While pedaling a unicycle, Chris Ruggiero juggled six balls to practice for tomorrow's show in the HUB-Robeson Center.

Beginning at 10 p.m., Ruggiero (junior-earth sciences) and seven members of the Penn State Juggling Club will demonstrate tricks using balls, clubs, cigar boxes and rings at the bottom of the main staircase at the HUB. In some routines, the members will perform balancing acts, such as riding unicycles and bouncing on a trampoline.

But spectators won't see any routines involving bigger props such as bowling balls, knives or chain saws, club President Joe Scholz said.

"Those kinds of routines require little talent and just use a normal juggling pattern," Scholz (senior-physics) said. "It's more difficult to do tricks and attempt different patterns."

To demonstrate a trick, Scholz bounced five balls against the floor. Without breaking rhythm, he moved the bouncing balls around his feet and between his legs.

"Most of the routines seen on television aren't that dangerous," Scholz said. "Usually, the chain saw isn't even running."

But some club performances involve dangerous stunts, such as standing on another person's shoulders, Scholz said. He once sustained injuries after botching the shoulder stand.

"I started laughing and fell off his shoulders," Scholz said. "It was a pretty long fall."

Another time, Scholz said he got a black eye while performing a game with a partner.

"This other guy and I were twirling clubs and playing something called 'combat,' " Scholz said. "You can kick or throw the clubs to break the other person's pattern. The guy launched one club kamikaze-style, and it hit my left eye."

Club members meet twice a week in the White Building and prepare a show every semester. But the best part of the club is exchanging ideas and meeting new juggling partners, Ruggiero said.

"It's more fun to juggle with a partner and work on duo routines," he said. "You can learn a lot of new tricks and stuff from each other."

Club members possess a varying amount of experience. Some members said they learned to juggle before joining the club.

"My dad taught me how to juggle and unicycle," Ruggiero said. "But I was never serious about it until I came to college."

Dan Nelson (senior-biotechnology) started juggling as a sophomore.

"I thought juggling looked interesting, and I joined the club," Nelson said. "I got better by practicing for several hours while I should have been studying."

When asked if they aspired to be professional performers, the club members laughed and said they preferred to stick to their day jobs.

"It's a hobby, not a way of life," Ruggiero said.