World-renowned juggler tosses his way to the top

For professional juggler Jay Gilligan, life is all up in the air and not coming down anytime soon

By Monica Masterson
Collegian Reporter


The crowd didn’t know what to expect, and sometimes he didn’t seem to know either. As far as anyone was concerned, whatever Jay Gilligan’s next move was, it was completely up in the air.

Jay Gilligan began juggling for his family at the age of eight. Now a 29-year-old professional juggler, he travels the world, wowing audiences from Queen Elizabeth to crowds in Korea.

Monday he performed in the Sage Center’s black box, attracting well over 100 people.

Known as a world-famous juggler in the juggling world, Gilligan’s performance on Monday attracted the attention of many self-proclaimed “Jay groupies,” coming from as far as Detroit, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids.


Jerry, a juggler from Grand Rapids, has followed Gilligan’s act since he debuted at 14.

“Jay is a strong technical juggler and what we saw tonight looked like his attempt to draw on European style and mix it with the technical,” he said. “The average person can’t see the difficulty in what he does because he moves so flawlessly in transition.”

The show was set up in a circular arrangement around the audience, causing them to frequently readjust their attention, mimicking a game of musical chairs.

Sporting a mime-like persona, Gilligan conveyed humor through his facial expression and body language.


For each new trick the audience would watch Gilligan’s hands work incessantly as his dark eyes focused intently on the objects in mid-air. Balls, balloons, rings, clubs, toy airplanes circled about the performer, highlighting the very agile efforts of their master.

Junior and Hillsdale College juggling club member Zach Hendrickson described the performance as “pretty mind-blowing” adding that overall it was “visually interesting to look at.”

Juggling tricks ranged from bouncing three balloons on the ground, to juggling at least six clubs while lying on the floor or performing somersaults. Though not perfect, Gilligan’s resilience allowed him to easily improvise when an object would drop and offset his rhythm— the key factor to juggling well.

Gilligan, who juggled many unique beats throughout the show, said that working with music and musicians is the key to perfecting rhythm.


“[When juggling] rhythm is the biggest concern. You have to throw in good time and be conscience about it,” Gillgian said. “It isn’t an intuitive part of juggling. You have to work on it.”

Raised in Arcadia, Ohio, Gillian began performing for audiences around the country as early as high school. He opted to skip college and allowed his talent to lead to him places like Iceland, London, Stockholm, Paris and Asia. Having never formally planned on a juggling career, Gilligan said that he continues because he likes it so much.

“You can’t plan something like this,” he said, “There’s not one way to start a juggling career. You just do it.”

See videos of the show at youtube.com by searching “Jay Gilligan.”