Jason interviews Wes
wes peden
Jason Garfield: Who have been your teachers in Sweden?
Wes Peden: Ivar Hecksner, Katarina Lundmark, Daniel Sudell, Jan
Rosen,�Siri Hamari, Luke Wilson,
Nicklas�Stureberg, Jay Gilligan, Viktor Gyllenberg,�Peter �berg, and�Nalle
Laaneta.
Jason Garfield: Who are the ones that you feel have had the most influence
on you?
Wes Peden: Ivar, Jay, Luke, Daniel, and Siri.
Jason Garfield: How did you view juggling before you went to Sweden?
Wes Peden: Juggling was something that I did for fun and put a lot
of�physical�work into but never
very put much mental work or reasoning behind. I did it because i enjoyed
it and did whatever I found
fun at the time not really caring what came out of that.�
Jason Garfield: How do you view it now?
Wes Peden: Now it's more�important�to me what the result of juggling is
and I am more aware of what
I am doing and why.
Jason Garfield: What are you doing now and why are you doing it?
Wes Peden: I'm doing experiments and research with juggling composition
trying to work more
making the juggling stand on it's own as a interesting thing and not need
other things added to it to
make it good. Along with that I have been trying to find out what is it if
something is being "added" to
juggling verses something that is already part of juggling coming out
more. For example there is
already�rhythm in juggling so if you�emphasize�the rhythm you aren't
adding something to your
juggling you're just highlighting something in it. Also in juggling you
have to move to make it work, if
you�emphasize�the movement it's still part of the juggling just showing a
different aspect of it. I have
also started to work with the idea of expectations but that is a very big
thing that I believe will take a
while to find out all the things I want to know about it.
Jason Garfield: Very interesting and makes perfect sense. Although I
imagine there may reach a point
in someone's creativity where they see something as being part of juggling
that others may not, but as
long as they formed the idea from juggling would you say that it was part
of juggling since the result
originated from juggling? For example, what if someone danced in a site
swap pattern and didn't
juggle at all? The dance choreography is based on site swap patterns
however they're not juggling any
objects. Would that be taking it too far?
Wes Peden: I like dance. I like juggling. I like taking things too far.
Jason Garfield: What do you want to see more of in juggling and why?
Wes Peden: I would like to see more people working on
and�experimenting�with new�techniques�and
taking them�further�than they do at the moment. For example we did
a�research�project in school with
3 ball under the leg and we found a whole bunch of new throw, catches,
and�combination�that I have
never seen done before. This is under the leg we are talking about, one of
the simplest juggling ideas
ever and there was so much in it that no one had done before. I would love
it if people took the time
to do that with other tricks and when they found something interesting
worked on it even if it isn't the
most popular trick to�practice.
Jason Garfield: Would you say this kind of creation could be done with 5
club moves as well as 3 ball
under the leg moves?
Wes Peden: Yes.
Jason Garfield: Is there a technical difficulty minimum or maximum or is
it just to create something
new?
Wes Peden:(A) Well think about it this way- if you are a dancer that is
very very�flexible�and can jump
very high and is very strong, you will have more�possibilities�to find new
things in dance but you may
find the most beautiful thing doesn't need any of those�abilities. Then
again you maybe find
something�incredibly�nice where you need those abilities. I find it the
same with the juggling if you
are better at throwing and catching you have more open to you but it
doesn't mean you have to use it
all. Sometimes a trick looks better with less, sometimes it looks better
with more.�In this instance of
thinking about finding new tricks I would say to go for the�aesthetics as
the important part.�
Jason Garfield: Sure, just because you have a high level of technical
ability doesn't mean you'll always
need to use it, but it will increase your range of potential moves, yes?
Wes Peden: Yeah well that's what I meant by "I find it the same with the
juggling if you are better at
throwing and catching you have more open to you."�
Jason Garfield: Do you have a preference in terms of the difficulty
present in the newly created moves?
For example, would you be just as happy to see new moves done with 5 clubs
as you would be to see
new moves with 3 ball under the leg throws?
Wes Peden: It depends�completely�on how it looks.
Jason Garfield: Perhaps the experimentation with under the leg throws
could lead to new moves with 5
clubs as well?
Wes Peden: Of course.
Wes Peden:(B) I think the world would be much more interesting if people
put more thought into their
juggling.�
Jason Garfield: Would this also apply to the thought put into new ways of
presenting juggling?
Wes Peden: yes.
