By Nicole Cortese and Bill Sanservino
Area residents and visitors may have spotted a new show on the streets in Princeton — interactive juggling street artist and entrepreneur Will Imbert and his regular performances around town.
“Depending on the location, I’ll juggle bean bags, tennis balls, or sometimes balloons filled with sand. Then people will stop or notice, and I’ll encourage them to juggle. I would rather people enjoy themselves and try it themselves than perform,” said the 27-year-old entertainer.
Imbert — who decided to start juggling full-time more than a year ago and created the nonprofit juggling organization Play for Charity — recently received permission to work in Princeton between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and is required to stick to places that do not disturb the right of way.
His “stages” include the courtyard next to the library, near the book reader statue at Palmer Square, and in front of the Running Company and Massimo’s restaurant.
“I do this because I want to maximize free time and I wanted to figure out a way to make money doing something that if I had no obligations, I would do anyway,” Imbert said. “Juggling is that. I think it’s really challenging and I look forward to improving at it.”
It’s also a good way of keeping himself entertained.
“I don’t think my time is worth the expense of many things,” Imbert said. “If I can juggle and entertain myself, and also make money at the same time, then that’s much better than going to a movie or paying for a television.”
Growing up in Westfield, New Jersey, and moving to New York City with his parents, an older sister, older brother, and younger sister, Imbert began his hobby at a young age.
He attributes some of his ambition to his Catholic school roots and following his older siblings’ footsteps to attend tennis camp at the age of seven. After seeing another coach at tennis camp show off his juggling skills, Imbert became inspired to learn as well.
“I went home and practiced with oranges. After about three days of practicing, I could juggle three balls really well,” he said.
Now, Imbert is up to seven balls, but he’s still striving to improve.
“For me seven is like three for most people,” he said. “While my five is better than most people’s three, but I still have room to improve.”
“I also have clubs and rings, but I actually prefer to juggle balls because it’s easier for your hand to work with the balls,” he said.
For an extended period of time, Imbert traveled the world as a preschool teacher in San Francisco, then temporarily lived in Zurich, Switzerland, where he moved in with his brother, who got a job there.
In Switzerland he was able to practice performing keyboard, juggle in public, and make about 70 francs a day.
“Not only are Swiss people rich, they like juggling too, and they have a tradition of craftsmanship. I think it was the best place to do it.”
After being in Switzerland for 90 days before needing a visa, Imbert moved to England for several months and stayed with friends.
With other streets on his resume — in New York City, San Francisco, and even places in China — Imbert is no stranger to performing in public.
However, he does not like to put on a show as much as getting his audience involved.
He said that part of his philosophy is reeling people in with the intention of a fun time, rather than trying to sell them something. He also likes to work based on an honor system, where the audience members judge for themselves the value of his product.
Obviously street performing income is unpredictable.
“A good week would consist of about $280, and that’s what I’m shooting for,” he said. “I could contribute it to the rent; I could pay for my health care, student loans, and food. The most I’ve made in an hour so far is $42, so that’s pretty good.”
Imbert, who currently lives at home with his parents in Princeton, states a very utilitarian reason as to why he juggles in Princeton and not someplace like New York City, where more people might notice him.
“Because my parents have an apartment here,” he said. He also frequently attends free lectures at Princeton University that often have free food available.
“It’s a pretty good situation,” he said. “Food is covered and housing is covered and that gives me more time to get better. Hopefully I’ll take the show on the road someday.”
Imbert stresses the importance of street events as part of a healthy community, and such activities benefit adults and children alike.
“It’s really important having community events going on that people don’t have to pay for. It should be more having chalk out for kids, balls, music, or dance in public, which Princeton does a lot of. The big thing is kids get to play together, and people get to play together.
“When you do something like this, you get to invite people to join and try. It’s not only good for their health and the environment, but it is also good for the community. When I was a kid I didn’t know how to make friends at all; so to get people to interact in a healthy, wholesome way is a really good way for people of all ages to bond and have healthy exercise at the same time.”
The juggler says that he enjoys watching his audience members interact and thinks that it is imperative to have the good along with the bad.
“When you get the kids who are really gifted physically or the kids who are really nice, they’ll take the ball and give it to another kid,” said Imbert. “Then you have the kids who are angry at the world, and that kid gets to see that they’re angry and don’t interact with other people. It’s sort of uncomfortable, but it’s necessary. If you don’t have people interacting, then you don’t get to see what the issues at hand are.”
His said his favorite age to perform for is toddlers and young kids because they have a fun time just rolling a ball around.”
Instead of heading to a computer and using social media, Imbert says he spends his non-entertaining time watching foreign films on the weekend, reading Plato, and striving to live a healthy lifestyle by being physically active.
He has also set an eventual goal for himself: to be able to unicycle, sing, and juggle at the same time.
The world-traveling street artist also has an underlying message in his shows.
“I want to encourage people and kids to participate in things,” he said. “If you see someone playing music or dancing, it’s important to build that ‘I can do it too’ mentality as opposed to ‘Oh wow, that person’s great; I’ll never be able to do that.’ That’s a big part of getting the kids to do something creative in public.”
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