Kerry Chan/Daily Journal
Juggler Ben Farber believes juggling can help improve eye-hand coordination, focus and concentration.







A juggler’s repertoire: Ben Farber to teach juggling at Washington Park for fitness event

July 17, 2015, 05:00 AM By Kerry Chan Daily Journal

As a professional juggler practicing the craft since fifth-grade, Ben Farber, 25, may have developed a mental edge that helps him navigate and respond to life’s challenges and obstacles with readiness and tenacity.

“Life is a juggling act and learning how to juggle helps,” said Farber.

Farber and his wife, Jessica have an 18-month-old daughter and knows far too well the struggles of raising a family on the Peninsula.

Like the balls he passes back and forth seamlessly between his right and left hand, Farber, juggles classes at Cañada College and a multitude of odd jobs and errands so he can pay bills and be able perform and share the joy of juggling.

Farber performs at Pizza My Heart on Fourth Avenue in downtown San Mateo every Tuesday and at birthday parties throughout the year. On Saturday, July 18, Farber will be performing at a Family. Fitness. Fun! event in Burlingame’s Washington Park.

“Juggling for people is a super adrenaline rush, you feel this sense of connection to your audience, and if you do a good job, you can feel their energy, the smile on their face,” said Farber.

While he enjoys the performance of juggling, Farber is just as enthusiastic to teach his passion with others. As the world uses more technology, everything is getting faster and people need to be able to multitask and make quick decisions to keep up, said Farber.

“Juggling is just that, using both sides of your body and brain at the same time,” he said.

As a concerned dad, Farber thinks it would be much safer if kids knew how to juggle and learn to stay focused and respond when they get their driver’s license at 16.

Farber points to studies that have linked juggling with health benefits such as improved eye-hand coordination, focus and increased concentration.

On Saturday, July 18, Farber is excited to show off his passion and talent in a lineup of performers and fitness experts at the Family. Fitness. Fun! event. There will be demonstrations of many kinds, including a Marionette Puppet Show, Gold Medal Martial Arts demonstration, magic show and exercising stations.

Farber will be on site with 60 juggling balls, 20 diablos which are Chinese yo-yos, and three flower sticks ready to teach even the most uncoordinated audience member.

“Learning to juggle three balls is honestly easier that learning how to ride a bike,” said Farber.


The Family. Fitness. Fun! event is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 18 at Washington Park, 850 Burlingame Ave., Burlingame. The event is hosted by the Daily Journal and a complete entertainment schedule can be found at smdailyjournal.com/familyfun.

I found this on http://www.entertainment.howstuffworks.com/juggling11.htm
How old is juggling? A tomb of an Egyptian prince has hieroglyphs showing a group of women toss juggling. Archeologists believe the tomb was built between 1994 and 1781 B.C. So far, this is the oldest depiction of juggling discovered.

Art from Thebes, Greece, Rome, India and Europe displays jugglers performing complex tricks. Written accounts of jugglers date back to 400 B.C. An ancient reference in the Talmud describes Rabbi Shimon ben Gamaliel, who could juggle eight torches at once. You can find jugglers in ancient Irish and Norse literature as well.

Up through the Roman era, it seems that people held jugglers in high esteem. Shortly thereafter, jugglers fell on hard times. People began to think of jugglers as immoral con artists. Written accounts lumped jugglers in with magicians and witches, citing them as corrupt manipulators.

In the medieval period, jugglers returned to popularity in literature and art. Artists drew jugglers throwing an unlikely number of torches or knives. Jugglers were also singers and magicians -- to be a juggler was to be a well-rounded entertainer, and most made their living traveling from one small town to another. The council of Nuremburg, Germany employed a juggler not only as an entertainer, but also a teacher. Juggling had shed its ignominious reputation.

Beginning in the late 1700s, jugglers also became an important act in circuses. Many circus clowns incorporated juggling into their acts, and the two forms of entertainment began to become entwined in the public consciousness. Modern jugglers often gripe about the public perception of juggling as a form of circus entertainment.

W.C. Fields began his career in show business as a juggler.

Juggling also played a big part in vaudeville entertainment in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One vaudevillian juggler by the name of W.C. Fields later became famous for his acerbic wit and grumpy demeanor in numerous films. As vaudeville declined in popularity and circuses became more rare, jugglers began to develop their own stage shows, perform on street corners or become mathematicians.

In 1947, at a convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, a group of jugglers decided that the world needed an organization focused solely on juggling. They formed theInternational Juggling Association (IJA) and held their first independent festival in 1948. Beginning in 1969, the IJA held championship competitions for juggling. Competition eventually included divisions for performance quality, numbers juggling and individual and team performances. In 2000, juggler Jason Garfieldformed the World Juggling Federation, an organization dedicated to securing television coverage of juggling competitions. Today sports channels like ESPN broadcast juggling competitions to a worldwide audience.