IJA Juggling Championships

Scot Nery is a renowned entertainer, host, and curator. He performs regularly at private and industry events for Fortune 500 companies — from major film studios to Delta, McDonald’s, and Mattel. The great Robin Williams called Scot “Splendidly surreal!” Scot has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, at the HBO Comedy Festival, in films for Disney and Sony, including the hit horror spoof Scary Movie 5. He is a featured performer for Cirque-a-Palooza, produced and directed by Stefan Haves, a director for seven Cirque du Soleil productions who calls Scot “Sensational in every sense!”

Scot’s success grows out of a lifetime of preparation and performing, which began at age seven with a neighbor teaching him to be a professional magician. By age eleven, he was getting paid to perform at birthday parties and banquets. He taught himself to juggle, ride a unicycle, clown and mime.

After high school, a mentor sent Scot on a journey into the most challenging and effective entertainment school possible — street performing. He packed all of his possessions in the trunk of his car and toured the United States, honing his craft and pushing boundaries thru thousands of shows for large public audiences. The tour included the streets of New Orleans, New York City, Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and more – often performing 5 or 6 shows a day.

In 2001, his work drew the attention of country music megastars Brooks and Dunn who invited him to tour with them as their opening act– playing 15,000 seat amphitheaters in more than 40 states across the U.S.

Scot’s relentless experimentation in unpredictable circumstances led him to discover his signature acts with pancakes, duct tape, knives, buckets and other odd objects. His success in public spaces lead to his success on the stage… like Crash Course, an eccentric cooking show that the San Francisco Chronicle described as “Emeril meets Johnny Knoxville!”

Scot continues to perform live, in the United States and worldwide — most recently in Scotland, England, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand. Scot is also also developing a number of projects for film, television and the web. Scot Nery’s Boobietrap is his weekly stage show in Hollywood running since 2015. Boobietrap is the #1 show on TripAdvisor in all of Los Angeles. It received “Best of” in both L.A. Weekly and Los Angeles Magazine and is a favorite of celebrities, circus performers, and audiences alike.

His work on TV, movies, and videos continues to grab attention from audiences and critics. Comedian Howie Mandel told Scot “You are funny and talented!” EventMakers’ Guy Genis says, ”Scot is one of the most hilarious comedy & variety acts that I have experienced in my 20 years of event planning… USE HIM! He is the best.”

I started juggling in 2017 with the start of college. I am good at rolling devil sticks with my body.

From Sakai, Osaka, Japan.

Kathryn has been a professional juggler in the Baltimore-Washington area for over a decade working at a variety of events and venues. For the last 6 years she has also worked as a massage therapist with a specialty in Thai massage. Kat first fell in love with contact juggling before attending her first IJA festival in 2008 held in Lexington, Kentucky. Since then she’s been influenced by so many amazing characters in the juggling community to continue developing her juggling abilities with a wide array of juggling props. Now, of course it is Kat’s juggling with bowler hats that have best shown her unique talents and style as a juggler. In 2018, she had the honor of performing with hats for the IJA’s Welcome Show and hopes to be back on an IJA stage soon again to show her continued dedication to the juggling arts. To see what she’s been working on lately you can follow her on Instagram as @thejugglingkat.

From Ellicott, Maryland, USA.

I aim to give inanimate objects life. Show that they can be so much more than their intended purpose. A countertop can be more than a surface to make a sandwich on. A microwave could warp physical properties. And perhaps a ceiling fan could even be a supermassive blackhole. This is how I think of juggling.

From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Pun Ho Lam. Kendama performer. Member of Hong Kong Freestyle Kendama Association and HKDamaBro. Ho Lam has been practicing kendama since 2015. Upon winning the YJB Juggling Battle and several prominent national kendama competitions in 2018, he became committed to improving his juggling performances. He is talented at integrating different juggling tools and tricks into kendama performances. Ho Lam participated in Tai Kwun Circus Plays – Tìng-Koo-Ki Mad Skills Battle consecutively in 2021 and 2022. At present, he teaches kendama in various schools and organisations.

From Kwai Chung, Hong Kong.

Juggling since 10 years of age, Matt Walmsley is a passionate and dedicated performer. He has been a member of the IJA since 2019. Matt has trained under Spencer Androli and has been a sponsored juggler for Josh Horton’s Juggling Warehouse. He has performed at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts and has competed at the Pocono Juggling Festival.

From Pottstown, Pennsylvania, USA.

I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I started my circus training at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts. I attended my first IJA festival in Springfield, Massachusetts in 2018 and performed in the Youth Showcase. In the summer of 2019, I was a part of the Circus Smirkus Big Top Tour. For the past couple years, I’ve been training at the Juggling Garage in Wynnewood, and now I’m excited to be going to my second IJA festival!

From Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, USA.

Leona Barocas is a 17-year-old juggler and circus performer from St. Paul, Minnesota. She began circus training in kindergarten and narrowed her focus to juggling in the seventh grade. Barocas currently performs with Circus Juventas and the Jugheads Ultimate Club.

From St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.

The Jugheads are working on the juggling heist of the century. Working in stealthy teamwork, the fourteen accomplices must retrieve the red props from the vault with minimal mistakes and the utmost dexterity—all in less than eight minutes before the next security rotation.

From Edina, Minnesota, USA.