Welcome to the juggle

Coral Wilson

Dan Wiles has been fascinating with juggling since he was 5 years

old. Long grown-up, the 40-year-old Wiles has made entertainment his

career.

“I always wanted to do something amazing,” Wiles said. “I always

wanted to be amazing, I guess.”

Performing at the Orange County Fairgrounds, Wiles has a growing

crowd of admirers of all ages. On Sunday, families gathered at the

Celebration Stage, taking refuge from the heat of the sun and

stopping to be awed by the juggler’s skill.

Children cheered after Wiles casually jumped a rope while bouncing

a ball on his head. He even juggled three swords while riding a

unicycle. Inspired by what they have seen, Wiles said, children often

come up after the show with their suggestions.

“It’s neat because you can see their imaginations working,” he

said. “They put together massive combinations. They’ll say, how about

if you juggle five knives, five torches and ride the unicycle.”

Wiles juggled clubs, balls, knives and torches. When he started

playing with fire, 6-year-old Riley Whitaker put his hands to his

face.

“Don’t do it,” Riley said. “Don’t do this at home.”

With a confident and playful smile, Wiles ate the flames of fire

and then blew a final blast into the air.

“That guy blew fire,” Riley said. “I don’t know how that guy did

it. That would kill him.”

With his face covered in face paint and mustard, Kasey Barros, 5,

evaluated the show while munching on a hot dog.

“I think the hardest part was the knives because you might cut

yourself,” Kasey said.

Whether throwing knives or fire in the air, Wiles said the

technique is the same -- to catch the object by the handle.

“You almost have to forget that you are doing it physically. It is

kind of a mental thing,” he said. “Focusing on a mental state and

relaxing is one of the hardest things to do. You have to tune the

world out and focus on a narrow point of vision.”

Wiles said the reward for his hard work and talent can be as

simple as the laughter from a child. Entertaining is good business,

and at the same time, he said, it’s not too serious.

“I march to a different drum,” he said. “I am not really a 9-to-5

guy. I have to do something different.”

* CORAL WILSON is the news assistant and may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at [email protected].