Juggling Seven Beanbags and One ME Degree
Student Juggles Her Way to Fame

The start of JoAnn Swaim?s juggling career was unremarkable. It began with an instructional videotape from her elementary school?s book order club. Using scarves and ?juggleloons??small sand-filled balloons that she made with the help of her father?Swaim learned the basic three-ball cascade pattern. She was eight then, almost nine, and her attraction to juggling was minimal.

?I certainly questioned who would want to learn how to juggle. It really didn?t seem that interesting,? says Swaim, recalling her thoughts before she ordered the videotape. ?But then again, VCRs were new and it was exciting for me to have my own videotape about something. In a way, it could have been about anything; juggling just happened to be there,? she said.

Thirteen years later, this ME student?s juggling prowess has earned her awards in Scotland, Canada, and the U.S. as well as stints on ?Mr. Rogers? Neighborhood? and ?The Late Show with David Letterman.? Her performance credits include the tailgate parties of her college?s president, Graham Spanier of Penn State, University Park, and the inauguration of Pennsylvania governor, Tom Ridge.

?For me this is a great hobby,? says Swaim. ?It is entertaining for me to take three elemental objects and see what I can create out of them. It?s an art form.?

Although it was a bit of luck that as a third-grader Swaim came to possess a juggling videotape, it comes as no surprise that the hook was technology, through the lure of the VCR. As a third-year mechanical engineering major with a 3.9 GPA, she continues to see juggling and technology as having much in common. Jugglers have created a method of numerically describing juggling patterns, which in some instances has led to the realization of new combinations and sequences. And now, computer programs are capable of deciphering these notations and performing them on screen.

Jumpin' JoAnn Swaim demonstrates the trick she invented and aptly named Jumpin' JoAnn.

?I?m not sure many people make that connection, but it is certainly true,? says Swaim. ?It is amazing how many jugglers I run into. Many of my engineering classmates juggle, and I even have one thermodynamics TA who juggles.?

For Swaim, the common thread between mechanical engineering and juggling is the balance between abstract and concrete. Both pursuits place demands upon the intellect and the ability to conceptualize, skills which are tempered by the more practical requirements of visualizing a solution and executing it.

Breaking Limits
Swaim seems to have a grasp on all aspects of juggling. Although a three-months-premature birth left her with impaired eyesight, she can juggle as many as seven beanbags and can even ?flash? eight. (Flashing is like juggling, but going through only one cycle of throws and catches.)

?Due to the retinopathy of prematurity, I only use my right eye, so my depth perception isn?t what it should be,? she says. While that has placed some limits on her?she?s not able to drive?it doesn?t appear to have negatively impacted her juggling. She compensates by keeping juggling patterns low, which, if anything, demands more precision. She doesn?t mind, though. ?For me, this was something I grew up with, so I don?t know anything different,? she says.

Over the summer, Swaim became the first woman to win the Three-Ball Open, a regular competition at the annual conventions of the International Jugglers Association (IJA). The competition is particularly well suited for what Swaim likes most about juggling, the opportunity for artistic expression. Competitors have three minutes to show off inventive juggling routines.

Penn State ME student and juggler JoAnn Swaim teaches her school's president Graham Spanier a few of the finer points.

Jumpin? JoAnn
Likening her juggling style to that of freestyle skateboarders: creative, risky, and aggressive, Swaim attributes her win over the field to a trick she invented called Jumpin? JoAnn, in which, mid-routine, she lets two beanbags fall towards her feet. She then jumps, simultaneously kicking the beanbags?one with each foot?back up to her hands, and continues her routine.

Sometimes new juggling tricks are discovered through numerical notation, experimentation, or mistakes, but that was not the case with Jumpin? JoAnn.

?I came up with the idea and wondered if it was really possible,? says Swaim. ?Surprisingly, the hardest part was coming up with the idea; it didn?t take long to successfully complete the trick, about five minutes. It?s just a matter of having the confidence to try it and really go for a few attempts.?

This isn?t the first time Swaim has won a competition with a patented new move. In 1994, when she was 16 and IJA?s convention was held in Burlington, Vt., Swaim won the Four-Ball Open with a move she calls the Swaim Square. The move is an adaptation of a standard three-ball pattern called the ?U,? in which a juggler alternately tosses two balls vertically, one in each hand, defining the sides of the ?U,? and a third horizontally, between hands, to define the bottom.

?The ?U? is a really neat trick in my opinion because it involves perpendicular motion,? says Swaim. ?I wanted to do a four-ball ?U,? but I wasn?t sure how that would be possible.?

Eventually, she advanced the trick using a favorite technique of hers, multiplexing?the simultaneous tossing of more than one beanbag from a single hand.

One of the vertical throws in the ?U? became a stacked multiplex?Swaim releases the balls so that they stack up in the air, each a few inches above the other. Then, by quickening the remaining hand movements, she is able to sustain a four-ball ?U.?

Juggling her way to fame, JoAnn Swaim does her thing with celebrities (from bottom right), TV and movie star John Goodman, former senator Bob Dole, and TV talk show host Jay Leno.

Critical Acclaim
?I think she?s spectacular from the standpoint of being technical, because what she does is extremely difficult,? said Brady Brown, last year?s chairman of the IJA?s board. ?She is very creative in developing her patterns and in her performance. She is only one of two people I have ever seen do things she does.?

In addition to gaining recognition from seasoned jugglers, Swaim?s flashy juggling antics appeal broadly, landing her gigs at elementary schools, retirement homes, and TV shows. A childhood fan of ?Mr. Rogers? Neighborhood,? Swaim was invited to appear on the show when she was 16, after writing a letter of solicitation and submitting a videotape of her juggling skills.

Three years later, she made an impromptu appearance on ?The Late Show with David Letterman,? when she attended the taping of an episode. Before the show began, Letterman fielded questions from the audience. When Swaim asked if she could juggle on that evening?s show she was heckled for carrying beanbags around with her, but when a scripted segment of the show began to lag, Letterman cut it short and spontaneously invited Swaim to juggle.

?It was fun to appear in television shows like that,? says Swaim, with a little well-deserved pride. ?Definitely exciting.?

Juggling the Future
Swaim chose to study engineering because she excelled in math and science, and wanted to apply them to product development. ?I decided on mechanical engineering because it seemed to be very hands-on. I can really see and understand what is happening,? she says. She also says that watching factory tours aired on ?Mr. Rogers? Neighborhood? helped to establish in her mind a connection between everyday products and the manufacturing process.

How did Swaim transform from a skeptical third-grader mildly intrigued by juggling to an internationally recognized enthusiast? It happened coincidentally. During a visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum, a year or two after buying the instructional videotape, Swaim and her father stumbled upon a convention of the Philadelphia jugglers? club. Unicycles, pogo sticks, and advanced juggling tricks sparked Swaim?s interest and imagination. She began attending their weekly meetings, and the rest is history.

Two mechanical engineering friends of hers have recently taken up juggling professionally, but Swaim doesn?t see that in her future. ?It is nice for me to have the opportunity to dabble in performance every once in a while, but it?s also nice that I don?t have to depend on that for living,? she says. ?For me, it is certainly going to remain a hobby.?

A hobby with no real limits. ?I never get bored because there?s always something new to learn,? she says. ?There?s always one more that I could potentially juggle, and even with three balls there are still tricks that haven?t been invented yet.?