Whether we try to define juggling or refuse to define it, we cannot deny this word makes sense. If juggling means something to jugglers, as well as to those who no longer practice it or do not practice it, then it seems necessary to deal with it from as many different points of view. This is the challenge of the journal Jonglages.
Using the term jonglages does not mean saying goodbye to juggling. Indeed, the plural form of the word expresses the desire to embrace the diversity of dimensions that this activity covers. When we refer to juggling, we are considering the plethora of gestures and situations that can correspond to different fields. We also consider the countless elements that can be juggled, as well as the more or less floating meaning of other words that are part of the rich lexical field of juggling, whether in French or other languages. Anyway, privileging the expression jonglages has the interest of pointing out a multiplicity of relationships to the world we construct, maintain and represent with the help of juggling. In this perspective, the journal Jonglages follows in the wake of the activities implemented by the Maison des Jonglages.
Since 2008, people interested in juggling practices and works come to the Rencontre des Jonglages organized by this association. As a continuation of this festival, whose programme is dedicated to enriching the vast panorama of juggling creation, the journal Jonglages contributes to bringing this artistic landscape to light. After a specialized literature, this publication responds to the wish to make a rich, varied and dispersed knowledge accessible to a wider readership. While questioning and nuancing what constitutes the heritage and the representations that one would have of juggling, it thus meets a main objective: literally reviewing the initiatives that make or have made juggling, without nevertheless claiming to cover them exhaustively. With contributions relating to approaches that show points of view on juggling, it aims more particularly to highlight the artistic dimension of juggling.
The journal Jonglages is supported by the team and the board of the Maison des Jonglages, as well as by the members of its editorial committee. Since 2019, many people contributing to the development of juggling have participated in exchanges with the aim of defining and deepening an editorial line. In addition, anyone with a keen interest in juggling is invited to contribute, whether they are a juggler or not. This bias is reflected in the modular architecture of the journal Jonglages as well as in the different media and supports that are used. Thus the diversity of the genres of contributions already published (article, interview, essay, novella, interview, sound documentary, improvisation), as well as the different types of dialogue experimented since the first steps of the journal (round table, conversation, workshop).
No order is fixed to enjoy each of these contributions. We even recommend random reading to start with, hoping that some of the content will shift your interest in juggling, and that you will be able to travel intensively along paths you had not previously imagined. Finally, we hope that this field of study, experimentation and discovery can be yours in the future. Any proposal is welcome, whether it is a contribution or a suggestion for a theme, a question or an observation that lead to discussion, an approach, a protocol, a game to try out. Maybe you already have in mind some names of contributors you would like to meet, read, listen to, or even watch juggling…