CONTACT JUGGLING
JA MES ERNEST
Third Edition
Contact Juggling Third Edition James Ernest Typesetting and design by James Ernest and Nancy Hanger Illustrations by James Ernest Back Cover Photo by L. Brown Published by James Ernest and Ernest Graphics Press, www.jamesernest.com ©1990, 2010 James Ernest. All rights reserved. Special thanks to Rich Shumaker, Owen Jungemann, Mike Selinker, and Carol Monahan for their contributions to the third edition. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means – graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems – without the written permission of the publisher, except for purposes of review.
Third Edition, 2010 ISBN 978-1-59100-027-3 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Foreword July 3, 2010
In the summer of 1986, I saw the movie Labyrinth. I was an amateur juggler at the time, and I was fascinated by one small part of it. David Bowie rolled a crystal ball over his fingertips, making it seem weightless, and he spun stacks of them on his palms like he was playing with bubbles. It was only a few seconds, but it was the coolest part of the film. This was an amazing juggling trick. I wasn’t even sure if it was real, or just a special effect. So I decided to figure it out. I bought a crystal ball in the gift shop at the Saint Louis Science Center, and sat in the grass of Forest Park, playing with it until the sun went down. Over the next few weeks I learned that the tricks in the movie were indeed real, and that they were performed by an artist named Michael Moschen. Moschen also recorded a show for PBS in 1986, where he performed an intricate routine with crystal balls. I studied that video, and learned as much as I could. Michael Moschen called the style “dynamic manipulation.” I called it “contact juggling.” And as I traveled around the Midwest performing and teaching the technique, I heard a strange rumor about Michael Moschen: he didn’t want people to learn “his trick.” This seemed absurd to me. Most jugglers are eager to show each other how a trick is done. We figure that if you can master a trick, you should be able to perform it. Magicians can be a little different: for them, a “trick” includes a secret, and secrets are a little easier to steal. But there is no secret to spinning balls on your hand. Moschen’s attitude about contact juggling sounded like John Coltrane trying to own the key of B. And since Moschen wasn’t about to do it, I wrote a book about contact juggling. That was in 1990.
Michael Moschen and I became controversial. Not by ourselves, but with the help of strangers who took sides for us. We were experiencing the early days of the Internet. Flame wars erupted between jugglers who thought that performers should own their tricks, and others who thought that, for better or worse, they couldn’t. I didn’t particularly like being portrayed as a ripoff artist, and I’ll bet Moschen didn’t much care to be portrayed as a ripped-off artiste. But we both stayed pretty quiet on the matter, so this is what we got. I’ve always believed that contact juggling is too obvious to belong to anyone. Beautiful, difficult, and obvious. And it is older than Michael Moschen. Francis Brunn was doing head rolls on the Ed Sullivan show. Henry VIII was doing them some time before that. What Moschen brought to the art was an inimitable personal style, a demonstration that crystal balls are very pretty, and proof that you can do head rolls on your hand. When I was working on the second edition of this book in 1991, a friend told me a story. He was doing butterflies in his family’s antique store, when a customer remarked that the sight of it brought back memories. She called it “camelbacking” and said she’d seen it on packet boats on the Ohio River, when she was a little girl. I don’t know if any of that is true, but that’s how the definition of “camelbacking” wound up in the glossary. The truth remains: contact juggling is lovely, memorable, and difficult. Now, let me teach you how to do it.
Contents Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Introduction: What is Juggling? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Part One: One Ball Chapter One: The Butterfly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Chapter Two: Butterfly Transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Chapter Three: Isolations, Holds, and Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Chapter Four: Other One-Ball Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Part Two: Multi-Ball and Beyond Chapter Five: Double Butterflies & Associated Transfers . . . . . . . . . . 47 Chapter Six: Palm Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 Chapter Seven: A Few Other Multi-Ball Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Chapter Eight: Other Objects and Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Appendix I: Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Appendix II: How to Juggle Three Balls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Appendix III: Understanding Juggling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Suggested Reading List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Introduction What is Juggling?
If you ask most people what juggling is, they will tell you (probably by waving their hands up and down) that it means throwing and catching things. This is also the dictionary definition: Juggle: v. 1. To keep (two or more objects) in the air at one time by alternately throwing and catching them. 2. To manipulate in order to deceive. [Lat. joculari, to jest.] (American Heritage Dictionary, New York: Dell Pub. Co., 1983.) But most jugglers do more than throw and catch things. In fact, the colloquial definition includes most of these other tricks: devil sticks, balancing, plate and ball spinning, cigar box juggling, etc. Even though he couldn’t conjure up all these examples, the average person wouldn’t be surprised to see a “juggler” doing them. His full definition may be a little more like this: Juggle: To perform a visually complex or physically challenging feat using one or more objects, which most people do not know how to do, and which has no apparent purpose other than entertainment, where the methods are not mysterious (see Magic). For example, throwing and catching things.
Figure I.1 Balancing and Plate Spinning. From illustrations in the margins of Gothic manuscripts. Both are circa 1280.
While this is certainly a more detailed description, it still doesn’t tell us much about juggling. It is a definition constructed of negatives and general terms, rather like defining an elephant by saying it is a gray thing that is neither an apple nor a train. So, we are still asking, what is juggling? page 1
Jugglers, who need to know, tend to break their techniques into categories, grouping tricks by the kind of object used. I prefer to use divisions based on the kind of manipulation being done. Here are some examples of various groups which, though neither comprehensive nor discrete, help paint a better picture of what jugglers do: “Toss” Juggling: Throwing and catching any number of things, often in complex patterns. Examples: balls, clubs, etc. “Balancing”: Keeping an object in dynamic equilibrium. This group also includes “setting,” which is keeping an object in static equilibrium. (The difference between dynamic and static is basically whether the object would fall over if you weren’t helping. Imagine the difference between keeping a pool cue upright on your hand, and doing the same with a salt shaker.) “Gyroscopic” Juggling: Taking advantage of the properties of spinning objects. Examples: spinning plates, balls, hula hoops, yo-yos, diabolos, and some devil stick and baton tricks. “Contact” Juggling: Manipulations of objects that stay in contact with your body, usually involving very little gripping, tossing or spinning. Examples: balls, ball stacks, and some types of stick, hat, baton, and plate tricks. There are other styles, and ways to mix up the various tricks listed above. For an expanded look at these categories, take a look at Appendix III, Understanding Juggling.
More about Contact Juggling “Contact Juggling” is a style that fits only barely into the other categories, and therefore deserves a category of its own. It is based, for the most part, on the graceful manipulation of single objects. The one-ball tricks in contact juggling include rolling the ball from hand to hand, on the palm and the back, up the arms, across the chest, on the head, and so on. The illusion is one of a self-directed, weightless ball, subject to unusual laws of motion. A good contact juggler can make his own movements page 2
seem unrelated to the movements of the ball; the attention of the audience is always fixed on the ball. The multiple-ball tricks in this book are mostly in the same vein. Many of the moves involve treating several balls as a single object; others are based on simultaneously using a single ball (or group of balls) in each hand. Therefore, contact juggling eight balls, by spinning a four-ball stack on each hand, is not as visually complex as toss juggling only three. There are a few contact juggling tricks with other items, some of which are included in Chapter Eight. Although balls are the central focus of this book, a wealth of tricks are possible with hats, batons, hoops, knives, coins, and cards. Since the first edition of this book, “contact staff” has become a popular style, and deserves a book all its own. Contact juggling is not only one of the hardest forms of juggling to describe, but also one of the most challenging to learn. This is because the basic move, the butterfly, is actually one of the hardest, so unlike other styles, there is little you can show off after many hours of work. It is the mesmerizing quality of contact juggling that truly separates it from other forms. To take a single ball and cause your audience to sit quietly amazed; to do something so simple and obvious and still hear, “How is that possible?”; this is the beauty of contact juggling. Juggling chain saws won’t make them sit silently, and they won’t ask you how you do it. Just why. And, unlike producing a tiger from a fish tank, you can actually tell them how you do it, and they will still want to see it again.
A Note on the Learning Process: Take Small Steps! If you do no other juggling, I would strongly suggest that you learn the basics of at least one other style while you work through this book. Try the three-ball cascade, which is taught in Appendix II, or anything that interests you. Learning another style will break up the monotony of practice sessions, and will broaden the range of your hand-eye experience. Working on two or three styles at once can actually make each one a little easier to learn. It’s the juggler’s version of cross-training. page 3
Breaking it Down If you started with no juggling skill at all, and decided to learn how to balance a spinning plate on a pole, which is balanced on your forehead, while standing on one foot (see Fig. I.2), you’d probably learn it one piece at a time. You would not, I think, stand on one leg, put a plate and a pole on your face, and hope. You’d break it into little steps. But some tricks are harder to break down into components. The same people who would never try the pole-and-plate trick cold would try an even more difficult trick (for example, the butterfly) without taking simpler steps, because it’s not clear what those steps are. Contact juggling is particularly hard to break into simpler steps. The butterfly lesson is that not-so-obvious series of steps you need. You may even need to create smaller steps between them, or add more to the beginning if, for example, you cannot hold a ball easily in your palm. (Some people really can’t; while recovering from hand surgery, one of my students learned to juggle as a form of physical therapy.)
Figure I.2 A Big Trick. This trick can be broken down easily into separate, easier tricks.
The point is, don’t get disappointed when your first attempts fail. Trying the butterfly with no experience is really a lot like throwing a plate and a pole into the air and hoping. If your first attempt fails, don’t give up. Try something similar but easier, until you really have it down. That’s the way all juggling is learned: in small, simple steps. And that is why juggling books like this are good things to have.
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Part One One Ball
Chapter One The Butterfly
The butterfly is the central move in contact juggling. Several other moves are based on it, and it is the foundation of most one-ball routines. It is an “idle” state, like the cascade in toss juggling: it keeps the ball moving between other tricks. But learning it can be a challenge. When you learn to toss juggle, after about a week of practice you can do something that will impress your friends. They will see you smile; they will think you have accomplished something wonderful. This is sort of true. You have impressed people with a trick that anyone can learn. This is why you’re smiling. Once you learn the cascade, adding more tricks becomes addictively fun. The newer ones may be harder, but you already have an easy one to show off. Learning to contact juggle can be a little more disappointing. It may take a month of hard work before you have even the most wobbly butterfly in one hand. As with the cascade, the first few hours are hard. But with the butterfly, there are a lot more of them. Stay with it. The steps of the butterfly are simple enough, and doing the first ones might even feel silly. But when you get to the next step and find it impossible, be prepared to do the silly stuff some more. Although many of the advanced moves in this book are based on the butterfly, there is no reason you shouldn’t learn some other tricks while you are working on it. Every trick you learn will teach you more about controlling the ball. Try to use the same “small steps” approach exemplified here when learning any other trick.
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The Butterfly, Step One: Hand Position The butterfly is named after a hand movement in Middle Eastern dance (Fig. 1.1). Before you can manipulate a ball in the butterfly pattern, you must learn exactly where your hands go, so you will practice this move first without a ball. Work on it slowly and carefully, with both arms at once. The move looks a little like sending a wave up your arm, starting at the elbow. Notice that this hand motion is not an exact copy of the actual butterfly. It basically serves to limber you up, and get you used to moving your arms in these positions. Learn what every position looks and feels like. Remember, the beauty of contact juggling relies on the graceful movements of the body, as well as the ball. Notes: •
Do this in front of a mirror. Find and correct your mistakes before they become bad habits.
•
Let your elbow lead your wrist, which in turn leads the fingertips. This means that when the elbow turns back out, the wrist is still moving inward (Fig. 1.1 f, g).
•
Notice in the illustrations when the palm is up, and when it is down. Remember, the ball will be riding on top of your hands in all of these positions.
•
Keep your hands around chin level and your forearms in roughly the same vertical plane. This “wall plane” is an imaginary wall about six inches in front of you. Of course, you must break the wall plane a little to let your arms cross.
•
Alternate your forward hand. Since one of your hands must cross closer to your body, you should change which hand is in front each time. This will make the move symmetrical, and will help you to learn the back-to-back transfer in the next chapter.
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a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h Figure 1.1 Butterfly hand positions
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Step Two: Throw and Catch Now pick up your practice ball. The next step will give you a little more control of it. See Appendix I, Materials, for a discussion of good practice balls. Put your right hand in front of yourself, palm down, elbow out, as it would be in the butterfly. This is the central or “home” position for your hand: about six inches away from your chest, a little below shoulder level, with the elbow a little lower than the wrist (see Fig. 1.4). Hold the ball on the back of your hand. You can’t grip it, so you will have to support it with three knuckles: the base of 3, and the first joints of 2 and 4 (these numbers are in Fig. 1.2). Spread your fingers slightly, and lower 3 to let the ball rest comfortably. This position is called the “cradle,”and it is the most comfortable place to hold a ball on the back of your hand (Fig. 1.3). The cradle is an area of relatively good control. If you try to hold the ball anywhere on the smooth area of the hand, you will have considerably less control. But with practice you will learn that you can hold it comfortably in the cradle.
cradle
Figure 1.3 The “cradle” area of the back of the hand.
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2 3 4 5 1
Figure 1.2 Numbering the fingers.
