common phrase here in the states... I'm not too sure if other countries have Trix cereal or would understand the reference...

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[LearnToJuggleNOW]

Steve, stop complaining about being fat, I would totally date you if I was a girl!

[thegoheads]

@LearnToJuggleNOW Well, too bad your not a girl then, haha

[MadJugglerTV]

ok. I made the other comment because I couln't watch it last night because the internet I steal from my neighbor is really slow... but Steve you are a really good Juggler and you are super good at piro/360's. Seriously. It's hard for me to be serious, but Seriously... you tore it up! did I just see your belly?

[thegoheads]

@MadJugglerTV Thanks, man! I know I'm not completely terrible at pirouettes if I can still pull off sloppy 5ups within a few tries after a year of not trying it, but still, it's a silly trick and I don't really like it. And yes, that was my sexy belly!

[Roma76811]

Very good juggling. One question. You can juggle 8 balls?

[thegoheads]

@Roma76811 I qualified 8balls about a dozen times.. but that was about a year ago. So I guess I could probably still juggle 8 if I wanted to. I don't work on juggling 8 anymore though, just flashes.

[worldjuggling]

and say hello to 360s

[thegoheads]

@747Hero duh?! I think you missed the point...

[Latsohug79]

Totally agree with your take on pirouettes. They are the ultimate example of "juggling peer pressure". Everybody's doing them so they must be cool... The next trend will be juggling on a balance beam or while doing the splits.

[TannerA999]

hahahaha steve, i love how at wjf you were in the corner looking away because everyone was spinning. but yeah, i guess 360s and crap do look kinda silly..... but to me they are fun. but anyway 360s are for losers. its all about siteswaps.

[juggliac]

goodbye stranger, it's been nice, hope you find your paradi-i-ise! Well, that's cool, I hate pirrouettes too... so, way to go, we're in the same boat...

[5bJuggla]

Touching Vid. Goodbyes are always so hard

[TonySteinbach]

Pirouettes are definitely my weakest area (besides rhythm) when it comes to juggling. I've never gotten anything besides a 3b 3 up. So I applaud you, sir.

[aaronthejuggler]

Haha Steve! Every extremely funny video you make you put a song that makes sense to go with it! I love it, keep it up!

[onijuggler]

@worldjuggling This sentence is in steve's description, it makes me laugh 'cause I totally agree with him. It took me a lot of time to have my 5up and when I see WJF videos, it seems sooo easy! 5up 1080, 7up 360, big spinning transitions. That's unfair :-) I begun juggling when I was 20, 4years ago now, I'm jalous of those kids who have such a level now hehe.

[worldjuggling]

@onijuggler Are we being credited for creating spinning?

[jessecjr]

Steve, that was a sweet vid. You've inspired me to keep trying to hit an f'-in 3 ball 3up 360 just one damn time. I'm curious where your gut is from because I detect a slight accent. Great juggling and cool seeing you at IJA. Jesse

[onijuggler]

"After a while, I started getting really really really sick of watching people spin around over and over and over **cough, WJF, cough**." HAHAHA