On Mar. 1 and 2, the Carleton Juggling F.I.S.H travelled to MONDO, the Twin Cities’ juggling and unicycling convention. This marks the 36th year of what mondofest.org describes as “the largest, annual gathering of jugglers, unicyclers and yo-yo enthusiasts in the Midwest.”
The weekend kicked off on Saturday with the 36th MONDO Variety Spectacular, which six Carleton students attended. The show was performed in the O’Shaughnessy Theater and featured truly a variety of acts. Some performers were local: the Twin Cities Unicycle Club performed a routine they were preparing for national competition, with riders ranging from ages eight to early 70s; the REACH Youth Juggling club, an after-school juggling studio, performed a circus interpretation of “Beauty and the Beast;” Gabriel Cole-Brant, who described himself as “born in Minneapolis to two clowns,” jump-roped while riding a unicycle. The majority of performers were professionals who traveled in from far-reaching states: Internationally-known hula-hooper Amy Wieliczka put on a hoop and juggling act; and Chicago-based Eric Sipo used props he crafted to present an inventive combination of poi and juggling, two different circus skills.
When asked her favorite part of the night, Juggling F.I.S.H treasurer Claire Sniffen ’26 said “You’ve got to say Delaney Bayles, you gotta.”
Bayles is one of the most technically skilled jugglers alive. She holds a number of world records and was the first person to win all three divisions of the International Juggling Association’s stage competitions. She was voted the most popular juggler of the year in the Top 40 Jugglers List from 2020 to 2022. As Bayles executed her act, topping it off with a seven-club juggle, the awe in the room was palpable.
“It’s one of the best parts of the year, every year. This is my second time here, and I’m glad to be back. It’s just like I never left. It’s the same people, the same atmosphere. But it’s still exciting, it’s not boring,” said F.I.S.H Head of Outreach Nick Placksin ’27.
“With the teaching program dropped, we needed something to lift our morale, boost our spirits,” said Ryan Bernstein ’26, F.I.S.H co-president. “And you know, getting in the broader Twin Cities area, seeing what the juggling world is like and putting our name in it — we have some alumni here today which is really cool — and just getting involved in the broader community of juggling in Minnesota, it’s a very special thing to be part of each year.”
“It’s fun coming back and you see a lot of the same people who come every year,” said co-president Camilla Smith-Donald ’26. “Watching them grow up over the years — there’s a lot of kids here who come with their families. Seeing people you’ve seen in previous shows working on new tricks.”
One club member, John Diehouse ’28, took advantage of the free-to-try bank of unicycles and rode on an eight-foot-tall unicycle. Despite injuring his finger in the gears, he described his first MONDO experience as “pretty sick.”
Sadie Levitan ’28 enjoyed the abundant resources of skills and mentors at the convention, saying that her favorite part was “probably learning from people who are really, really, really good at what they do.” She told a story about working on a difficult trick called wheelwalking in which you ride by moving your feet along the tire instead of pedaling. A woman approached her and gave Levitan advice about her posture, which helped with the trick greatly.
Many of the performers from the night before were present, teaching workshops, participating in workshops and simply juggling with the community.
“It was really fun to be able to see all these people,” said Placksin. “I’ve seen them on Instagram and in the movies and the TV shows and it’s just so cool to see them come from the screen into reality.”
“Delaney Bayles was here and we got to watch her,” said Berstein. “The way she handles the clubs is like something I’ve never seen … a fluidity that can only be obtained through thousands and thousands of hours of practice. It’s actually like another dimension, it was very inspiring.”
Many F.I.S.H members said combat juggling was the highlight of the day. Combat juggling is a sport where players juggle three clubs each while they attempt to interfere with other players to make them drop their clubs. One player might throw two of their clubs high, use their third to swing at somebody else’s juggling, then try to catch their own clubs to maintain their pattern. It was played in a large group, with the last player standing declared the winner.
Three Carleton students joined in the combat: Ryan Bernstein, Nick Placksin ’27 and Jack Comfort ’27, who is props manager for the F.I.SH. The rest of the club cheered them on.
“There were some sharks out there in the ring today, but we got after it, we fought, we represented. We’re just fish here, you know. It’s hard to hang with some of the best but we put in a great effort. Jack and Nick are our studs, and we represented Carleton out there,” said Bernstein.
“I felt the pressure for sure. When you get into the 1v1 finals, it gets to you,” Comfort said. “You grow up watching these people, it’s an honor to be in the same court as them.”