To improve your control and confidence in this position, pitch the ball straight up about eight inches, and catch it again in the cradle, as in Fig. 1.4. This may be quite hard for you, depending on how much juggling you have done, but it won’t take long to learn. You should do whatever it takes to improve the dexterity on the back of you hand: try shaking your arm a little while holding the ball, or try rolling the ball down onto the smooth part of your hand, and back into the cradle.
Remember to keep your hands near the home position. You are not only training the back of your hand; you are training it specifically in this position. You don’t have to strictly avoid other positions; just be sure to practice all the elements of this step. Another thing to be working on during this stage is throwing and catching on your palm. Not out in front of you, where you may be used to it, but out to the side, in the position where your hand would be palm-up in the butterfly (Fig. 1.5).
Figure 1.4 Throw and catch, inside.
Learn to throw straight up and catch without moving your hand very much, and without closing your fingers on the ball. Contact juggling looks best when the ball stays visible all the time. This means not closing your hand around the ball, or blocking the view in any other way, unless you mean to.
Figure 1.5 Throw and catch, outside.
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Step Three: The Moving Throw Once you can throw and catch in front of yourself on the back of your hand, and off to the side on your palm, you are ready to combine the two. Put the ball on the back of your hand, in the cradle. Toss it up, but not straight up. Throw it to the outside, and catch it on your palm (Fig. 1.6). Catch it as cleanly as you can in the outside position. Now, throw it back to the center and catch it in the cradle. You should make this throw fairly high, about a foot. Don’t worry about making it smooth, but be sure that you are catching the ball in the right places, not just catching wildly and then returning your hand to where it should be. Aim your throws to the right place. Get this under control in both hands before you move on. It’s tempting to work your stronger hand more, because it is easier. But don’t do this; it will make it harder to bring your weak hand back up to par later on.
Figure 1.6 The moving throw. Practice this in both directions, and in both hands.
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Step Four: The Rolling Throw When you can throw the ball from palm to back and from back to palm consistently, move on to the rolling throw (Fig. 1.7). This is a small but very important change from the simple throw. Instead of just throwing, you will make the ball roll from its resting position, out to your fingertips, before it leaves your hand. You’re still throwing the ball several inches into the air, but it’s in contact with your hand for longer. The point of this exercise is to teach control of the roll on one side of the hand at a time. You should be able to get the ball rolling, from a dead stop, in the direction you want, before it leaves your hand. Do this in both directions. After you feel comfortable with the rolling throw, you can begin to lower the clearance between the ball and your hand. What you are trying to do is throw the ball so low (barely leaving your fingertips) that it will roll down the other side into a catch. Even if this isn’t very smooth yet, you already have a lot more control than you used to. Just roll, catch, and stop. Start on the back of your hand, roll, catch on your palm, and stop. Take a breath. Now, roll from the palm to the back. Stop again. Once you have the two directions under control, you can put them together into the butterfly.
Figure 1.7 The rolling throw.
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The Butterfly Illustration 1.8 represents a full cycle of the butterfly, from back to palm and back again. Be aware of the following things when practicing: •
The butterfly should move the ball in a level figure-eight, or arch, whichever you prefer. Either way, both sides should be the same height. It’s common to develop the “high-low” problem, where the pattern is lower on the inside and higher on the outside. Go back through the hand positions, watch yourself in the mirror, and get both sides level.
•
Make sure that your hand stays fairly straight throughout the move. The wrist should bend, but not the fingers. The ball should be rolling right over your middle finger, at the tip. I once met someone who rolled the ball over the edge of his hand instead. He was twisting his wrist, not bending it. You can try this trick if you want, but for now the ball should move over the tips of your fingers.
•
Don’t let your fingers block the audience’s view of the ball. If people want to watch the ball, they have to be able to see it. Never grip the ball in the butterfly; support it.
•
As with the basic hand movements, your elbow should be leading your wrist. Try doing this move with both hands at once, Keep the ball on one hand, but mirror the movements with your empty hand. When using both arms at once, make sure the forearms are operating in the same vertical plane, allowing for space to cross. If you stray from the vertical plane, transferring from one hand to the other will be tricky.
•
Above all, smooth it out. Make it fluid. Audiences will fixate on the ball if it moves more like a bubble than a brick.
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Figure 1.8 The butterfly. (Each image is shifted down to make the illustration more clear.)
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How Much Should You Practice? It depends. Different people excel under different conditions. Jugglers who are getting ready for competitions are likely to need more daily practice than, say, you. Basically, if you are interested enough in what you are learning, you will make the time, and it will pass quickly. When I was learning to juggle, hours flew by, because I was really engaged. On the other hand, when you have to force yourself to practice, you should probably take a break. If you become frustrated or don’t get better after hours of practice, you are probably working too hard. Most jugglers recommend short, frequent practice sessions, not infrequent marathons. Slow down, take your time, and above all, have fun. Sometimes your brain will process new information between practice sessions, usually when you are asleep. Take a break and let your subconscious catch up! Finally, since finesse is so crucial in contact juggling, you may be getting better without feeling like you’re getting better. Because you can feel everything, you will notice your own mistakes and you’re likely to be more critical than an observer. Get some feedback from people you trust, or shoot a video of yourself, for a better impression of how far you’ve come. Video will show you what it looks like, not what it feels like, and can also help you spot flaws in your performance that you wouldn’t otherwise catch.
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Chapter Two Butterfly Transfers
When performing the butterfly, you will need to transfer the ball from one hand to another. There are many ways to do this. The easiest of them is the palm-to-palm transfer.
The Palm-to-Palm Transfer Hold the ball in the palm of your right hand. Roll it to the palm of your left hand. That’s basically it. Yeah, it’s pretty easy. To define this technique a little better, bring your palms up near the level where you do the butterfly. Roll the ball back and forth, palm to palm, with the edges of your hands together as shown in Fig. 2.1a. In this position, you are pointing your fingers away from your body. Get comfortable doing the transfer in this position.
a
b Figure 2.1 The palm-to-palm transfer (a) easy, and (b) hard
A much harder version of the same transfer requires that you point your fingers to the side, keeping your hands in the wall plane, as in Fig. 2.1b. You can practice that technique later. For now, we are just trying to transfer the ball smoothly. To incorporate this transfer into the butterfly, start with the ball on the back of your right hand, at the center of your body (the home position for the butterfly). Roll the ball over your fingertips to the right palm, but stopping at the center of your body instead of the outside, as you normally would. This is shown in Figure 2.2. page 17
Figure 2.2 Incorporating the palm-to-palm transfer
Your left hand should be in a position to catch the ball as you roll it off your right hand. Do the transfer. Stop. Now, roll the ball from your left palm, over the left fingertips, to the back of your left hand. This is actually a little tricky, since you must get the ball rolling from a dead stop. This hitch goes away when you string all three moves together. When you are comfortable with each step on its own, learn to blend them together. Roll from the back of your right hand, make the palm-to-palm transfer in the center, and continue to the back of your left hand. Learn this in both directions. This is one of the exercises you should practice regularly, along with the butterfly and the back-to-back transfer. Be sure to keep your weaker hand in shape, or else this move will be a little lopsided. Also, keep the mirror-image effect in mind: try moving both hands and both arms in sync as the ball moves from one to the other. page 18
The Back-to-Back Transfer The back-to-back transfer is more elegant than the palm-to-palm, and quite a bit more difficult. Start the ball on the back of your left hand, in the butterfly home position. Bring your right hand up in front of the left, in a position to catch (Fig. 2.3). Put the right cradle directly in front of the left cradle. Let the ball roll straight away from you and into a catch on the left cradle. Some terms: The left hand in Figure 2.3 The back-to-back transfer, this transfer is called the “throwing” seen from the side. hand, to distinguish it from the right, or “catching,” hand. The area below the knuckles is called the “smooth” part of the hand, because a ball cannot be easily caught or held there. And the hand further away from your body is called the “lead” hand, meaning that if you walked forward, that hand would lead the other. In this transfer, the catching hand should always be in the lead. Roll the ball for a while, straight away from you, from cradle to cradle. Next we will practice on the smooth parts of the hands, but stay in the cradles for the moment. There are two reasons for rolling the ball forward (away from you) instead of towards your chest. First, the catching hand needs recovery space, which is area that it can move into in case you make a mistake. There is more room out in front. Second, if you rolled the ball towards your chest, the throwing hand would have to lift up and block the audience’s view. When you move your empty hand for the next transfer, bring it under the other hand, and thus under the ball. Some people tend to move their empty hand over the ball instead, but this blocks the line of sight. You will discover that moving the empty hand underneath looks a lot better. page 19
Stretching Out the Back-to-Back Transfer Now let’s work on the smooth part of the hand. Rolling a ball through a smooth area is easier than holding it there, just as it is easier to ride a bike down the street than it is to keep still. Here, we will make the back-to-back transfer move side-to-side as well, by rolling the ball on the smooth part of both hands. Stretch #1: Start with the ball on the back of the right hand, in the cradle. Roll it down the hand towards the wrist, and then drop it straight into a catch in the left cradle (Fig. 2.4b). This is only a slight change from the first version of the back-to-back transfer: Now there is a little sideways movement. Send the ball back to the right cradle the same way. Remember to move the empty hand under the hand with the ball. Roll from left cradle to left smooth, then drop into right cradle. Notice that the ball should go through the smooth part without stopping; it only gets redirected in the control positions. Stretch #2: Start in the right cradle again. This time, set the ball directly onto the smooth part of the left hand, and roll to a catch in the left cradle (Fig. 2.4c). This is similar to Stretch #1, but you are working on the smooth of the catching hand instead of the throwing hand. Stretch #3: This is the hardest version. Roll the ball from the right cradle onto the right smooth, drop it off at about the wrist, onto the left smooth. Continue the roll into a catch in the left cradle (Fig. 2.4d). You have now stretched the cradles very far apart, and made the back-to-back transfer a longer and more graceful roll. By the way, if you can smoothly repeat this transfer, you’ve just learned your first non-butterfly trick, the staircase. For a complete description of this trick, look it up in Chapter Three. Later on you will learn to use the smooth parts of the rest of your body (arms, chest, head) in other transfers and rolls. Always try to take the smallest steps as you learn each of these new tricks.
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a
b
c
d Figure 2.4 Stretching the back-to-back: (a) cradle-to-cradle; (b) using the smooth of the throwing hand; (c) using the smooth of the catching hand; (d) using the smooth of both hands. Note that the catching hand is lowered for clarity in parts a, b, and c.
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Incorporating the Back-to-Back Now it is time to incorporate the back-to-back transfer into the butterfly. This is very much like what we did for the palm-to-palm. Start with the ball on your right palm, outside, as it would be in the butterfly. Roll the ball over your fingertips to a catch on the right cradle, inside. Bring your left hand up in front of the right, for a back-to-back transfer. Stop. Do the transfer, the longest (most “stretched”) back-to-back transfer you feel comfortable with. It isn’t necessary to do the entire cradle-smoothsmooth-cradle stretch, but it looks nicer if you can. Stop. You are now ready to butterfly with your left hand. Roll the ball over the fingertips to the left palm (outside). Stop. You have now learned the important back-to-back transfer. Now do it in the other direction. Take out the stops, smooth it out, get it under control. This move and the palm-to-palm transfer are the basic butterfly transfers. They will strengthen your one-ball routine more than any other moves. Get them down cold, both ways.
Figure 2.5 Incorporating the back-to-back transfer.
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a
c
b
d
Figure 2.6 ‘The circle,” a combination of palm-to-palm and back-to-back transfers.
The Circle The circle is a series of palm-to-palm and back-to-back transfers, which keeps the ball rolling in a continuous small circle (Fig. 2.6). If you do a backto-back from left to right, and a palm-to-palm from right to left, the circle will go clockwise from your perspective. Try both directions and get proficient with both. Since you never have to stop the ball completely, the circle is about the easiest butterfly transfer pattern, and it can therefore be done with wobbly shapes like fruits and vegetables, which jugglers are, for some reason, often called upon to juggle. page 23
A Note on Combinations Two quarter notes of different tones, played either together or in sequence, sound different from a single one. Throwing a club behind your back after throwing one under your leg is called a combination; a melody, if you will, of juggling tricks. Theoretically, there is an infinite number of combinations with only two tricks, like combinations of ones and zeroes. Of course, an audience can get tired of ones and zeros, be they in unique combinations or not. Building a juggling routine is like composing a song: how many times and in what combinations can you play the few notes (do the few tricks) that you know, in order to create something pleasant, unique, and entertaining? With this in mind, here are some possible combinations of the tricks we have so far: •
Butterfly in one hand, constant (in either hand).
•
Repeated palm-to-palm transfers, with butterflies between.
•
Repeated back-to-back transfers with no butterflies in between (“the staircase”).
•
The circle: back-to-back followed immediately by palm-topalm, repeat.
•
Longer combinations and series of these tricks. For example, You might also do a back-to-back transfer, then a butterfly, then another back-to-back.
I usually improvise, unless it matters, throwing in specific hard tricks at important points. Other people will block out short sequences or choreograph entire routines.
