TEAM HUGGLE was launched in April 2013, by me, Jen Slaw.
I had been hugging since 1978 and juggling since 1991, but did not experience the combination of the two until 2011, when my colleague Michael Karas suggested that we add huggling to part of our show Perfect Catch: A Throw-mantic Comedy. The show uses juggling to tell a quirky boy-meets-girl story, and our brief moment of huggling is one that always elicits several "awwws," giggles and gasps from the audience. On the morning of April 2, 2013, I had the idea to create TEAM HUGGLE and commit to the challenge of huggling at least one person every day for 30 days. Get a taste of the project here. I created a facebook group to invite juggling friends to join me in the challenge and was overwhelmed by the response. By April 30, the group had posted over 100 huggling photos/videos from 9 states and 7 countries! There were photos of parents and children, friends, strangers, co-workers, deaf classmates, even pet and tree huggling, and lots of smiles! In May 2013, Perfect Catch went on tour to Philadelphia and continued the huggling madness by setting three new Huggling World Records! Check out the videos here. In April 2014, it was time for a bigger project. Inspired by the movement of happiness around the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, I embarked on a journey with other members of Team Huggle to create a "Happy Huggling" video, bringing smiles to people all over New York City. The video was released on World Juggling Day, June 14, 2014, and can be seen here. All of this marks only the beginning of my mission to spread happiness, joy and love through huggling, so check back soon for updates and future projects! Maybe Team Huggle will hit your city next! |