Take a guy who is six feet, five inches tall with a shaved head, three earrings in one ear, and the word “Juggle” tattooed on the inside of his lip; add a wildly funny ex-divinity student who can juggle a snowboard and three clubs at the same time, and what do you have? Team Rootberry. Team Rootberry are among the best jugglers in the world, and they also happen to be two of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet.

 

Over the past ten years Jonathan Root and Bill Berry, of Team Rootberry, have climbed into the upper echelon of the anti-gravity game. In 2003 Root and Berry won three prestigious awards at the International Jugglers Association Annual Championship Tournament. Berry took the Gold Medal in the individual competition and Team Rootberry took the Gold medal in the teams division, and also earned the People’s Choice award for their inspirational work. This monumental feat of hardware-grabbing was a first in the 58-year history of the IJA.

 

Jonathan was born and raised in San Diego, where he entered college as a business major then switched to Theology, eventually earning a Master's degree. He now combines the two by thanking God for every penny he earns as an entertainer. His success as a professional juggler is all the more amazing because, in 1993, he suffered a terrible skiing accident which left him with two metal plates and twelve screws in his left arm. Doctors predicted that he’d never regain more than 20% of his original motion with that hand. However, juggling happens to be great therapy and today he enjoys the full use of his hand. You might even call him the Bionic Juggler!

 

 

Bill Berry was also born and raised in Southern California, and learned to juggle at the tender age of 11. He is considered a virtuoso of three-ball trick invention by his peers and currently holds three world records in sword swallowing. Just prior to his 18th birthday, Bill underwent a Radiofrequency Ablation to correct a problematic heart condition he'd been diagnosed with as a child. Bill is living proof of how important it is to seize every day.

 

 

The team got its start in 1998 performing at Legoland, a theme park for children. In 2003 they moved to Reno, Nevada, and began a six-month gig at CIRCUS CIRCUS, a popular casino and performance venue. These days the team finds itself performing four months out of every year on cruise ships, with the remaining eight months dedicated to traveling around the globe, presenting their hour-long show at colleges, universities, and conventions.

 

The lifestyle of a professional juggler is nomadic, and Team Rootberry is on the road and/or in the air the better part of every year. Team headquarters is situated in Orlando, Florida, where they own homes conveniently located near the airport. Both homes are equipped with offices that are a whirlwind of activity during the few hours per month they spend there. “I get as much done as I can with the limited time I have,” says Root. One look at the garage and its stacks of sporting equipment, juggling props, and travel cases gives you the idea that not all the time at home is spent working. Adds Berry, “Yeah, we play hard too; I go mountain biking or surfing as often as possible.”

 

After performing in places like Beirut, Poland, Russia, and England, the guys budget some downtime that includes swimming with Great White sharks and kite-boarding the Florida coast - a piece of cake when your regular job is tossing around flaming chainsaws and swallowing swords while keeping three broad-bladed knives aloft above your head.  

 

Dropping is the ultimate “no-no” of the juggling art, and it rarely happens in a Rootberry performance. Root and Berry practice so hard that they make it look easy. While it’s not easy, they’ve honed their skills and perform “clean” (with no mistakes) under all conditions.

 

Their act is a mixture of jaw-dropping juggling skill and zany comedy.  Whether or not everyone “gets” their comedy right off, everyone can still marvel at Bill’s stunning three-ball routine (which Root calls one of the best the world has ever seen); or Root’s juggling of three knives while balancing on a bongo-board perched atop Bill’s stomach.

 

Another crowd-pleaser and/or crowd shocker involves a stuffed Barney-the-Dinosaur toy and a bullwhip…but don’t worry, it’s G-rated…more or less.