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Other Transfers Here are a few more of the simpler butterfly transfers. The first two are new applications of the positions we have already learned; the others will involve modifications of the butterfly. Palm-to-Back Transfer: Roll the ball from the back of your right hand to the palm, then let the ball continue rolling off the base of your palm onto the back of your left hand, into the cradle. This is shown in Fig. 2.7. From here, you might either reverse the ball’s direction and send it back up over the left fingertips in a butterfly, or let it roll over the smooth of the left hand into a catch on the right cradle, in a backto-back transfer.
Figure 2.7 Palm-to-back transfer
Back-to-Palm Transfer: This is basically a reversal of the palm-to-back transfer. You must give the ball a serious push to roll it up the back of the throwing hand and across the palm of the catching hand.
Figure 2.8 Back-to-palm transfer
A series of these tends to climb, and looks really nice. c
Changing the Wall Plane: Although the wall plane right in front of you is the easiest place for the butterfly, you need not restrict yourself to it. It is possible to move the ball within planes that extend directly in front of you, or in any planes at other angles. Other possible vertical planes are shown in Figure 2.9.
b
a
Figure 2.9 Different wall planes (b and c)
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You will notice when working in different wall planes that you have two options: you may want your palm up on the outside, down on the inside (at the shoulder), or vice versa. Either way, you will probably need to go through all the same learning steps that you did for the basic butterfly: hand movements alone, then vertical tosses, throwing in both directions, and the rolling throw. Figure 2.10 A butterfly within plane (2.9b).
Twisting: Since you have the option, in some cases, of having your palm up on both sides of the arc, try the following:
Figure 2.11 A twisting butterfly
In the basic wall plane, start with your palm up, outside position (Fig. 2.11). Begin to butterfly to the inside, but when the hand reaches vertical, twist your wrist and bring your hand down palm-up on the inside. With a little practice you can make this look very similar to the basic butterfly.
When you try this with a ball, make sure the ball is getting up over your fingertips. Don’t get lazy or it will look like you are just holding the ball and twisting your wrist. Unless you’re flexible, you will probably have the high-low problem with this, as demonstrated by Fig. 2.11. You can try to even it out, or you can decide to let it be uneven. Now that you have the ball palm-up on the inside, you may want to reverse the move, doing a butterfly-twist back to where you started. Or you could do the next trick, the crossed arms transfer, which follows pretty naturally from this twisting move. page 26
The Crossed Arms Transfer: This inside palm-to-palm transfer is the reason to learn the butterfly-twist. Hold your arms crossed, palms up, as if you were holding a baby (Fig. 2.12). The catching hand should be in front of the throwing hand. Roll the ball from the throwing hand, down your arm, to drop in a catch on the other palm. Now move the empty hand under the other, and repeat the roll the other way. You can make a lovely staircase out of these transfers, especially if you let the ball roll all the way to your fingertips before turning around. To incorporate this transfer into a butterfly, begin with the ball on your right palm, outside. butterfly-twist to the inside (with the ball still on the palm), where you will look like Figure 2.12a. Do the transfer, and then do a reverse butterfly-twist with the left hand, from palm inside to palm outside. This is a very tricky combination. To make it a little easier, try this: a crossed-arm palm-to-back. Roll to the back of the catching hand, and butterfly out (Fig. 2.13a).
a
b
c Figure 2.12 Crossed-arms transfers: (a) Palm-to-palm (b) Back-to-palm (c) Palm-to-back.
Or, try transferring from the back of the throwing hand to the palm of the catching hand (Fig. 2.13b). Working on either of these simpler versions can help you with the inside palm-to-palm. You’ll note that the “inside back-to-back” is the fourth possible variant here, and you already know that one. page 27
Build Your Own Variations: If you combine the elements of breaking the plane, twisting your wrist, and crossing your arms, you should be able to invent any number of new butterfly transfers. Transfer from one plane to another, across the fingertips or the sides of your hands. Don’t be discouraged if the moves you invent seem (at first) impossible. If you can hold your hands in the necessary positions, you can learn the trick. Try to devise the simplest steps possible, like the ones you used in learning the basic butterfly, to break down any new trick.
Figure 2.13 A transfer between two planes
You can also experiment with rolling the ball over different parts of your hand, rather than your fingertips. Rolling the ball over the side of your hand may not look as dramatic as it does over the fingertips, but don’t let that stop you from exploring the possibilities. It may be the only way to keep the ball in sight during a particularly difficult transfer. And remember: butterflies and butterfly transfers are only one of the many directions in which to expand your one-ball work.
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Chapter Three Isolations, Holds, and Rolls
In an isolation, the ball stays essentially motionless, while the hands (or body) move. In a hold, both the ball and hand are still. Rolls are mostly what we have seen so far. In a roll, the ball is moving, and so are you.
Isolations Palm Circle: A simple isolation, and one worth learning, is the one-ball palm circle. Rest a ball on your palm. Spread your fingers a little, and move your palm in small circles. Find out which direction, clockwise or counterclockwise, feels best for you. Try to keep the ball still while your hand makes larger and larger circles (Fig. 3.1). The effect of isolation, or motionlessness, relies on the inertia of the ball. So, it helps if the ball is heavy. If you were holding Figure 3.1 a greased pizza pan, and the ball were a Palm circles from the top smooth, heavy box, you could move the pan and from the side. in circles without moving the box. (That is also a fun thing to play with.) Unfortunately, your hand is not a greased pizza pan, and the ball is not a box. Your hand is bumpy, and the ball is rolling instead of sliding. Still, you are trying to give the illusion of smooth motion, or no motion at all. This trick is one of the easiest to explain, and one of the hardest to master. When I started, I discovered to my dismay that my left hand wasn’t even page 29
capable of making circles. When I tried to get an O out of my left hand, all I got were L’s and Z’s. If you want to make larger circles, with the ball at your fingertips, you may find it easier to learn this trick in reverse. That is, with your palm still, try to roll the ball in larger and larger circles. This will give you better strength and control, but it’s tricky. Causing the ball to change directions will be harder than keeping it still while your hand moves. Practice this circular roll in both directions and on both hands, and it will make the isolation easier.
Walks Easier than palm circles is a set of moves called “walks.” In these, the ball is always rolling in one direction (relative to the hands), which makes the ball easier to control. In general, these tricks can be performed either as isolations (keeping the ball in one place) or as rolls (letting the ball move). Walk Away: Hold your hands in front of you, palms up, as in Fig. 3.2a, with the fingertips of the throwing hand touching the wrist of the catching hand. Roll the ball away, onto the palm of the catching hand, and reverse the hand positions. Repeat this exchange as smoothly as possible, keeping the ball as steady as you can. Now, turn one of your hands over and use the back. Go left-right, front-back for a while, training yourself on the back of your hand one hand at a time. Try to use as much of the smooth part of the back of your hand as possible. When you get better on the back of each hand, try walking away exclusively on the backs (Fig. 3.2b). page 30
a
b
c
Figure 3.2 Three types of walks: (a) away on the palm, (b) away on the back, (c) towards self on the palm.
Walk Towards: This is just the reverse of the walk away (Fig. 3.2c). You will notice that, from your palms, you can easily extend this roll by using the smooth part of your arm, below the wrist. See how far you can roll the ball up your arm before dropping it into a catch. But since you are rolling the ball towards yourself, be careful that you don’t block the audience’s view. Once again, practice palms-up first, then work the back of one hand at a time to gain control. You can combine walking away and towards, palms up and down, for some lovely effects. Also, try chasing the ball across the stage, making it glide away gracefully like a bubble. Sideways Walks: Besides walking away and towards, you can do walks from side to side. Do a regular palm-to-palm transfer, then cross your arms and transfer again in the same direction. Try the same on the backs of your hands. You should notice that, when your palms are down, your thumbs don’t get in the way as much. Walk-Around: An odd-looking walking effect is shown in Fig. 3.3. Do a back-to-back walk from right to left, cross the right arm under the left, and pass the ball back to the right hand. Then, move the right hand (and the ball) in an arc back to the starting position, and repeat the transfer. Variations of this are possible in any walk; you are basically relocating the ball-in-hand instead of the empty hand. Again, these moves can be isolations or holds, depending on whether you are keeping the ball still or letting it move.
a
b
c
Figure 3.3 The walk-around. In step (c), you are moving the hand with the ball.
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Sidestepping: Sidestepping is basically the same as the original walk away, except the hands no longer conform to a straight line. When you hand the ball from right to left, do it on the left side of your body. Then cross that line, and do the next transfer on the right side (Fig. 3.4). The ball sways back and forth as you roll it away; a pretty little change from the basic walk. We will encounter this move again in multi-ball work. Try side-to-side or even up-and-down versions of the walks you have already learned. Figure out what lines you are working in, and then break them! Figure 3.4 Sidestepping
Holds A “hold” is not a gripping move, just a static move where the ball sits wherever you put it. Anywhere you can keep a ball still is a good place for a hold. If you have a way to roll it there and back, even better. Here are just a few possible holds. Fingertips Hold (Fig 3.5): This hold is harder to get into than out of, so I usually begin my routine in this hold. An important consideration is tension: is your hand tense or relaxed? Is it a lot of work to keep the ball where it is, or is it floating in the air? You can roll the ball into this hold from a flat palm, or from another hand hold. You can get out just by opening your hand and letting the ball roll down your fingertips and into your palm. Figure 3.5 Fingertips hold
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Open Hand Hold (Fig. 3.6): Here is a hold where a relaxed appearance is good. You are holding the ball in the “V” formed by your thumb and the side of your hand. If you close your hand in this hold, you will be holding the ball on the top of your fist. From there you could roll the ball directly into the fist hold. Figure 3.6 Open hand hold
Fist Hold (Fig 3.7): In this hold, you are resting the ball between the first and second knuckles of your first and second fingers. By moving in and out of tension you make this hold interesting. Try getting into this position from the cradle by slowly closing your hand. Push this hold up to the top of your reach, or roll from it into the open hand hold or another open-handed position.
Figure 3.8 Elbow hold
Figure 3.7 Fist hold
Elbow Hold: If you can roll the ball up and down your forearm easily, you will find a good flat spot at your elbow where you can learn to make it stop. Don’t grip it; support it. From there you might roll it away, or pitch it into the air and catch it somewhere else, such as your palm, the back of your hand, on your fist, or even in the same hold again. One of my students likes to gently blow on the ball to “coax” it back down his arm.
Forehead Hold: It can be difficult to roll a ball into this position, so try placing it there, or throwing it from your palm or your fingertips. We will talk more about holding a ball in this position, and on each temple, in the section called “Body Rolls.” Figure 3.9 Forehead hold
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Hand Rolls Between any two holding positions is a smooth place. Rolling through those smooth places can be really easy, as in the staircase and escalator below, or really hard, as in body rolls between the head, legs, and feet. Rolling the ball is the heart and soul of a good one-ball routine. You may do a lot of nice transfers and holds, but what the audience will probably remember most is how well (and where) you could roll the ball. The Staircase: The descending staircase is simply a series of back-to-back transfers, with each slightly lower than the last. Beginning well above eye level, the ball swoops slowly down to about waist level, taking wide and graceful steps (Fig. 3.10). To do an ascending staircase, lift the catching hand a little higher after each transfer, rather than making each a little lower.
Figure 3.10 The descending staircase
The wider you stretch your transfers, the better this trick will look. You might also try the same effect but palms-up, with your arms crossed, as in Fig. 2.12. Alternate these two, or combine them all into a butterfly routine.
Figure 3.11 The escalator
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The Escalator: The escalator is a side-to-side version of the descending staircase. Instead of reversing the direction of the ball each time, do another transfer from tip-to-tip. Then at the next chance, turn the ball around (Fig. 3.11). The path of the ball is a little broader in shape than the simple staircase, especially if you do a good job of isolating the hands during that long middle roll.
Of course, you can create your own pattern of switchbacks, or even go as far as to never turn the ball around, but instead travel with it across the stage, or slowly turn yourself as you let it descend in a slow spiral around you. You might prefer, for this trick, to make the transfers side-to-side, rather than tipto-tip and tail-to-tail. Stutter Step: Figure 3.12 shows a way to enter the staircase pattern from a palm-to-back transfer. If you want to perform a “stutter step,” do this transfer and then move the original throwing hand (shown at top and bottom in the figure) immediately back to the top, and repeat the single step of the staircase. In this unusual pattern, the other hand doesn’t move.
Figure 3.12 Stutter step
Combinations There are a large number of different ways to roll the ball from one hand to the other. They might not all look different from the audience, but you should experiment with combinations and hand positions to discover what works best, and looks best, in your routine. Where can the ball leave the hand? Even if we consider only the four basic directions, we have eight places (four front and back) to leave, and eight places to enter. The ball can also enter and leave the same hand, as in the case of the butterfly, where it leaves the fingertips, and then returns on the fingertips of the other side. With the eight points of entry and exit, there are 64 kinds of hand-to-hand transfers. Now, many of these probably look pretty much the same. But experiment with them. They just might lead to new ideas.
Figure 3.13 Eight ways the ball could leave (or enter) the hand.
