Wit Verus Intellect

The last two weekends have been a whirlwind of work,  a performance retreat (Wildfire) and a working burn-style event (Be the Strange).  At both of these events a common thought popped up at both of them; the differences between artistry, entertainment, and performance.  I have given my thoughts on them before (Performance evolving to entertainment; followed by art) but another thought crossed my mind as well.  One's wit and one's intellect.
We use wit and intellect interchangeably or at least it seems that way in our society (I might just be wrong),  but I feel that they are very separate creatures.  Deep thoughtfulness that leads to exploration of ideas is how I use the word intellect.  One applies ones brain to an issue until that issue is resolved correctly. Wit or Cleverness is the capacity to look at a problem and to quickly come to a solution or response to that problem.
To paraphrase someone I know,  "My Job is to be Clever".  After taking comedy courses and theater classes I know that a lot of time is spent create thoughtful intentful comedy routines or acting choices.  To paraphrase my comedy professor (yes there is one), "someone spills a drink on the stage and "NO ONE" stops to pick it up; so much for suspension of disbelief".  There are also plenty of comedians who have been roasted over open flames for saying something extremely inappropriate (The Host of Tosh 2.0 and his rape jokes comes to mind).
I honestly find it more than a little difficult to be thoughtful and clever at the same time.  When I am in the mindset of being an entertainer (which is more and more as time goes on) I find that I can either be clever regularly and rarely thoughtful or I can be rarely clever and regularly thoughtful.  But the truth is that I don't get paid to be thoughtful.  I am paid to be clever ((Making David Carodeen jokes as I have a rope dart wrapped around my neck comes to mind)).
Within the communities that I belong to there is a lot of reliance upon music and non-interactive skills (one of the best jugglers within the industry Vova Galchenko actually has stage fright problems).  In other words artistic endeavors in which social interaction is done within the frame of music, entertainment is done through other means (I have made comments on the nature male/female performances), and or sheer talent (there are plenty of amazing seven club jugglers who are so amazing they do not require the ability to speak or interact). 
But on the other hand I have seen plenty of performers who do not react to a crowd or how a crowd reacts.  Or I have spoken with people who have plenty of room to criticize but are incredibly bashful on stage.  I honestly would have to liken it to any form of partner performance in which danger was involved such as whip targets, knife throwing, or interwoven fire poi.  It takes a certain amount of skill and talent to be able to do that and when it goes well it is an amazing experience and when it goes badly,  it's on youtube for life.  And honestly it isn't the amazing experiences that get as much air time as it is the horrible experiences that are passed around (two girls one cup and any other number of videos that are out there).
The point is,  is that there is a difference between being witty and being intelligent.  I feel that one should keep that in mind before lambasting a performer on how one should do ones job.  It is easy to think after an event how one should have responded to said event but hard to do so during said event.

Sports Juggling Versus Being Entertaining

For those who don't know; there is a disparity between the performance community and the "sports" community in the juggling world.  A friend of mine, "Hobbit" from Hvbris (Web Site For The Troupe ) once said that "Most audience members can't tell the difference between a three beat and a five beat weave".  Most people who sit and watch in an audience can't tell the difference between a technically complicated move and a less complicated move that looks similar.  I have spent five minutes working on a three minute three club act involving moves that would make a five club juggler gasp only to have the audience start clapping the moment a fourth club goes into the air.  I may not be able to tell you the reason why (or if I did it might offend some people....it could go either way) but laymen audience members have a harder time appreciating technical juggling.  But jugglers as a whole tend to judge each other based upon technique rather than upon showmanship.

This is most manifested within the juggling community.  ESPN within the last few years started showing casing World Championship Juggling, in which technique and accuracy are judged to be the most important aspects( I believe this event is part of the World Juggling Federation).  This trend has itself carried over to the juggling community as a whole (not the entertainer community) and a routine is often judged by how technical it is.    This in reinforced by the cirque nouveau in which music predominately is the narrator and mover of events within the show itself.  

This doesn't tend to be a problem at the level that you find on WJF or within the realms of Cirque D'Soleil but here at the level I exist at it does tend to be a problem.  A common occurrence might be a performer finding an amazing and complicated technical move and "using" the hell out of it for a show but in the process of doing so might end up boring the heck out of everyone else.  What a lot of performers do is to create a form of artificial difficulty where they find some way to make the act that they are doing more complicated by creating a challenge within it.  Things like adding in Rola Bola's, Balls for head/shoulder bounces, and Spinning Plates tend to be common.  Doing things like this creates a very dynamic show in which there seems to be a goal for the performer.  There are other performers who's routines allow them to never have a "dull" moment.   But we also have performances in you have repetitions of the same basic movement over and over with the occasional "difference" and a serious case of the jugglers mouth (a large o expression that we traditionally see with extreme focus and concentration). (juggling performans of sergio tapia - juggling convention melipilla 2013)  Watch the first minute and a half for an idea of what I mean.
Other things can help as well such dynamic movement of the objects knowing your material (drops happen but are generally speaking the mark of a bad performer when they keep happening.

Material needs to be created that engages the audience, the people who are not familiar with what you are doing.