Bravo Juggling presents: Stick Heroes / 2012. 05.
Lund thinks of himself as lazy if it's not about juggling however in this area he develops his skills without stopping. He has been constantly seeking new devilstick tricks and combinations for more than 10 years.
Name: Lukas Emanuel Reichenbach
Age: 21
Nationality: German
Place you are living: Freiburg
Your job/school: I used to study Biology for three semesters but now I stopped that to focus on my juggling. At the moment I have a mini-job, juggle on the streets and prepare myself to audition for different circus schools next year.
How many years have you been juggling with devilsticks: For 11 years now
Number of devilsticks you have: I have 3 devilsticks and 2 firedevilsticks, but i´ve broken and thrown away quite a lot (maybe 20).
Your juggling achievements (prize / performance / trick that you are proud of / etc.):
I won the IJA-Ezines Juggling Haiku Contest this year and I got featured on juggling.tv twice which makes me pretty proud. I performed at some german juggling conventions including an Open Stage act at the EJC in Munich this year.
Other juggling equipments you play with:
I do a little bit of everything and a little bit more with balls.
Are you member of any team/group/club/association:
I´m a member of the local juggling club at Freiburg.
Please write some sentences of yourself in general:
I´m kind of a lazy person if it´s not about juggling, I enjoy music and I like to read as well as hanging around outside with friends.
Why did you choose this juggling tool and where did you first meet with it?
I saw somebody performing a devilstick act at a local circus projekt when I was ten and was so amazed that I wanted to start immediately.
Where did you learn playing with devilsticks?
My mother knew somebody who could play some devilsticks and who worked at a youth center where he also kept some juggling stuff, I visited him and he showed me the basics… Then I started practicing.
Which trick did you find the most difficult to learn?
Balances and the double idle/tictac
What are you practicing at the moments?
At the moment I practice Balances, the Double Idle/TicTac and some of it´s Variation, I still work on the anti-tictac, a concept which Eljoh Sneep (now Nikki Sneep-Snijders's husband) showed me in Joensu, where you do a tictac hitting/catching the devilstick on the inner side of the devilstick instead of the outside.
Do you have tricks that you invented?
I have tricks I have invented where I later found out others invented them before me and I have some where I still think they are my original creations. I´m also a fan of letting others invent tricks for you so i´ll use this to thank everybody who ever told me to do “this trick”.
What are your favorite tricks?
I prefer tricks with 1 stick over 2 devilstick tricks most of the time. I really like to create mixed patterns from juggling patterns and devilstick tricks, I love wristrolls and hooks but to be honest my favorite trick is and will propably ever be the basic 1 devilstick idle/tictac and all of it´s varations.
What are the most difficult tricks you can do?
Sometimes I get clean runs of antictac and there are some combinations with elements I took from club manipulation that are really hard but the most difficult tricks are always those that I just learned a few days ago.
What is the most difficult trick that you would like to learn?
A double propeller with a devilstick balancing on my nose and another one on my food would be great. :D
In what style do you play and what other styles do you like?
When I started I just learned tricks without thinking about style, later Markus Furtner was a great inspiritation and he also helped me a lot when we met at conventions. Then came a point where I tried to do something new and to find my own tricks and style. In this phase I was inspired by the club manipulation style which became quite popular in the last years but I was also willing to incorporate everything in my style that caught my eye.
Now I try to keep a mix between calm and slow tricks and more energic tricks like 360s and to show a wide variety of different trick types.
I don´t think I dislike any style but it´s important to me that somebodies style comes from within and fits his character.
Do you play with firesticks as well?
I can but normally I don´t. I think devilsticking with invisible handsticks just aint much fun.
What do you do on a normal day, how many hours do you practice?
I wake up in the morning and decide if the weather is good enough to do some street juggling, if so I´m devilstickin in the sun for 2 or 3 hours but without really practicing any new tricks. If not i´ll go to the gym and work on devilsticks and balls for 2 hours or so.
After that i´ll make a break, eat something and then later have another juggling session or do some strength training in the gym.
In the evening I normally participate in some courses at the moments these are improvisation theatre, ballet, and the local juggling club meeting but i´m looking forward to add some more like acrobatics and maybe another dance or theatre thing.
How and where do you practice?
I practice in my garden or if the weather is bad in a gym.
I have two different types of training between which I choose instinctly. Sometimes I just listen to good music, go with the flow and do whatever comes to mind. If I practice like this I do more combinations and search for new things to practice.
The other way of training is to take a special trick type like double idle, anti tictac, balances etc. and practice tricks of the choosen type for one song, then I choose another trick type for the next song.
Do you perform with devilsticks?
I often perform at the streets, but it´s not really an act but more of a technical show off which is an awesome training so I guess that doesn´t count. Sometimes I perform at juggling Conventions and if I get any other opportunities I perform there, too. At the moment I am working on two stage acts. One is more technical the other one is more comedic, based around a real long joke and 2 devilstick endurances which is really fun to perform. I hope to get more chances to perform and maybe earn a little money with it once they are ready.
Do you teach juggling?
Not on a regular basis. I have given some workshops and if I see somebody learning devilsticks near me I normally walk up and show them some basics.
Why do you like devilsticks?
They just feel good, and it´s amazing how much you can do with nothing more than three sticks, also they allow a lot of movements which adds a lot to the great flowy feeling you get while playing them.
What are your strong/weak points?
Balances, 2 devilstick “siteswaps” and the double idle are my weak points at the moment, my strong points are wristrolling tricks and the combination of different trick types.
What kind of devilsticks do you prefer to use?
I like heavier sticks without flowers but I guess I could get used to any other stick. I never really used flowersticks but I am thinking about buying some to get kind of a new input.
How is juggling life in Germany? Are devilsticks popular?
Juggling life in Germany is great, there are lots of juggling clubs and conventions as well as a lot of great jugglers.
Devilstick has became pretty popular, a lot of people at least give it a try and most good jugglers can do the basics even if they don’t really practice devilsticks which is pretty sad. There are also a lot of really good devilstickers here. When I started devilsticking 10 years ago there was barely no one (except Markus Furtner) who could do the double propeller, now there are some at almost every convention.
Tell us a funny story related with devilsticks.
Once there was a drunk man in the tram next to me who was pretty hard to convince that my devilsticks weren’t baseball bats, another time there was a young english boy watching me when I was busking who couldn´t stop yelling “amazing” in a funny accident, which gave me a hard time not to start laughing.
What is your goal related with devilsticks? What is a challenge for you?
My goal is never to stop find new tricks, combinations or ways to present devilsticking. The challenge is to consistently get better.
How do you imagine yourself when you are old? Will you still juggle?
I´ll be an old man with a huge beard sitting around in the park and playing a little bit of devilstick from time to time. At least that´s what I hope.
Can you imagine not juggle devilsticks any more?
No.
Who do you recommend devilsticks for?
Of course for everybody but mainly for advanced jugglers (especially club manipulators) who want to try something new.
What do you advice to beginner/advanced devilstick players?
Have fun! And if a trick doesn’t work for too long, practice something else and try the trick again next year.