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Body Rolls Along with rolls on your hand, there are many ways to roll the ball on your body. Because these moves require a high degree of balance and control, you will probably find them easier with larger balls. Learn these moves with a larger practice ball, such as a volleyball or a mini-basketball, before trying to incorporate them into your hand rolling routine. Or you can just change equipment when you perform these tricks. Rolls work on smooth parts of your body where holds do not, because it is easier to keep a ball rolling than to keep it still. So, even if you can’t hold a ball on your shoulder, leg, or the back of your arm, you can still roll it there. Arm: Roll the ball from your palm, halfway up your arm, and let it stop on your elbow. We have already discussed this version of the arm roll: you needed it to get into the elbow hold (Fig. 3.8). Try rolling up and back without stopping at the elbow. Back of the Arm: Starting with the ball on the back of your hand, try to send it all the way to your elbow and beyond before it falls off. Try this in the wall plane or straight out in front. In the wall plane, it is rather like stretching the back-to-back transfer beyond the wrist. Once the ball has reached your elbow in either of these rolls, you can reverse its direction and send it back to the hand. You can turn your hand over in the process, so it starts on the back and ends on the palm, or viceversa. From the elbow, you might also pitch it into the air, or roll it straight into the other hand. Chest Roll: (Fig. 3.14) Start with the ball in your strong hand (this may sound strange because you will have to catch with your weak hand, but this is the easiest way for me). You can start on either the palm or the back. Roll the ball up your arm, across your chest, down the other arm, and into a catch in the other hand. Catching in your palm is easier, but catching on the back of your hand looks better. Note that “up” and “down” are just referring to the directions of the arms. In fact, the ball should move very little page 36
either up and down or side to side in this roll. Your body moves more than the ball, which keeps the ball from building up speed and becoming too hard to stop. The idea that the ball is rolling over you is partially an illusion; you are also moving under the ball.
Figure 3.14 Chest roll.
As mentioned before, you should practice this with a larger ball and move gently down to the smaller sized balls. It doesn’t look that much harder, but a chest roll with a lacrosse ball is ten times harder than the same roll with a basketball.
Back Roll: Start with a ball on the back of your right hand. Lean gently forward and roll the ball down your arm and across your back, to the other hand (Fig. 3.15). You might also try catching and holding it halfway, behind your neck. From the neck hold you can throw it into the air, or roll it over to your forehead. Bobby May used to finish a ball routine by rolling the ball down his back (from the neck), and catching it between his legs, while executing a forward somersault.
Figure 3.15 Back roll.
Head Roll: (Fig 3.16) Head rolls seem to be the most famous contact juggling trick, perhaps because they are the showiest. Henry VIII is said to have performed this trick. Bobby May popularized it early in the 20th century, and jugglers worldwide have been expanding on it ever since.
Figure 3.16 Head roll.
The head roll is basically an on-thehead butterfly, only much harder and page 37
more likely to make you dizzy. The control positions are the temples, with another in the middle of your forehead, and a fourth one on the back of your neck. Just as you did when learning the butterfly, move your head and body through all these positions before trying it with a ball! If you aren’t limber enough to thrash around without the ball, you can really hurt yourself trying to learn the head roll. Since you can hold a ball on your forehead, start there. Roll to a temple, then back to a hold on your forehead. This way, you work one side at a time. Try going from forehead to neck and back again. Now try a full transfer: temple-to-temple without a stop.
Figure 3.17 Head rolls with a bar stool, performed by Andrew Head.
This is one of those tricks with more variations than I can describe. Experiment with the possibilities. In one of my favorite routines, Andrew Head (Figure 3.17) performs head rolls with a bar stool while trying to pick up his hat.
Leg-Back Roll: Start as shown in Fig. 3.18, with a ball on your foot. Roll it up your leg to your hip. As the ball reaches your hip, you twist away from it, and let it continue to roll up your back, down one of your arms, and into a hold. Yes, this sounds impossible. But if you work as hard on body rolls as you did on the butterfly, you really can see results!
Figure 3.18 Leg-back roll (starting position)
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This illustration is based on a photo of Francis Brunn, who performed this roll with a ball in each hand.
Chapter Four Other One-Ball Tricks
The possible variations of one-ball manipulations, simple and difficult, are larger than the scope of this book. This chapter contains a few suggestions, but I strongly encourage you to watch other jugglers and see what they are doing. The Internet is your friend. Gripping Holds: Figure 4.1 shows several ways to grip a ball between two hands. Imagine ways that you could roll from one position to the next, possibly keeping the ball still as you move your hands. Tricks in this style are a combination of isolations and holds.
a
d
b
c
e Figure 4.1 Several gripping holds.
Finger Rolls: Magicians “contact juggle” with smaller items. You can roll coins and small balls between your fingers, often in conjunction with productions and vanishes. See Chapter Eight for a lesson in coin rolls. page 39
The Wave: Put both hands together, palms up, fingers pointing away from you (Fig. 4.2). Support the ball at your fingertips, and roll it back and forth, raising the fingers slightly as it passes. Don’t close the fingers, just raise them slightly. This gives the effect of a bubble floating on waves. Check this trick in a mirror; it looks much better to the audience than it looks to you.
Figure 4.2 The wave (front view)
The Hop: (Fig 4.3) This is a toss juggling move that blends nicely into a contact juggling routine. In this example you are throwing the ball with your right hand, and catching it with your left. Hold your left hand, palm down, a few inches above your right hand, which holds the ball on the palm. Pitch the ball straight up, just hard enough so that it tops out at the level of your left hand. Catch it and stop. Figure 4.3 The hop
The effect you are going for is a reverse of rolling the ball off your left hand and dropping it into your right. If the move looks like a film running backwards, you’re doing it right. It gives the ball a weightless look. You can catch the ball in the cradle, as shown here, or in a fist hold. You might also try catching the ball against your palm, gripping it with your thumb (see the thumb hold, below). It is the same type of reverse motion catch (if the ball comes to a stop before you grab it), but each has a slightly different look. Thumb Hold: (Fig. 4.4) Simply grip the ball with your thumb. This is an interesting trick because the audience might not immediately see how you are doing it. page 40
Figure 4.4 The thumb hold
You can use the thumb hold as a simple sight gag, capturing the ball with your thumb and pretending that it is stuck to your hand. Or you can use it as part of a more fluid routine, to get the ball into places that it otherwise wouldn’t go. This is especially useful when you are doing butterflies with more than one ball (see Chapter Five). The Cage: Make a cage by touching every fingertip of one hand to its opposite on the other (Fig. 4.5). Rest the ball on top of this cage, in the two-finger cradle between fingers 2 and 3. From this position, a couple of moves are possible. Sweep your hands around so that the ball ends up on your left palm, inside the cage, and then toss/roll it back out into the original hold. Roll from the right hand to the left (along the fingers) without opening the cage. The difficult thing about this roll is that if you get the ball rolling very fast, there is nothing at your left knuckles to stop it.
Figure 4.5 The cage
To keep the ball from picking up speed, remember that it is the hands, and not the ball, that should really be moving. In addition, you can try to move the cage slightly upward every time you do the roll. This stops the sideways motion of the ball better than just your knuckles can. Two Fingers: Instead of using the three-finger cradle (see Chapter One), some people prefer to use only the first two fingers, spread slightly, to hold and roll the ball (Fig. 4.6).
Figure 4.6 Two-finger cradle
If you use 2” balls or smaller, this may be a better cradle for you. In any case, learning to use the two-finger cradle will help you with the cage, as well as the next set of tricks.
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Hands Together: Put your palms together, in the first position of the basic Butterfly, as in the first segment of Fig. 4.7a. You need to hold the ball in the two-finger cradle (Fig. 4.6), since lowering the middle finger is difficult with both hands together. Do a butterfly, keeping your palms together, and catch the ball on the back of the other hand. To learn this, you will probably have to go through all the learning steps again: throwing and catching in place, throwing back and forth, and the rolling throw. Because your hands are together, they may tend to “fight,” meaning that you can get mixed signals if you try to control both hands at once. To keep it straight, you may want to imagine a “master” hand and a “slave” hand. In other words, instead of trying to control each hand separately, and confusing them with redundant information, make one of them dumbly cling to the other. When I do this, the top hand is the master. So, when the ball is on the back of my left hand, I concentrate on that hand, and just press the right hand against it, and vice versa. This makes the trick feel more like throwing the ball from hand to hand, though the hands are staying together. You can slide in and out of this trick as part of a butterfly routine. In Fig. 4.7b, the exchange begins with a back-to-palm transfer. The hands meet in the middle, and slide apart again. The move ends with a palm-to-back transfer. You could easily do a few hands-together butterflies in between. In the “flytrap” (Fig. 4.7c) you add an extra roll in the middle. Start with palms together, but open them up in the center of the move, and do a palmto-palm transfer before closing up again and finishing the move. If you are very flexible, you can try a backs-touching butterfly (not shown). This has the advantage of giving you control of the ball on your palms, but the disadvantage of being quite physically challenging. As with many of these moves, you will need to do the backs-touching butterfly without a ball for a while, just to limber up your arms.
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a
b
c Figure 4.7 Hands together variations. (a) Two-handed butterfly; (b) sliding in and out of position (c) opening up in the middle (the “flytrap”).
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Even More Tricks: The one-ball variations of contact juggling are practically limitless. Since the first edition of this book, far more moves have been invented than I could ever include. So take a look around, search the Web, and use your imagination to find new ideas and directions. Many moves with billiard balls, or smaller wooden balls, are described in a number of magic books. Woven in between the productions, vanishes, and multiplications are a few basic moves of contact juggling (though not by that name). Contact juggling is not limited to balls, either. Clubs, batons, coins, and plates lend themselves to some contact juggling moves. (I describe a few in Chapter Eight.) There are many elegant moves in the disciplines of of baton twirling, staff juggling, and club swinging. And we are not limited to using one ball.
A Note on Serendipity Every time you make a weird mistake, you should remember it. Most of your mistakes will be useless. But every once in a while, you will come across something wonderful. Once, when I was practicing the chest roll, I managed to accidentally catch the ball on my collarbone. I turned to my friend and said, “Look, a new hold!” And it was. And the way I figured, if I could do it once, I could do it again. And eventually I did. Unfortunately, I couldn’t figure how to get out of it, because the well was so deep I couldn’t just roll it out, and I didn’t want to just grab it. Worse yet, the pocket was only there if I was wearing a T-shirt, which I don’t typically perform in. But I used the same technique to roll the ball into a neck trap (holding the ball with my neck and shoulder), so it wasn’t entirely wasted. The lesson is that you should pay attention to whatever weird mistakes you make. Turn them into tricks and show people. That’s how some of the most unusual new moves are developed.
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Part Two Multi-Ball and Beyond
Chapter Five Double Butterflies & Associated Transfers
There are many logical expansions from one-ball to multi-ball contact juggling. The first set of tricks includes new butterfly variations, such as using a single ball in each hand, and making two-ball transfers. The second group (Chapter Six) involves treating several balls as one object, and includes palm circles, stacking, and a few other transfers. Chapter Seven includes a few multi-ball tricks which do not fit either category, including the walking cascade and three-ball staircases. And Chapter Eight touches on some contact juggling moves with other objects.
Double Butterflies When you do two butterflies at once, the balls are not always in the same place. Thus, these moves tend to me more technical, and less visual. It is harder, or at least more confusing, for an audience to watch two butterflies at once. Nevertheless, these moves are well worth learning. If you prefer working with lucite, glass, or steel balls, I strongly advise you not to practice these tricks with two balls at once. I prefer to perform the double butterfly moves, and any other moves where the balls might collide, with two rubber balls. Doing a butterfly in both hands is hard. To learn how, remember to start again
Figure 5.1 Two butterflies: (a) in tandem; (b) crossing in the middle.
