Festival Report フェスティバル レポート 2011

USA Juggler or Musician? Oh, yeah, both!!/Dan Menendez

The world cup department champion 2001, Dan Menendez is back!!
He said that he is really glad to come back this festival again and make people happy.
All of a sudden, he starts checking his electoric piano by throwing juggling balls to the keyboard.
Although, at this point, he draw all the attention of the audience already, this is just the beginning of his unique show.

He has been performing as a professional performer more than 30 years.
The reason he wanted to be in this busking world is that he got inspired by his father who is very famous for coaching Muhammad Ali.
His father was also doing magic when Dan was young, which inspired Dan to be a performer.

"What do you think about the audience in Japan?"
"The audience is very different from what they used be. When I came to this festival last time, 10 years ago, people didn't show their
feeling like they do now. They just stared at me performing and they were very quiet even if they were laughing.
But they are more open-minded and laughing than before.
They express their feeling more, which is very good for performers. This is the biggest difference I've got."

The more he throws the balls, the more music plays beautiful melodies.
His action and rhythm is comical, funny and very comfortable so that we can watch it again and again.
Why? Who knows!?

The moment he finished his show, I couldn't believe that he had been performing it more than 20min.
Yes, I was totally in his world as if I was dreaming.
If you love music and juggling, this is the one you can't miss.
So let's play music with him!!

Juicy