Ted Baumhauer, Ed.D.

For a juggler, appreciation can come as a compliment, an unsolicited Wow!, or the applause of a thoroughly entertained audience. In this article, Ted reflects on how accepting appreciation is a good skill for any juggler.

What got this originally kicking around my brain was going to my very first Renegade Show at the IJA Festival in Iowa. I was talked into going to the late show Wednesday night. If you were in the Renegade tent that night you were treated to some phenomenal cigar box tricks by Daisuke Hagiwara.

What really struck me was Daisuke’s reaction to the audience. It was such a pure reaction from both him and his new fans. He soaked in their appreciation of his skill and in a very honest way gave it back to them. There was nothing rushed and nothing forced, it was just a moment of acceptance for both performer and audience.

If you have the DVD of the 2005 IJA Festival, it’s worth looking at again. Over the last couple of months as I’ve studied it in hopes of finding a new juggling trick or two, I began to notice that the Japanese performers were exceedingly good at accepting appreciation.

In the Juniors Competitions, Takashi Kikyo’s confidence of being accepted by the crowd came through from the moment he stepped on to the stage. Kazuhiro Shindo exited the stage fully acknowledging the appreciation of the crowd, while clearly still in character. In the Seniors Competitions the enthusiasm of the Kikyo Brothers and the calm manner of Ryo Yabe were still part of their performance at the end as they took in the gratitude of the spectators. Not only are all these performances worth watching again, it is also worth looking at and learning from how they finished and left the stage.

A quick Google on “responses to compliments” shows that some research has been done on this topic. These studies found that it is common for some people to reject the compliment, question the accuracy of it, and/or explain why it isn’t deserved. We’ve all seen, and I know I’ve been, a juggler that rejected a compliment. How you handle it in the gym or in practice is different from when you are performing. When you perform, you ask for the attention and the audience agrees to give it to you. That creates a relationship.

I went back to Google with a different search. This time I typed in “accepting a compliment as a performer.” Here I found some information that was more interesting and useful. From a belly dancing web site (Madam Mozuna's Bargain Basement Guidelines):

Whether you personally are capable of accepting praise or not you need to realize that the audience has a valid need to express itself to you. You initiated the exchange between yourself and your audience. You owe them the opportunity to tell you how they feel and what they think. Here’s a tip if you find yourself uncomfortable accepting a compliment, graciously allow them to express their enjoyment to you as part of your performance. Think of it as follow through on your exit. Smile, listen and say, “thank you very much.” Or turn the praise back on them with something like “Thank you that’s very kind of you.”