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at the beginning. Repeat all the steps in Chapter One if you need to, this time with a ball for each hand. First, learn to throw a ball and catch it on the back of your right hand, while just holding a second ball on the back of your left. Then work the left hand while the right hand holds still. When you feel comfortable with this, do them both together, or alternate right, left, right, left. Then you’re ready for the next step. Go through them all this way. Symmetry: When you are doing two butterflies, you have many options for symmetry. You may want your arms working in tandem (Fig. 5.la), crossing in the middle (Fig. 5.1b), or going just a little off time. If your arms are crossing in the middle, be sure to alternate the lead hand, just as you did when learning the basic hand movements. This will help keep your pattern from looking lopsided. Another timing option is “stalling.” That just means holding one hand still for a moment while the other moves. This action leads to a type of double butterfly called “folding.” Folding: Begin as shown in Fig. 5.2a, with a ball on the back of your right hand, lying across your body, and another on the palm of your left, held out in front.
a
b
Butterfly the right hand so that it matches the left, as in Fig. 5.2b. Stop. Now butterfly the left hand to cross over the right hand (Fig. 5.2c). Stop. To return to the first position, reverse these steps. Blended smoothly, this is one of the simplest and easiest double butterflies. page 48
c Figure 5.2 Folding, variation 1
Folding, 2nd Variation: This time, begin with arms crossed in front of you, palms down. This is shown in Fig. 5.3a, with the right arm above the left. Butterfly the right hand to the outside. (Fig. 5.3b). Stop. Then, simultaneously butterfly the left hand out, and the right hand back in (Fig. 5.3c). Stop.
a
Butterfly the left hand back down, crossing over the right (Fig. 5.3d). You are now in the mirror-image of the position where you started, with the left hand on top. b
Reverse these moves and you will return to position (a). There are other possible variations of folding, involving more simultaneous butterflies as in part 5.3c. You can also try maintaining butterflies in alternate planes, or doing various combinations of one-hand tricks instead of butterflies (holds, arm rolls, palm spins, or toss juggling two balls).
c
Double Butterfly Transfers Getting the balls to switch hands is clearly going to be a challenge. Standard butterfly transfers (those intended for one ball) are of little use to us here, since we cannot roll two balls through the same space at the same time.
d Figure 5.3 Folding, variation 2
Therefore, two-ball transfers involve putting the extra ball somewhere out of the way, either by holding it, tossing it into the air, or rolling it farther down the arm. page 49
Note: For clarity in the following explanations, I will start with a striped ball in the right hand, and a white ball in the left hand. Thumb-Hold Transfer: This transfer uses the thumb hold (Fig. 4.4) as a way to keep the balls apart in a back-to-back transfer. a
Do two butterflies that cross in the middle, as in Fig. 5.1b. When your hands are outside, palm up, grasp the striped ball with your right thumb. Butterfly the left hand normally (Fig. 5.4a).
b
When you bring your hands to the center, they should resemble Fig. 5.4b. Put your right hand in the lead position, for a catch.
c
Do a back-to-back transfer with the white ball, from left to right. The right hand is now holding both balls (Fig. 5.4d).
d
Continue lowering your left hand, while raising your right hand, and drop the striped ball into the left cradle. Now you are free to butterfly both hands out (Figs. 5.4 e,f). e
Another variation of this move is the reverse. Butterfly both hands to center normally, but hold the right hand above the left.
f Figure 5.4 Thumb-hold transfer
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Grab the white ball with the right thumb, then do a back-to-back transfer rightto-left with the striped ball. Butterfly the left out, and grip the white ball on your right palm so that both balls are now on the palms, outside. This is the same transfer but backwards.
Arm Roll Transfer: A slightly more challenging way to keep the second ball out of the way is to roll it down the smooth part of your arm. From a symmetrical double butterfly, bring both hands inside, with the right hand in the lead (Fig. 5.5a).
a
Roll the striped ball down your right arm towards the elbow, and then drop the white ball into the right cradle (Fig. 5.5b). As with the thumb hold transfer, the right hand (and arm) is holding both balls.
a
Now bring your left arm under the right, and catch the striped ball as it rolls off the right elbow, in the left cradle (Fig. 5.5c). You are now free to butterfly both hands back to the outside.
a
You will find this one tricky to break down, because the ball in motion on your arm won’t wait for you. This is also true of the next set of transfers, the tossing transfers.
Figure 5.5 Arm-roll transfer
Tossing Transfers: One more place you can put a ball (very briefly) is in the air. This idea is the basis of toss juggling, of course. Although this type of transfer requires precise timing, I have found it to be the most versatile and appealing. Both the palm-to-palm and back-to-back variations are easy to learn if you have some toss juggling skill, and they can be combined and repeated in quick succession, similar to the circle transfer from Chapter Two. Since you will do a lot of throwing and catching in these moves, it is almost essential that you know a little three-ball toss juggling. I recommend a short course in three-ball juggling as a preliminary to the tossing transfers. For the basics, see Appendix II. page 51
Tossing Palm-to-Palm: In this transfer, you will throw the ball into the air and then perform a palm-topalm transfer before catching it in the other hand (Fig, 5.6). a
When you practice this, you must break it down like any other move, doing just the toss first, then just the roll, and then both together. At first you may even need to go through the move with empty hands. Hold your hands as shown in Fig. 5.6a, with the striped ball on the back of your right hand and the white ball held in the palm of the left.
b
Butterfly the right hand to the center, as for a standard palm-to-palm transfer. Toss the white ball into the air (Fig. 5.6b), and roll the striped ball from palm to palm.
c
d Figure 5.6 Tossing palm-to-palm
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Butterfly the left hand and catch the white ball in the right, ending up as in Fig. 5.6d. Notice that the white ball does not roll, and the striped ball is never thrown. Although it is possible to enter this trick directly from symmetrical butterflies, I usually prefer to allow the left hand to come to rest first, then do the tossing transfer as one motion.
Tossing Back-to-Back: This is a similar move to the previous one, but slightly harder because it requires a back-to-back transfer. You are still tossing from one palm to the other. Begin with the white ball in the left palm. Butterfly the striped ball into the right cradle. You should now be in the position shown in Fig. 5.7a.
a
Toss the white ball into the air, and flip the left hand over, to catch a back-toback transfer of the striped ball (Fig 5.7b). Once the right hand is empty, flip that hand and catch the white ball (Fig. 5.7c, d).
b
Butterfly the striped ball away on the left hand. As with the last transfer, note that only the white ball is thrown, and only the striped ball rolls. Tossing Circle: Like the basic oneball circle (Chapter Two), this trick is a series of palm-to-palm and back-to-back transfers. However, as busy as that trick feels, we actually have room to toss a ball back and forth between the empty hands.
c
The tossing circle, then, is a series of the last two tricks, the palm-to-palm and back-to-back tossing transfers. Fig. 5.8 shows a clockwise circle with the white ball, while the striped ball is being tossed from hand to hand.
d
Figure 5.7 Tossing back-to-back
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Begin as shown in Fig. 5.8a, and butterfly the white ball to center for a Palm-to-Palm transfer. As you do this, throw the striped ball into the air (Fig. 5.8b). In Fig. 5.8c, the white ball rolls under the striped ball, into a catch in the right hand (this is a tossing palm-to-palm transfer). Complete the butterfly in the right hand, bringing yourself into a position that looks like the mirror image of the starting position (Fig. 5.8e).
a
c
b
d
f
g Figure 5.8 The tossing circle.
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e
Now and toss the striped ball back into the air and do a back-to-back transfer from right to left (Fig. 5.9e, f). This is a tossing back-to-back. Once the back-to-back is complete, and you catch the striped ball in your right hand, you have returned to the original position. The white ball has made two circles, and the striped ball has been tossed twice. You’re in position to begin the sequence again. Although this looks extremely complex, the tossing and catching are second nature to a good toss juggler, so it’s mostly a matter of incorporating those throws into the circle you already know.
Other Butterfly Expansions There are many variations on these double butterfly transfers, in each of the holding, rolling, and tossing categories. Do your best to invent different ones: try some in different wall planes, or while stalling or folding. Try the holding and tossing variations of palm-toback and back-to-palm transfers. They are quite simple alterations of the ones I have described. Palm-to-Back: One of them involves repeated palm-to-back transfers, with a toss from the back of the catching hand to the palm of the throwing hand (Fig 5.8a). You can do the same thing palm-to-palm or back-to-back (Fig. 5.8b).
a
b Figure 5.9 Two more tossing transfers
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Butterfly While...: In addition to the multi-ball transfers, there are other obvious complications of the butterfly, many with the word “while” in them. For example, you might keep a butterfly going in your right hand while you: • • • • •
Juggle two in the left hand Sing Balance on one foot Balance a pole on your nose And don’t forget “All of the above.”
A Note on Difficulty What makes a good juggling trick? For your personal entertainment, and that of other jugglers, the harder tricks will be more impressive. But when entertaining a non-juggling audience, we have to balance difficulty and impact. Some tricks are harder than they look, and some aren’t. Assuming that most tricks are “average,” and that it’s always worth learning a trick that’s easier than it looks, the hard choices come when you decide to learn a trick that is harder than it looks. People will not be impressed in proportion to your effort. So, is it still worth it? One example is juggling large numbers of objects. Adding a fifth, sixth, seventh object to your pattern makes it exponentially more difficult, but the average audience perceives only a linear increase in awesomeness. Seven balls looks fairly hard, but unless your audience can already juggle five, it is not as impressive as, say, three bowling balls. That is why most professionals do the big numbers at the beginning of the show, and save the axes and bowling balls for the finale. Some tricks seem to defy this sort of classification. There is, for example, an acrobat who rides a giraffe unicycle atop a large ball. While idling with one foot, she pitches seven bowls from her other leg into a bowl on her head. This trick is almost certainly harder than it looks. But it still looks impossible. Contact juggling is, unfortunately, harder than it looks. Still, it is worth performing. It’s nice to do a trick they call “impossible.”
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Chapter Six Palm Circles
The second large group of multiple-ball tricks is palm circling, or palm spinning. This family of tricks is as mesmerizing and as difficult as single-ball work, and can be the basis for an entire routine. The materials for palm circles are slightly different. The balls you use will probably be smaller than for single-ball (especially at first, or if you have small hands). New rubber balls are sticky and will catch on each other when they rub together. Older balls (such as lacrosse balls) will get slicker as the rubber ages. Steel Chinese exercise balls are excellent for palm circles, since they are smaller and smoother. They are, however, expensive, especially if you want to use eight of them. If you use crystal or lucite balls, you may find it useful to polish the balls with a transparent lubricant, since these surfaces can also tend to grab each other when dry.
Two Balls First, let’s learn how to spin two balls in one hand. Hold your arm comfortably low, with your palms up and forearms level, as if you were carrying a tray. This is the “tray” plane. Put two balls on your palm, and push them around in a circle.
Figure 6.1 Two balls
Push with your fingers and thumb. It would help to tilt your hand forward a little, but try not to do this. If you rely on a forward tilt, you will not be able to spin a stack of four balls. Do your best to stay in the tray plane. page 57
You can choose between clockwise and counterclockwise motion. You should notice that, just as you have a strong and weak hand, you also have an easy and hard direction of spin. My hardest direction is counterclockwise on my left hand. Because this is such a fundamental move, you should work on them all. You can also do an interesting isolation by keeping one ball in place while you move the other ball around it. If your ball is reflective, you can use the reflections of a stationary object or light to help you fix the ball in place. Traditionally, Chinese exercise balls are not supposed to touch when you do this. This is plausible with two balls, difficult with three, and impossible with four. For the moment, let them touch. Eventually, you will want to learn to keep them apart as well. Keeping the balls apart is the best way to do palm spins with tacky rubber balls such as lacrosse or silicone balls.
Three Balls Once you are comfortable with all the variations of two balls, add a third one. It will feel huge at first. That’s okay; once you can do three, two will feel small. Forget about keeping the balls apart. Hold them together with as much control as you can, and keep them going at a constant speed. Thumb and pinkie are the principal movers with three balls.
Figure 6.2 Three balls
Work on increasing your speed, smoothness in both directions, changing directions, and using both hands at once. The hardest part of palm spinning is keeping a consistent speed. The circle will tend to lurch forward when you have a good grip, and stop dead where you can’t push it. Learn to overcome these hitches and keep the speed smooth. Listen for little clicks when the balls separate and hit each other again. This means you aren’t holding them together, and you’ll never hold up ball number four. page 58
Four Balls When you are able to keep three balls spinning on your palm, it is time to add ball number four. Set it on top. Here’s where a level palm and steady inward pressure will pay off. If you can keep three balls together well, the fourth will sit easily on top of the stack. You will feel more pressure forcing the circle apart, but besides that, the four-ball stack is essentially the same as three.
Figure 6.3 Four balls
You will notice that the top ball seems to spin very fast. Because the balls are rolling and spinning, both the roll and the spin add together on the top ball. If the balls have surface details (stripes or dots, for example), this is can be an interesting effect. You will also notice, if you use tacky balls such as lacrosse or silicone balls, that the four-ball stack is slightly easier than three, because the top ball grips the other three and keeps them from spreading apart. This is not a static equilibrium; it will fall apart if you don’t keep it together. But it is an interesting property of tacky balls.
Some Variations on Ball Spinning Palm spinning can be thought of in some ways like an isolation, except that it is the group of balls, not a single ball, that remains in place. So holding the stack still while you move around it, moving through interesting physical poses, and moving two groups of balls relative to each other are all good directions to explore, without even learning any new “tricks.” You should also learn to transfer single balls and sets of balls from hand to hand. For example, the three- and five-ball cascades.
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Cascades: The “cascade” gets its name from the basic pattern in toss juggling, where three balls weave together in a figure-eight pattern. You can perform this pattern easily on the palms of two hands. (Fig. 6.4). This sequence represents one full “exchange” of the three-ball cascade.
a
c
b
d
e
g
f Figure 6.4 Three ball “cascade”
Five-Ball Cascade: The same cascade pattern with five balls is tougher, but still fairly easy if you are good with 3-ball palm circles. You are basically performing a 3-ball circle on both hands, but constantly exchanging one ball in the middle. One-Handed Cascade: When using small enough balls, you can perform a cascade on one hand. Unless you have superb control, the balls tend to slam together when the larger circle reforms, but experiment with it. Try other patterns, too. page 60
Breaking the Tray Plane: There are several patterns in which you roll balls up out of the tray plane (Fig. 6.5) This is easiest with three balls. Hold the balls so that one is out on your fingertips, with the other two back on your palm (Fig. 6.5a). Push the outside ball up and over the other two (Fig. 6.5b). You can also push a ball up and over the others with your thumb (Fig. 6.5c) or with your pinkie (Fig. 6.5d). There are also variations of this trick using a four-ball stack. You are basically just turning different faces of the pyramid (Fig. 6.5 e,f).
a
b
c
d
e
f
Figure 6.5 Breaking the tray plane
Inverting: If you are using smaller balls, you might be able to spin two or three balls upside down (Fig. 6.6). In the case of a steel exercise balls, this is actually one of the recommended exercises. If you can spin them upside-down, you might also be able to rotate the tray plane to any orientation Figure 6.6 Inverted palm spin
Stacked Palm Spins: If you can do an inverted palm spin, you can also hold an extra ball between your hands (Fig. 6.7). You will find that tackier balls are best for this, as they allow you to most easily hold this in any orientation.