Jason Garfield: Do the WJF competitions and ESPN programs qualify as a new
way of presenting
juggling, in your opinion? (Considering what was being done with juggling
prior to 2004)
Wes Peden: yes, I agree that no one had done juggling competitions on TV
before the WJF.
Jason Garfield: What is your definition of creativity?
Wes Peden: Taking away boarders and judgement and allowing yourself to
fail. Making everything
a�possibility�so you can find every option with the goal of finding
a�solution. The hard part come when
you want to pick the best ideas afterwards.
Jason Garfield: What is your definition of originality?
Wes Peden: Thinking for yourself.
Jason Garfield: Agreed, however what if you think of something that has
been done before but you've
never seen it? Do you still see that as original? Do you think you have
the right to perform something
that was created before you created it if you were unaware of its previous
existence? (Not meaning
individual tricks but routine concepts such as passing with yourself using
a video screen or juggling to
a metronome)
Wes Peden: When�Disney first started to get big people started stealing
their ideas and a lot of the
people that worked for Disney told Walt that he should file a lawsuit
on�them or at least tell them to
stop. He said no, and that it was a good thing because it forced them to
keep being creative a make
new better things all the time.�
I'm not saying that stealing is okay, not at all, but I think there are
better ways to deal with it than
getting angry at someone who is doing the same stuff as you.
Jason Garfield: Do you think there's a right way and a wrong way to
present juggling and why?
Wes Peden: Is there a right or wrong frame for a picture? I like the black
one now but a few years ago
I liked the gold one. Both of them can hold the painting.�
Jason Garfield: If you like the black one, would that mean that you think
the gold one is wrong, or just
not your taste at the time?
Wes Peden: I can think of very very few things that are wrong.
Jason Garfield: In other words, if you prefer one way of presenting
juggling does that mean you think
all the other ways are wrong, or just not for you?
Wes Peden: Juggling isn't�religion.
Jason Garfield: Is there ANY way of presenting juggling that you think is
wrong and/or shouldn't be
done in that way?
Wes Peden: Right and wrong are red and blue not death and taxes.
Jason Garfield: Do you think there's anything wrong with someone wanting
to only do juggling moves
they've seen other people do?� For example 4 club scissors, 7 club 360s, 5
ring pancakes. etc?
Wes Peden: No. I also don't find math very interesting.
Jason Garfield: If their taste is in increasing their technical
proficiency and that's all they want to do
with juggling and they'd be perfectly happy with that and are aware of the
other possibilities such as
what you are involved with but have no interest in them, do you see that
as a waste of their talent and
time?
Wes Peden: I don't think anything is a waste of time. Everything takes you
somewhere. If what you are
doing is taking you where you want to go then sweet!
Jason Garfield: How can someone use juggling to change the world?
Wes Peden: The same way someone can use a dance or a painting to change
the world. I believe that
juggling can be just as powerful a�medium as those two. I think that there
is still a long way to go with
it but I believe it has the�possibility.�I think also that it is very hard
for anything to effect on the entire
world and especially in juggling since there are so few people trying to
make good things to present
that�unfortunately�the�possibility�is quite low at the moment.�
Jason Garfield: If juggling were to change the world, what change would
you want it to make?
Wes Peden: I want to improve the world.�People are the world and what
people make�defines�the
world.
Jason Garfield: What change do you think is most likely on a long enough
timeline?
Wes Peden: That's up to the jugglers.
Jason Garfield: Are you no longer interested in juggling competitions?
Wes Peden: The only one I find interesting at the moment is the juggling
battle at the Circus Ruska
Festival. I don't know if that's the only interesting one out there but
that's the one I like right now.�
Jason Garfield: Cool, I've not heard of that one. What are the rules? What
do you like about it?
Wes Peden: The rules change each year but it's only a little more
structured than a break dance battle.
I like that it's more like a show and made around�audience�reaction.
Jason Garfield: If someone is aware of all the styles of juggling (art,
sport, comedy, etc) and has
chosen which one they want to do, is there any reason why they should be
told to do otherwise?
Wes Peden: People can tell people anything they want. It's up to the
person listening to�decide�if they
care or not.
Jason Garfield: I agree that everyone has the right to say what they want.
Do you think someone who's
happy with what they're doing with juggling should be told to do
otherwise? I'm not questioning that
person's right to free speech, I'm wondering if you think the hypothetical
juggler in question needs to
be told to do something different.
