The most unique juggling prop I own.

For a long time, all of my shows ended the same way. I used this killer magic trick that was really impressive, and everyone was always talking about it! To summarize, a person's card would disappear. At the end of the show, I would juggle knives and an apple (while simultaneously eating the apple), and at the end, I would cut open the apple to reveal the person's card!

It was a lot of fun, but for me, it wasn't the perfect show ending. It was impressive, but I felt that I was ending my show on too high of a note. I believed the show's ending should slowly bring the audience back to the real world, with some relaxing, easy to follow entertainment. I watched some of my favorite performers and noticed a pattern; many of my favorite acts ended with a musical, non-speaking act. And that's perfect! It's easy to watch, it's fun, and at the end of the routine, it's the perfect way to accept a final applause!

I'm not much of a musician, so I had to get creative if I wanted this kind of ending. After some hard thinking, I decided I wanted to lip sync a song. However, I would not be singing alone; I wanted to end my show with a duet. My partner, of course, would be a singing juggling club.

This idea took over my entire life for weeks. No juggling club puppets existed, so I knew I'd have to make it myself (plus, it needed to match the clubs I juggle in my show). I spent all my time thinking about how I would design the mechanics for the world's first juggling club puppet.

In fact, I was so obsessed, I couldn't even focus in class. I just dug out my old business calculus notes, from my first semester at UCA. You can see what was really on my mind.

But it paid off. After a few weeks of designing, I had a plan. I took one of my juggling clubs to a friend’s house (I had no power tools in my dorm room), and we got to work.

And on that day, November 2nd, 2014, the world’s first juggling club puppet was born. I attached some eyes, and with a thumb-controlled lever on the back, I could open and close the mouth. (If you’re having trouble viewing the GIF, try opening in another browser)

Since 2014, she has changed a lot. She now has hair, lips, and beautiful eyes. And we’ve been performing together ever since. The singing juggling club has turned out to be a great way to end my show, and I never get tired of singing with her on stage.

This photo was taken right before a Christmas performance (notice the jingle bells).

This jacket protects the delicate, moving parts when we travel. What a diva!

One of our earlier performances (before I found a juggling club wig). Can you guess the song we’re singing?

Here, we can be seen back stage, warming up before a performance.