Figure 6.7 Stacked palm spins
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Leaving the Palm: While doing palm spins, you can send a ball somewhere else to pause for a while. Arm Roll: Start with three balls on your palm, as shown in Fig. 6.8a. Roll one ball up your arm to the elbow and hold it there, as in Fig. 6.9b. This is the same arm roll and elbow hold from Chapter Three.
a
Continue spinning the other two on your palm. Now, gently roll the third ball back down and back into the pattern. This is one of those moves which (for me) happened first by accident.
b Figure 6.8 Arm roll
You can also perform this trick with a four-ball stack. In that case, you may find it easier to roll one of the balls off the bottom and simultaneously drop the top ball down to replace it. You can also reverse this process when you put it back. Butterfly into Thumb Hold: In this move, you relocate one of two balls to the back of your hand. Start by doing a two-ball palm circle. Grip one of the balls with your thumb, and butterfly the other into the cradle (Fig. 6.9). From here you may want to reverse the move and return to palm spinning, or go into some other two-ball butterfly variations (Chapter Five).
a b Figure 6.9 Butterfly into thumb hold
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c
Transfers: We mentioned transfers briefly above, under the three- and five-ball cascades. There are lots of ways to transfer one or more balls from one hand to the other, most of which should be pretty self-evident. If you keep your hands flat, palm up, and in the tray plane, you can transfer palm spins (two, three, and even four-ball stacks) from one hand to the other. You can keep the balls moving in the same direction as they change hands, or change directions as you change hands. When moving three balls from hand to hand, it is nice to pick a lead ball and let the others trail after it. This also works with four. An example of this pattern is shown in Figure 6.10. In the case of moving four balls, you could transfer the whole stack together, or let it fall apart, snake over in the tray plane, and stack back up in the other hand.
b
a
c
d
e
Figure 6.10 Changing directions while changing hands
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b
c
a
d Figure 6.11 Rolling grab
Rolling Grab: If you can’t quite do inverted palm spins (Fig. 6.6) you can still grab a three-ball spin off of one hand with the other, with the rolling grab. This feels similar to an inverted palm spin, but it’s easier because both hands are grasping the balls during most of the transfer. This is the same whether you are spinning two or three balls. Make the exchange as shown in Fig. 6.11. Let the catching hand be helped by the throwing hand until it is completely level again. You might try some out-of-plane moves while in positions (b) and (c). Rolling Grab with Four: You can also perform the rolling grab with four balls. This is similar to grabbing two or three, but you must approach the pyramid from one of its sides, rather than from the top. The four-ball grab lends itself to a lot of plane-breaking in the middle (Fig. 6.12). Try holding your hands together and rotating the three balls in the top plane. Large balls are better for this trick, because smaller ones get lost behind your fingers. page 64
Figure 6.12 Pausing to break the plane in the 4-ball rolling grab
Curls: Sometimes, just moving your hands around your body can be a challenging trick. This is the case with curls, a move that is familiar to plate and ball spinners as well as dancers. When you do a curl, you are moving your hands in a complete circle while keeping them flat. This moves the hand below, and then above, your shoulder. Practice curling first with a plate, and then with a group of balls which are not spinning, before trying to do it with a spinning stack. Begin by bringing your hand under your armpit, sticking your elbow out. As you bring your hand further around, push your shoulder forward and straighten your arm, until it is twisted almost to the maximum (Fig. 6.14, a-c). Now, untwist your arm, lifting your hand up above shoulder level. Make another circle, and bring your hand back down where it began (Fig. 6.14, d-g).
a
b
c
d e
f
g
Figure 6.11 A one-handed curl
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Two Curls: You can do a curl in both hands, alternating. When one side is up, the other should be down (Fig. 6.14). It is also possible to do this move symmetrically, but this is significantly harder and requires a limber spine. This is not an easy trick. If you can do continuous alternating curls with four balls on each hand, I think you win this chapter.
Figure 6.14 Two curls
Other Variations There are still a lot of unexplored avenues here. Much of your performance is about your personal style and not about specific technical feats, so don’t assume that you’ve finished just by mastering the basic version of every trick. Also, remember not to overpower your act. Even if you can spin four balls on each hand, two balls is still a nice effect. Just adding and removing balls to your palm spins can be mesmerizing when executed properly. Build a routine that moves slowly through the difficulty curve, bringing your audience along for the ride. Experiment with different numbers on each hand, different colored balls, moving two spins relative to each other, and transferring only parts of stacks (for example, splitting a four-ball stack into two spinning pairs). Above all, you should experiment and try impossible things, or things that you might think look bad. Watch videos of yourself and others, to see what ideas get sparked. Often it is hard to visualize a new trick until you just try it.
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Chapter Seven A Few Other Multi-Ball Tricks
I usually hate “miscellaneous” categories, but here goes. This is a section of tricks that don’t fit under any of the other headers in this book. The Walking Cascade: If If you can do the side-stepping version of walking with one ball (Chapter Three), it is easy to learn the walking cascade. You need to learn two separate holds on the palm of each hand. One is out near the fingertips, and the other is the thumb hold against the palm (See the right hand in Fig. 7.1a).
a
b
Begin with the balls as shown in Fig. 7.1a, with a ball on the fingers of each hand, and a third held by the right thumb. c
Turn your right hand towards the left, and roll the first (white) ball from the right fingertips to the left thumb hold (Fig. 7.1b). Now, turn the left hand towards the right, and roll the second (dotted) ball from the right thumb hold to the right fingertips. You are now in the reverse position from where you began, with the left hand poised to roll the third (striped) ball into the right thumb hold (Fig. 7.2 c,d).
d
Figure 7.1 The walking cascade
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You can stretch this pattern by releasing the balls further up the arm, and rolling them down your arm and into the thumb hold. You can also do this in reverse, walking the balls towards yourself instead of away. The moves are basically reversed, and to stretch it just use more of your forearm before dropping the ball to the opposite fingertips.
a
c b Figure 7.2 Toss and grab
Toss and Grab: This is a well-known two-ball trick. Hold a ball on the back of your hand, and grasp a second ball with your thumb against the palm, as shown with a white and striped ball in Fig. 7.2a. Your goal is to make the balls switch places, by tossing them both and grabbing the white one. Throw both balls up, about a foot. Because you launched both balls at the same time, they will be on roughly the same trajectory. Now you must grab the white ball quickly, at the top of its arc, and then whip your hand back down in time to catch the striped ball. It’s a fast trick. You will note that this is, strictly speaking, a toss juggling move, since there is no rolling involved. As such, you will find it a lot easier to practice with bean bags, since they are easier to catch on the back of your hand. There are also variations of this type of move using three and four balls (in two hands). page 68
The Elevator: This is a cute and very easy trick. Simply hold the two balls as shown in Fig. 7.3, raising and lowering them. This is easiest with stickier balls such as lacrosse or silicone balls. Because your palms and fingers provide a natural channel, as long as the balls are not slick, they stay together very easily. This can also be done with the hands sideways or upside-down. It is much harder, though possible, to perform this with one half of the stack against your palm, and the other against a smooth surface like the back of your arm
Figure 7.3 The elevator
Multi-Ball Transfers Many variations of basic butterfly transfers can be done with two or three balls. Many involve thumb holds, much like the walking cascade. Descending Staircase: Hold a ball against each palm while doing a descending staircase (Fig 7.4). That's it. This is harder than the one-ball staircase, but not by very much. It’s a warmup for more complex transfers. Walk Away: You can also try walking the ball forward on the backs of your hands, either way, towards you, or side-to-side.
Figure 7.4 Three-ball staircase
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Adding a Butterfly: This move simply adds one butterfly stall to the staircase pattern. Begin in the staircase, with the hands and balls as shown in Fig. 7.5a. a
Drop the white ball in the left cradle, and butterfly the striped ball in the right hand, out and back. Then grab the white ball again and resume the descending staircase (Fig. 7.6c).
b
You will notice that your left hand did nothing in this move. We will give it something to do in the next two tricks. Meanwhile, learn to do this stall on both sides, alternating hands, as you incorporate them into the three-ball staircase.
c Figure 7.5 Adding a butterfly
Thumb Hold Return: This begins exactly as the previous move, but when you return your right hand to the center, grasp the ball in the thumb hold rather than rolling it over your fingers.
Figure 7.6 Thumb hold return
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This move puts the right hand in a position to catch either ball from the left hand.
The Rising Stack: This move is a series of thumb returns and drop-offs. It is a “rising” stack because the two balls that remain in the middle are always gently moving up. Notice the spotted ball in Fig. 7.7: it moves slightly up in each step.
a
To perform this trick, simply repeat the thumb hold return on each side. b
Notice that when the moving hand returns, it should pass behind the static hand (Fig. 7.7 c, e). This gives the audience a constant view of the rising balls, rather than the held ball. It is also just physically easier. You could also flip the moving hand beneath the other two, rather than keeping it in the wall plane. In this version, you are grasping the ball and twisting your arm while it is pointed straight ahead. This make the pattern more compact and gives a different visual effect. You should experiment with both patterns. You can also reverse this pattern, although some of the elements are harder in reverse. In that case, it would be a falling stack.
c
d
e Figure 7.7 The rising stack
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The Drop-off: In this exchange, you are throwing the ball from a thumb hold, to catch it in the other cradle. a
b
c
Begin as shown in Fig. 7.8a. Butterfly both hands: the right hand moves in, and the left hand moves out. The right hand is grasping the ball in a thumb hold. As you do this, release the ball that the left thumb is holding, with enough lift that it can fall onto the right cradle. You should end up as in Fig. 7.8c. This illustration ends in a mirror image of its starting position, so you can immediately repeat this move on the other side.
Figure 7.8 The drop-off
More Tricks: From this point forward, there are a variety of directions you could choose to experiment with, involving various holds, transfers, and moving in different planes. It’s not practical to illustrate all these variations, but I encourage you to be creative and to search the Web for videos of contact juggling. And consider, as we will in the next chapter, what other objects you could use.
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Chapter Eight Other Objects and Ideas
Although balls are the most versatile shape, other objects can lend themselves to a few contact juggling moves. For example, I have seen routines done with plates, hoops, hats, sticks, knives, coins, and cards. I have also seen wonderful adaptations of contact juggling involving other art forms, including magic, dance, gymnastics, and martial arts. Most of the moves that are possible with other objects have already been discussed in other books, and so for more details on them I refer you to my suggested reading list on page 95. Included here are some tricks which involve replacing the hands with other items, including ball-on-plate, ball-on-ball, and devil sticks.
Coins Coin rolls are documented in several books on magic, but strictly speaking they are juggling tricks because the performer is doing exactly what he says he is doing. Obviously they belong in those books because they mix well with other coin and card tricks. Here are just the basics. To roll a coin down your fingers, start by grasping it between your thumb and the first joint of your index finger, as shown in Fig. 8.1.
Figure 8.1 Coin roll, starting position
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a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Figure 8.2 Coin roll
To roll the coin down the back of your hand, you will basically make steps out of your fingers. First, raise your middle finger slightly, and let the coin roll over and come to rest on it, as in Fig. 8.2b. Now, pinch the coin between your index and middle fingers, and lift it up. Form a step with your ring finger and let the coin roll over onto that (Fig. 8.2c, d). This repeats once more at the pinkie, but since you can’t continue from there, you will reach under with your thumb, and slide the coin back up on the inside of your hand, where it returns to the starting position (Fig. 8.2 e-h). You can continue a coin roll from one hand to the other, or do them in both hands at once. You can also learn a similar move on the inside of your hand, with your palm up.
