Juggling Meets Future

I went to MIT last night to see The Shoebox Tour, a performance by a traveling troupe of avant-garde jugglers, organized by a local Globe stringer who’s wife just demolished the all-time Tetris record. Really.

What’s avant-garde juggling, you ask?

All of the performers are fantastic, but the heart of the show is two Japanese teenagers who don’t speak English, appear to weigh about 75 pounds each, with orange hair and giant sunglasses, doing things with rings, balls and clubs that don’t seem physically possible, and giving audience members a dollar for every time they drop something.

Most of the time it bears little resemblance to juggling as you know it, and looks more like someone found two badass two Japanese breakdancers who’ve never actually seen conventional juggling, and then made them juggle. You missed the live show, but you can still get a taste of Shoebox’s act here and here. It’s mind-blowing. Besides, it’s Friday, it’s not like you’re going to be doing any work.