Wes Peden: Need? I don't know if anyone needs someone else to tell them
what to do or if they should
tell them what too do or not. Those are two very strong words. I think
people can say what they want
and other people can listen to what they want then everyone can�decide�for
themselves what they want
to do. �
Jason Garfield: When you put together a routine with meaning and purpose,
do you care if the
audience understands what that meaning or purpose is? Why?
Wes Peden: That's different in different acts. Sometimes you want people
to see what
the�inspiration�was, sometime it doesn't matter, and sometimes you don't
want them to see it at all.�
Jason Garfield: Why would you not want the audience to see the meaning in
a routine that you have
created to have meaning?
Wes Peden: If I have pulled�inspiration�for an act from a relationship
that I am�having�trouble with,
using that to base my ideas and�choreography�on. It's only going to make
sense to me why
this�movement�represents that time when we didn't talk for a ling time.
It's not important that
the�audience�sees what's behind it, I only used it to help me find ideas
for the act.�
Jason Garfield: Does this also mean you wouldn't want them to guess
correctly either?
Wes Peden: In most cases there is no way they would but I don't really
care if they do or not.�
Jason Garfield: The objective in this case would be for the audience to
not be able to determine what
the meaning is, yes?
Wes Peden: You can look at an abstract painting and have no idea what
the�inspiration�is behind it but
still have your own ideas about it and enjoy it for other reasons.�
Jason Garfield: Do you want them to know that there's meaning and also not
know what that meaning
is, or do you want there to be meaning and have the audience think that
there's no meaning in it at
all?
Wes Peden: That doesn't matter so much to me.�
Jason Garfield: In order of priority, who are your performances for? The
audience or yourself? Why?
Wes Peden: I don't have personal laws about my performance, I can change
what I do whenever I want.
Most of the time it's a mix. It depends on if it's just something I go do
on the street or on a open
stage I do whatever I want which sometime has me not caring about
the�audience�and sometimes
does. If I am being paid to go somewhere and they want me to do a�certain
thing�of course I will do it
for them. Also sometime the�audience�is coming to see me do what I find
interesting in which case I
am doing a show for me and them. � �
Jason Garfield: I've heard a lot of people refer to your new way of
presenting juggling as being
identical to Jay Gilligan.
Do you mind if some people have stopped identifying your juggling with you
and now think of another
juggler when they see your videos and performances?
Wes Peden: Jay is a very, very smart man and�incredible�at juggling. He's
been making new shows,
directing shows, and doing wonderful�things with his juggling for a long
time. I make videos, go to
circus school, and sing�children's�songs in German. If people think we are
"identical" I don't care very
much at all because it's�obvious�that whoever is saying that hasn't seen
either of our work.�
--
----== posted via www.jugglingdb.com ==----
Jaksi
Good read! :)
lucasc...@yahoo.com
That was Great!
Viveca
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> Maybe you guys will find this interesting.
>
Jason, you do a great interview without arguing or involving yourself (so
hard!), but I'd also be quite
interested in hearing your answers to the same questions if you're willing
to share.
Viveca
GLF00
it seemed like you didn't give a very clear/relevant answer to a question.
I'd use the expression "dancing around the question", except that gives
the idea that you didn't really want to give an answer, which isn't what
I'm trying to say. Maybe "abstractly philosophizing too much" would be a
better term. Not trying to be negative, but felt like I should point that
out.
Chadd Hammer
The Hammer
Koli14
Bekah.Smith
Yeah, I got this feeling too. It was pretty funny, though, how hard Jason
was trying to get a more clear answer. It almost felt at times like he
was really trying to back Wes into a corner with those
clarifications...but overall, it was pretty neutral and interesting to
read. Thanks for posting this!
- Bekah
ultimatewannabe
>
> Maybe you guys will find this interesting.
>
>
Why was he interviewing you? Do you know where this is going to be posted
or who it's for?
Al Teal
>
> Maybe you guys will find this interesting.
>
Good interview, Wes. It is good to watch and hear about your juggling as
it gets better and better, technically and otherwise. Videos are always
appreciated.
Kudos to Jason too.
Al Teal
Warren Hammond
I really enjoyed this interview. To me, the most interesting parts were
actually the "abstractly philosophizing too much" parts. Regardless of
whether or not Wes meant anything by them (and I think he did), they made
me stop and think more than the straightforward answers, and I felt like I
got more out of them that way.
Warren