Cards There are thousands of “finger-flinging” card manipulations, including toss juggling, contact juggling, and sleight of hand. The contact juggling tricks include card fanning, one-handed cuts and shuffles, and much more. But for those I really have to point you at a magic book. page 74
Plates Plates, such as dinner plates, serving trays, or other flat round objects, lend themselves to several interesting contact juggling moves. You can combine these moves with balancing, spinning, and toss juggling. Other items in this category include hoops, wheels, and hats. Plate Flip: Start with a plate on your left hand. Bring the right hand up behind it, palm down, as in the Fig. 8.3a. Now, lift the plate with the edge of your right hand, and turn it for a whole flip, to be caught on your right palm. Turn your left hand palm down during this flip, and you can set yourself up to immediately repeat the trick on the other side (Fig. 8.3f). Reverse Plate Flip: You can also do this trick in reverse, and it looks pretty much like running Fig. 8.3 backwards. Again, this trick easily alternates from left to right. One-Handed Plate Flip: You can do a similar move with one hand, by tossing the plate up gently and releasing it flat, then turning over your hand and touching the back of the hand to the edge of the plate. From here, you gently flip the plate over as it falls, resembling Fig. 8.3 b-f, but without the supporting hand.
a
b
c
d
e
f
Figure 8.3 Plate flip
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Plate Curls: Curls (Chapter Six) can also be done with plates. Try keeping a ball, a wine glass, or a candle on the plate as you curl it. Plate Swings: If you do it quickly and smoothly, you can swing a plate upside down over your head, through a full circle and back without dropping it. Try this in various planes and through various curves. If you feel confident, try swinging a glass-on-plate stack. But do it first with something that won’t break! Body Rolls: Plates also lend themselves to body rolls, especially arm and back rolls. Any roll which does not stop the plate and reverse its direction will work (butterflies and head rolls are tough). You might also try rolling hoops or hats. Some hats can be rolled on the rim, or end-overend. Fig. 8.4 shows a pattern for rolling three hoops at once, down the back, from a photo of Bob Bramson. Figure 8.4 Body roll with three hoops
Sticks and Batons There are several spinning and rolling moves with stick-like objects. Things in this category include batons, drum sticks, poles, juggling clubs, and even knives. The most common form of contact juggling with sticks is called “contact staff.” Staves typically measure about 40” to 55” in length, with slender midsections and padded bulbs at both ends. These ends make the staff easier to spin, and the narrow midsection allows the staff to roll less while in contact with your body. Staff work includes contact juggling and toss juggling. The contact juggling tricks include finger rolls, figure-eights, moves resembling Devil Stick twirls, and body rolls over the arms, legs, body, neck, and head. page 76
Wrap-around body rolls (such as the back- and neck-rolls) are especially dramatic with a staff, but can also be done with shorter sticks like batons. Of course, batons are just a different variety of stick, and there are many classic contact juggling moves with batons. I have seen a couple of nice moves with knives. By “knife,” I mean any short stick with more weight at the handle than at the other end. The first knife move is a “push,” best done with a stick about 6-8 inches long. Start with the stick balanced point-down on the back of your hand (Fig. 8.5a). If it’s a knife, it had better be light and dull! From this position, you can roll the stick over your fingertips, and catch it point-up, as in Fig. 8.5b. Or you can roll the stick away from yourself, over the edge of your hand, and catch it point-down as in Fig 8.3c. These rolls work best when the stick is just the right length and balance. Similar moves can be done with pencils, screwdrivers, ping-pong paddles, etc.
a
b
c
Figure 8.5 Two knife pushes. (a) is the starting position; (b) and (c) are ways to finish.
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The second knife move is a palm spin, and it is best done with a 12”-16” knife (or tapered stick). Hold the knife with its center of balance on your palm. Your hand should be out in front of you, palm up. Give the knife a quick clockwise spin (counterclockwise for the left hand) and flatten your hand out to let the blade pass. Stop it again when the knife has completed a full circle (Fig. 8.6). This is sort of the 16th century version of the gunslinger’s twirl. You obviously don’t need a knife to do this trick. A short stick is fine to practice with–try a juggling club, flashlight, or the bottom half of a pool cue. And once you can do a single spin, try letting it continue for a second, third, or fourth spin before you grab it.
Figure 8.6 Open-handed spin
Replacing the Hands Juggling can be done not only with the hands and body, but also on a multitude of hand replacements: plates, sticks, balls, etc can be stand-ins for your hands. Stick-on-stick juggling, for example, is better known as devil sticks. Ball on Plate: If your plate is perfectly flat on both sides, you should be able to do a butterfly on it (Fig. 8.7). For this trick, use the tackiest (best grip) ball you can find.
Figure 8.7 Butterfly on a plate
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For this trick, I use a round cutting board, which is also good for plate tricks.
With a larger plate, it is possible to do a continuous roll: turning the plate end-over-end while the ball rolls over it, much like an ant trying to stay on top of your hand (Fig. 8.8).
Figure 8.8 Ball rolling away on a plate
The same effect is possible (and much easier) with two balls. I like to use beach balls for this one, because large, light balls are the easiest. Hold and turn the lower ball, while the other rolls along the top (Fig. 8.9). A similar trick can be done with a ball on an umbrella. I have discovered that the best way to invent tricks with new items is to buy or build the item I need, and then to experiment with it. It is hard to imagine how a particular trick will work until you actually try it. You cannot devise the perfect prop until you have worked with several imperfect ones, and you will never stumble upon a new idea with imaginary toys. As I write this I am sitting at my desk and wondering about the possibilities of ball-on-telephone.... Figure 8.8 Ball rolling on a ball
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Working in the Other Arts One of the best ways to advance an art form is to merge it with another. Many magicians could learn contact juggling to insert in a ball routine--either levitating, vanishing, or fortune telling. Many contact jugglers perform as much dance as juggling, choreographing brilliant routines to music. Dancers, too, do some juggling in their routines. For a great example, watch Fred Astaire dance with a coat rack in Royal Wedding. One of my students is incorporating contact juggling in his Tai Chi exercises. He goes through the basic body positions while holding and rolling balls. Examining the martial art has given him tremendous insight into the possibilities of contact juggling, and practicing with the balls has improved his skill at Tai Chi. I once performed a blend of bubble tricks, magic, and contact juggling using the following production. I had a tiny pedestal table (actually, a plant stand) with a wine glass filled with bubble soap. After a few bubble tricks, I moved the stand out of the way for one final trick. I blew a string of large bubbles, plucked one of them from the air, and began contact juggling with it, because it had transformed into a crystal ball! This production used a simple wire gaff made from a coat hanger. The gaff gripped the ball under the rear edge of the table. As I moved the table back, I loaded the ball, and since this was the only magic trick in the whole routine, it was a very effective production. Nobody looks for the trick when you’re not a magician!
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Appendix I Materials
Here is a brief list of the best props to use for practicing and performing contact juggling.
Single Balls Contact juggling is fluid and graceful, and Figure A.1 whatever ball you choose should seem to float. Balls Solid colors, completely reflective balls, and transparent crystal balls are ideal for this illusion. But these are not always suitable for practice. Nice white rubber balls turn yellow and stain, metal balls dull and dent, and crystal balls crack and chip. Practice with a ball that is similar to your performance ball in size and weight; appearance doesn’t matter much. Practice balls should be inexpensive, fairly heavy, and rugged. They should also be safe for things they might hit: furniture, the cat, each other, or you. For single-ball tricks, rubber balls work well. Lacrosse balls have a decent grip and a good weight. Lacrosse balls are available in sporting goods stores. Another good practice ball is a solid rubber dog ball, which you can find at a pet store. These balls are a little more dense than lacrosse balls, and might actually be easier to come by. Various types of balls are available from juggling suppliers. Look for a medium sized ball (2.5”-3”), and fairly heavy (six ounces or more). Silicone balls are absolutely perfect for one-ball work, but they can be quite expensive. Try to avoid lighter balls, which tend to move in jerky patterns and flyaway when you make mistakes. Tennis balls, handballs, and other hollow sports balls are usually too light. page 81
Pick a ball that is visually about as big as your hand; larger balls tend to hide your hands, while smaller ones get hidden. For body rolls, larger balls are better, so try volleyballs, mini-basketballs, beach balls, etc. If you want to work with transparent balls, most juggling suppliers carry lucite balls. Crystal (glass) balls are harder to find, and they can get very heavy in sizes over 2.75”. Shops that specialize in crystal glassware, sun catchers, pewter figurines, and things of that ilk may carry crystal balls. And there is always the Internet.
Multiple Balls 2.5” balls are suited to multi-ball work, but you may want to start even smaller. If you use rubber balls, such as lacrosse balls, you might want to lubricate them or simply let the rubber get slick with age. Chinese exercise balls, the steel balls with chimes inside, are good for multi-ball work, and also provide their own background music. I have seen them vary in size from 2” to less than an inch, and they can be very expensive. Be sure to measure them before you buy them, too. They don’t always match. Crystal balls (glass, not acrylic) in the 2” range are often available in different colors. These can be fairly expensive, so if you plan on performing with eight balls, you’d better be very certain about the colors you pick!
Other Items Juggling suppliers carry other props, but I prefer to make my own, or buy ordinary items. For example, the “spinning plates” in juggling catalogs are useless for the tricks I perform (even the spinning ones). I prefer an 18” fiberglass serving tray, with a divot drilled in the center. Cards, coins, and sporting equipment are available anywhere.
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Appendix II How to Juggle Three Balls
I recommend that non-jugglers learn at least one other style as they work through this book, so here is a basic lesson in three-ball juggling. For a more thorough expansion of this and other basic tricks, I refer you to my list of suggested reading. The simplest pattern to juggle three balls is a horizontal figure-eight called the cascade (Fig. A.2). To learn this trick, you will build up to it slowly, practicing the hand movements first, then adding balls one at a time.
Figure A.2 The figure-eight “cascade”
Hand Position: Hold your arms as shown in Fig. A.3. Relax your shoulders, and hold your forearms level, as if you were carrying a tray of water glasses. You don’t want to reach very far above or below this tray plane when juggling three balls. (Fig. A.3a.) a b Figure A.3 Planes: (a) wall plane, (b) tray plane
The balls will be moving in a vertical plane called the wall plane, which passes through your hands (Fig. A.3b). If you keep your hands within this plane, the balls will stay there, too. page 83
Little Circles: To limber up in this position, move your hands in little circles within the wall plane (Fig. A.4). Don’t move them together; alternate left-rightleft-right, since this is the way they will work in the cascade. For the basic cascade, bring them up on the inside, down on the outside. There is also a “reverse cascade” where the hands move in the opposite direction. These hand positions are also called the “home” positions. When you reach out to catch stray throws, your hands will return to this position before throwing again.
Figure A.4 Little circles
One Ball: Now begin tossing the ball from hand to hand, in the wall plane. The ball should go up to about eye level. Eye-level throws are a good compromise between low throws (which are too fast) and high ones (which can go wild). You should notice right away if you have a tendency to throw too far forward (away from yourself) or backward (towards yourself). It makes little difference with one ball, but this error tends to compound when you are juggling three. You should correct your throws in the one-ball phase. I have found that the best way to fix a forward throw is to learn to throw too far back, and then find the compromise position.
Figure A.5 One Ball
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If you move your hands in circles as shown in Fig. A.4, you will develop two separate arches: one right-to-left arch, and the other left-to-right. These are the two arches which will work together to form the cascade. Note that in Figure A.5, and other illustrations of the cascade, the arches appear to bend because the hands are not being moved.
Two-Ball Exchange: Start with a ball in each hand (striped ball in right, white ball in left, as in Fig. A.6a). Throw the striped ball first, and when it is on its way down (Fig A.6b), throw the white one back. Your first impulse may be to quickly hand the white ball over to the right hand instead of throwing it. Try to break this habit: this circular pattern works with two, but it won’t be easy with three. The rhythm is “throw-throw-catch-catch.” Learn this exchange in both directions. The first throw is called the “lead” throw, and the second is the “response” throw. Since the balls change hands each time, if you throw the same ball first each time, you will work both directions evenly. If you had only a small problem with your control of one ball, it may show up more strongly in your exchange of two. Try to notice if you have to move your hands significantly out of the home positions to make a catch. Any small errors you make now will grow much worse with three balls, and they are easier to correct when working on only two. Also make sure that both throws are going the same height.
a
b
c Figure A.6 Two-ball exchange
Stowaway: Before you can learn to start and stop three balls, you need to learn to hold a stowaway. That is a second ball held by the last two fingers against the palm. Learn to throw and catch a ball using only the thumb and first two fingers, while you hold the stowaway.
Figure A.7 Stowaway
For example, in Figure A.7, the striped ball is the stowaway. Learn to throw and catch the white one. Do this in both hands. page 85
Three Balls: To juggle three balls, begin as you did before: Throw the first ball from the hand which holds two (Fig. A.8a, b).
a
As the first lead ball falls, throw the first response (Fig. A.8c). This throw becomes the lead ball for the third throw, and so on (Fig. A.8d). You are basically just repeating the two-ball exchange indefinitely. To build slowly to the continuous exchange, try simpler versions. Do three throws and stop. If you can’t catch them all, just throw them away from your body, 1-2-3. This seems childish, but it can help you learn the rhythm of throws without also worrying about the catches. When you do this, watch where the balls land. If they travel in the right paths, you can start catching them. After three throws and three catches becomes easy, move on to four and four. Then five throws, then ten. Once you can get to 100 throws, you can stop counting. Some simple variations of toss juggling are depicted in Fig. A.9.
a
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b
b
c
d Figure A.8 Three-ball exchange
c Figure A.9 Other patterns: (a) reverse cascade, (b) half-reverse, (c) two in one hand - circles, (d) two in one hand - parallel.
d
Appendix III Understanding Juggling
Jugglers often group sets of tricks by the type of object involved. Hat tricks, ball tricks, club tricks, etc. That’s reasonable, especially if you perform an entire routine with the same prop. For purposes of classification and invention, however, I prefer to group tricks by the type of manipulation being done. So, for example, some devil stick tricks are gyroscopic, some are toss juggling, some are balancing, and some are contact juggling tricks. By separating the trick from the object, I can more easily see the general case of the trick, and develop new variations. For example: although the trick of rolling a bowler hat down your arm is very close to doing the same with a volleyball, these two tricks are usually thought of separately. One is a “hat” trick, one is a “ball” trick. This is a trivial example, but others are more subtle. I’ve already defined contact juggling. In this section is a brief description of four other categories of juggling tricks, along with examples of each, and combination tricks.
