How does juggling fit into the rest of your life? You're a full-time college student, too.
Juggling is what allowed me to come here, to this country, and that's how I make my money and that's what I love doing. I probably spend two and a half to three hours a day practicing. And I also do quite a bit of strength training and endurance.
So you treat your juggling like a sport, then.
Yes, I do. It might sound kind of strange to you, but there are actually juggling competitions where jugglers compete. It's a lot like gymnastics or figure skating. Jugglers present their routines, and the best one wins.
So how did you start juggling?
When we were little, our parents tried to keep us occupied with a wide array of activities, because the first 15 years of my life I spent in Russia, right after the fall of the Soviet Union, and that was not a very stable time. So our parents thought it was important that we were busy doing stuff, as opposed to being out in the streets and getting into some sort of trouble. My sister and I juggled at a circus club, and did acrobatics and hand-balancing types of things. Also, I played piano, I did a lot of math and science, and learned languages. And we did a lot of exercising, just to stay in shape.
So when did juggling go from being a fun hobby to a possible career?
By the time I was 16 and my sister was 12, we broke our first world record, for passing clubs. That was a big breaking point where we thought we could use our skills to get out of Russia, and so we did. We were later given green cards here because of juggling. So that's worked out well for us. Later, my sister stopped juggling as much and I started doing it on my own. I did a bunch of street performing, actually. But I haven't done it in a while. I just do corporate things, and commercials -- and speeches, now, apparently, too!
What is it like to be possibly the best in the world at something so esoteric and also very playful? What does it mean to take this thing that people do for entertainment and really turn it into your life's work?
Well, I think it's important that in our community everyone does something specific really well. You're a journalist -- you write stories. You probably write stories really well. And I'm a juggler; that's what I do. I throw and catch stuff really well.
I also find it important to keep it in perspective – just because I've learned to juggle really well and I've been getting all this attention for it – that all you're really doing is just juggling. You know, you're not, like, a doctor or a fireman or something, where you're risking your life and saving people, you know? So it's important to keep your head level.
What is your talk going to be about?
I am going to talk about my outlook on the world and on how you acquire skills, because juggling has taught me a lot, surprisingly. It really has a lot to do with acquiring skills and the relationship between success and the skill set that you have. Just because you're really good at something doesn't mean you're going to be successful with it. You also have to have a lot of stuff to accompany your skill to be successful. You can't just juggle really well -- you also have to have a lot of charisma and presentation and stuff. Also, lots of luck.
I'll talk a bunch about talent, because a lot of people seem to think that there's this innate capacity of learning that you have when you're born, and you can only do so much with it. And I think that's greatly overrated. I do think that there's some component to how good you're gonna get that depends on your natural ability, but most of it is hard work.
What are some of those things juggling has taught you?
Well, the biggest thing is the value of hard work. Basically, the idea that if you work hard and you put enough effort into something, then you're gonna get good at it. Which, I guess, is a pretty simple thing to learn, but I find that a lot of people don't get it, especially in this country -- people are just kinda floating around and not really doing anything.
So you're going to teach Americans something about the importance of hard work?
Hopefully (laughing). That's the plan.
