EJC

My girlfriend and I just came back from the European Juggling Convention (EJC). It was the first EJC for each of us. I learned juggling 3 balls as a kid and then picked up clubs during COVID lockdowns after seeing ICE CREAM by Wes Peden. I stumbled on combat juggling videos by Luke Burrage, titled EJC fight night. I’ve been meaning to go to EJC for several years: now I finally went. My partner joined me despite not knowing how to juggle. The EJC is in a different European country each year, this year’s EJC 2026 was in Ptuj, Slovenia 1st - 9th of August.

After arriving by train we queued for registration under the searing sun for ¾h. With just a cap I stood out amongst the EJC veterans that came prepared with wide brim hats and neck flaps. We quickly realized how international the EJC was, we were queuing next to Irish, Americans and Canadians but a surprising amount of attendants were German (I’d guess >60%. EJC unfortunately doesn’t publish nationality statistics). The Slovenian opening night we missed due to a headache. The first night we spent with ~30 ants in our tent because we unknowingly brought them in with a backpack. Fortunately we only realized after waking up.

During the days it had up to 35°C, so everybody was trying to stay in the shadows. Combined with there being not enough working showers for ~2,600 people, we quickly figured out our routine of getting up early to take a shower at 7 AM in the 24/7 gym, juggling a bit, getting breakfast at the nearby supermarket, eating it outside and then going back in a for a bit of juggling before leaving the gym that became too hot and packed. Besides training and passing there were many workshops happening in the gyms. I did a Shiva Passing workshop and my girlfriend a ball juggling basics workshop.

Ptuj is a lovely and picturesque town. On the 5th day we went up to the castle that’s overlooking the campsite and were stunned both by the view and the highline walkers.

My favorite shows were Wes Peden’s Rollercoaster, Fight Night finals, Les Objets Volant’s street show, and the open stage act by Suzuka Inada and Takehiro Nagaoka. The Fight Night finals was the most exciting live sports event I’ve ever seen. Even though these jugglers were world-class, they were just regular attendants and you’d run into them in a park, when cooking or shopping. I asked Wes where he’d bought his Radler and told him he had inspired me to start with clubs. Most shows were also enjoyed by the locals who were now suddenly living in a juggling hub.

The convention finale, the Gala Show, was also great: I particularly enjoyed Hilary Iong’s diabolo, Sebastian Berger’s sticks and Ariane Öchsner’s foot juggling. The audience however wasn’t the only thing clapping that night: after midnight a thunderstorm caused panic in the campsite. Many people fled to the gym because their tent setup or their trust in it was lacking. A Hungarian friend was evacuated and took his watter bottle … and his juggling clubs (and later told of the weird gym situation that some people wanted to sleep while others were juggling). We stayed dry in our tent.

Coming back from EJC Vienna has become boring: I’m missing the extraordinary that at EJC had become the ordinary. But I can now appreciate some more boring things like toilets that always have toilet paper, soap/water and lockable doors. We’ll skip the next EJC since it will take place in Azores mid-Atlantic but we’re both juggling inspired and are looking forward to another (continental) EJC.