Balancing and Setting One of the simplest forms of juggling is “setting.” It is so simple that it is almost always combined with other styles in performance. “Balancing” is slightly harder, and is sometimes done by itself. The difference between balancing and setting is a difference of equilibrium.
Figure A.10 Balancing, from a photo of Ron Meyers
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Equilibrium: The three cones in Fig. A.11 illustrate the three types of equilibrium. The first is dynamic, which means it will quickly topple over if left alone. It has only one point of contact with the supporting surface. The second cone is static, stable with at least three points of contact. This third cone is marginal: it might roll, and it might not. All of its contact points are along a straight line, and its center of gravity stays at the same height even if it rolls. “Balancing,” in this context, means actively maintaining a dynamic equilibrium. “Setting” means passively maintaining a static equilibrium. If the equilibrium is marginal, it’s sometimes hard to define whether you’re performing a balance or a set, but it’s usually more like a balance.
a
b
c
Figure A.11 Equilibrium: dynamic (a), static (b), and marginal (c)
a
b
c
Figure A.12 Equilibrium tricks: balancing (a), setting (b), and marginal (c)
Maintaining the Equilibrium: To maintain a set, you simply need to hold still. The fellow in Figure A.12(b) can keep that cone on his forehead as long as he doesn’t move around too much. To maintain a balance (Fig. A.12a), you must constantly move the support to compensate for the object’s tendency to fall. If it tips left, you move left. This requires active concentration. Balancing is easiest if you watch the top of the object, since that part moves farther than any other part. The marginal equilibrium (Fig. A.12c) has some features in common with both a balance and a set. Sometimes you move, and sometimes you hold still. It is easier to set shorter objects, such as salt shakers and golf balls, because they are more stable, having very low centers of gravity. Conversely, it is easier to balance a longer object (one with a higher center of gravity) because longer objects fall out of line more slowly. Feathers and sheets of paper also fall more slowly, because of their air resistance. page 88
Gyroscopic Juggling There is a way to transform cone (a) in Fig. A.11 into a static equilibrium: spin it like a top. The angular momentum of the spin keeps the top from falling over. So the result of a single support point combined with gravity is changed: instead of falling to one side, the top tends to precess, its axis moving in tiny circles (Fig. A.17). By spinning the cone, you have stabilized it, and turned a balance into a set. The arrangement won’t last forever, because the top won’t spin forever, but this type of gyroscopic stability is the basis of all gyroscopic juggling tricks.
Figure A.13 Spinning a cone
Although the standard top has a good shape for spinning on the floor, it is not a great shape for juggling. It has a relatively high center of gravity, which means that it must be spinning very fast to prevent the equilibrium from collapsing. It also slows down quickly because it has a low moment of inertia (the rotational equivalent of mass).
a
b Figure A.14 Spinning plates (a) a restaurant tray (b) a juggler’s plate
A better shape for spinning is the plate, Fig A.14. Its center of gravity is negligibly higher than the support point, and because of its broad, flat shape it has a better moment of inertia. To make this moment even larger, more weight should be added to the outer edge. Physics instructors demonstrate gyroscopic phenomena using a solid rubber bicycle tire. Juggling prop plates often have a center of gravity that is below the support point, which makes them stable even when they are not spinning (Fig. A.14b). page 89
Spinning Balls: Spinning balls are more like tops, and at lower speeds they require a bit of balancing to maintain. But a ball spinning at about 150 RPM is still a lot more stable than it would be with no spin. Larger balls are much easier to spin (and keep spinning) for two reasons. First, because they do require a little balancing, and taller objects are easier to balance. Second, because they have a larger moment of inertia.
Toss Juggling “Toss juggling” just means throwing things and catching them, which is what most people mean when they say “juggling.” Most “release” moves in baton twirling, plate spinning, hat manipulation, contact juggling, and even football, are toss juggling. Release moves in their purest form make up the bulk of juggling routines with balls, rings, clubs, knives, and scarves. Devil sticks and cigar box juggling are based on toss juggling with the hands replaced.
Figure A.15 Toss Juggling
The most basic move of toss juggling is the throwing of an object (like a ball) into the air, and catching it. This trick is so simple that several other objects can be thrown and or caught while the first one is on its way up and back. If we move to Mars, where things fall slower, it will get even easier. The three-ball cascade overlaps three simple tosses at regular intervals, like three strands in a braid. For each ball that falls out of the air, another one rises to replace it. Other toss juggling tricks involve three, four, or even more objects in the air at once, and even (at times) two or three objects in the same hand. When toss juggling with non-spheres, the orientation of the objects becomes important. A club must fall so that its handle (or whatever part you want to catch) is in the hand. page 90
Hand Replacement “Hand replacement” simply means using something other than your hands to do the work. This means using tools, or using other parts of your body. In most cases this makes the trick harder, but sometimes, as in the case of devil sticks (Fig. A.16), the tools make the job easier. Hand replacement is probably the most diverse form of juggling, and also the one least recognizable as a separate category.
Figure A.16 Hand replacement (devil sticks)
The first group of hand replacements is the body. Since balancing a pole is a fairly simple task, it is often performed on the forehead, the chin, the foot, the shoulder, and so on. Balls and other objects (especially hats) can be caught and held on other parts of the body. Balls are often juggled with the feet, the head, or even the mouth. Batons and canes can be rolled over the legs, shoulders, and back. The second group involves tools. Spinning a plate on a stick is a form of hand replacement, using the stick to replace your finger. In some cases, like this one, the replacement is actually more suited to the task than the hand would be: The stick has a sharp point to better stay in the center of the plate. Other such tricks include: catching a football in a fishnet (toss juggling with the hands replaced by a net), a vertical propeller with devil sticks (toss and gyroscopic juggling with the hand replaced by thin sticks), and the yo-yo (gyroscopic juggling with the hand replaced by a long string). In other cases, the hands are replaced by things less useful, making the trick harder. Such cases include the basic back-and-forth of devil sticks, most cigar box moves, and the ball-on-plate butterfly variations (Chapter Eight). page 91
Combinations of Styles A huge number juggling tricks are built from smaller components, which I call “prime factors.” Like their counterpart in mathematics, these factors help us break down each trick into its simplest components. This helps us learn the trick, and also helps us invent new ones. 1: Two Tray Stack: A spinning plate, set on a pole, which is balanced on a second spinning plate, which is set on a hand stick, held in the right hand. This trick’s prime factors are balance, gyroscopic juggling, and hand replacement.
Figure A.17 Two tray stack
2: Balancing a cane on your foot: balance, hand replacement.
3: Throwing the balanced cane in (2) from your foot to a balance on your hand: balancing (on foot), hand replacement (on foot), toss juggling, and balancing (on hand). 4: Same as (3), except catching the cane in a balance on your chin: Add a second hand replacement.
Figure A.18 The cigar box “take-out,” from a photo of Gino
5: The “take-out,” from cigar box juggling (Fig. A.18). This is grabbing the middle box, and then using the boxes you now hold to catch the box you just released. It’s toss juggling and hand replacement.
6: Head Rolls (Chapter Three): Contact juggling, with the hand replaced by the head.
Figure A.19 The big trick, from a photo of Ed Jackman
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7: Ed Jackman’s big trick (one of many), shown in Figure A.19. Balancing a bicycle on your head while juggling four clubs: Balancing, toss juggling, and hand replacement. But really hard versions of all three!
Glossary
Balance: A juggling trick involving the maintenance of an object in dynamic equilibrium. Body Moves: In contact juggling, any trick involving rolling or catching the objects anywhere besides the hands. In other styles, this also includes tricks where the objects or the hands move around other parts of the body. Butterfly: The basic move in one-ball contact juggling, rolling the ball over the fingertips of one hand. Camelbacking: A vaudevillian term for contact juggling, either with coins or small balls. Cascade: The figure-eight pattern from toss juggling. Catching Hand: In contact juggling transfers, the hand which receives the ball (see Throwing Hand). Combination: A compound trick formed by performing two different simpler tricks simultaneously or in succession. Contact Juggling: The manipulation of objects by keeping them mostly in contact with the body, or with other objects that support them, without relying on their gyroscopic properties (see gyroscopic juggling). Control Position: A place on the hand, body, or head where a ball can be caught and held still. The palm is a control position. Cradle: The control position on the back of the hand, where a ball can be held on the knuckles of two or three fingers. Devil Sticks: A form of juggling in which one or more batons are juggled using short sticks to replace the hands.
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Gyroscopic Juggling: A form of juggling which takes advantage of the properties of spinning objects. Examples include plate spinning and the yo-yo. Hand Replacement: Doing a trick that can normally be done with the hands, but using another body part or a tool instead. Hold: A contact juggling trick in which the body and the ball are holding still. Home Position: The central position for your hands in a juggling trick. Isolation: A contact juggling trick in which the body moves, but the ball appears motionless. Juggling: Manipulating objects, usually in difficult or interesting ways, for entertainment. Variations include toss juggling, gyroscopic juggling, contact juggling, balancing, and others. Lead Hand: If the hands cross in front of the body, the hand furthest from the body is called the “lead” hand. Roll: A contact juggling trick in which the ball moves in relation to the body, and does not appear to remain still (see isolation). Set: A juggling trick involving the maintenance of an object in static equilibrium. Smooth: A flat place on the hand, head, or body where a ball cannot easily be caught, stopped, or held. Stall: A pause in a juggling trick during which at one hand is inactive. Throwing Hand: In contact juggling transfers, the hand from which the ball originates. Toss Juggling: A form of juggling in which objects are thrown into the air and caught. Tray Plane: (1) In contact juggling, the level plane in which a flat palm spin travels. (2) In toss juggling, the level plane in which the forearms stay during the cascade. Wall Plane: An imaginary vertical plane in front of the body within which certain juggling tricks are supposed to stay.
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Suggested Reading
Circus Techniques, by Hovey Burgess, with photos by Judy Burgess. New York: Drama Book Specialists, 1976. Provides an excellent overview of basic techniques including: juggling, tumbling, balancing and equilibristics, high wire, and trapeze work. The Complete Juggler, by Dave Finnigan, illustrated by Bruce Edwards. New York: Vintage Books, 1987. Deals with the basics of just about every style of juggling, plus a discussion of teaching methods and professional juggling. Passing the Hat, by Patricia J. Campbell, with photos by Alice Belkin. New York: Delacorte Press, 1981. Available from Dubé Juggling Equipment, 520 Broadway, New York, NY 10012. Describes some of the people, places, and tricks of the trade in American street performing. The Juggling Book, by Carlo. New York: Vintage Books, 1974. One of the first of its kind, it was published in the heyday of tie-dye and bellbottoms and contains a lot of good how-to. Great if you like phrases like “watch the balls do their cosmic dance.” Juggling for the Complete Klutz, by John Cassidy and B.C. Rimbeaux, illustrated by Diane Waller. Palo Alto, CA: Klutz Press, 1988. An easy-to-find how-to that comes with its own balls, Klutz covers the basics of ball juggling with cute cartoons and small words. Now You See It, Now You Don't!, by Bill Tarr, illustrated by Barry Ross. New York: Vintage Books, 1976. A refreshing and profusely illustrated beginner's guide to sleight of hand magic. Tarr explains a few card, coin, and ball flourishes including fanning, finger rolls, and the elevator. He also provides a thorough course in basic magic. Juggling With Finesse, by Kit Summers, illustrated by Tuko Fujisaki. San Diego, CA: Finesse Press, 1987. Possibly the most comprehensive volume for the advanced juggler, this book includes hundreds of unique tricks and styles, and contains inspiring photos of history's greatest jugglers.
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About the Author James Ernest is an award-winning game designer and graphic artist living in Seattle, Washington. He began juggling at age 13, and worked as a professional entertainer for 8 years. James Ernest wrote and illustrated Contact Juggling in 1990, and updated it to the second edition in 1991. This third edition has largely the same content, but with some well-deserved updates and corrections. In 1993, James Ernest began a career in the hobby game industry, working as a technical writer and graphic designer for Wizards of the Coast. He started his own game company, Cheapass Games, in 1996, releasing more than 150 original titles and winning several game design awards, including induction into the Origins Awards Hall of Fame. In 2004 he founded the entertainment company Lone Shark Games with Mike Selinker. He is currently a game designer in the computer game industry, designing content for casual MMOs. He continues to publish board games through hobby game publishers such as Mayfair Games, Rio Grande Games, Paizo Publishing, and Steve Jackson Games. He is an avid poker player, and is the co-author (with Mike Selinker and Phil Foglio) of Dealer’s Choice, the Handbook of Saturday Night Poker. He is also the co-creator of the Web comic Brian and John with Brian Murphy. He lives in Seattle with his wife Carol and daughter Nora.
