Juggling advice

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m a beginning juggler - been at it about 4 months. I’m reasonably solid on the basics with 3 balls: cascade, reverse cascade, shower (right handed), spiral, and some of the common variations.

I’ve recently managed Mills Mess, but can rarely do more than about 30 throws (balls seem to want to collide). I can do up to about 10 throws of a left-handed shower (seems like this one should be easy, but isn’t for me). I’ve made some progress on Rubensteins Revenge, but still have a ways to go. I’m having trouble getting very far with 3 in one hand and with even the simple 4-ball patterns. Very meager results with backcrosses.

I’ve checked various juggling websites, some of which seem quite useful. I was wondering if any juggling Dopers might have some advice.
Should I stick with ball juggling, or is it worthwhile going after clubs and/or rings as well?

What about contact juggling?

Any favorite 3-ball patterns you’d recommend? Practice techniques?

Any equipment recommendations? (I’ve been using cheap balls from WalMart.)

2

Darn - I thought we surely had some jugglers here.

3

Well, I know there are some here. I can juggle three but I have no clue as to the techniques or their names and I was self-taught so I can’t help you much.
Have you tried juggling off a wall? That’s kind of neat. Or the floor?
I got nothing else, sorry.

4

*OpalCat is a juggler, as is DavidM – and I’m sure there are others.

Coolest juggling act I ever saw was back in the '70s – opening act at a rock concert – guy juggled day-glo balls in blacklight to rock music. (Yeah, I might have been a wee bit stoned at the time, but it was still cool.)

5

Just copy this guy

6

Pfft. He was only using three balls.
j/k, that was amazing! I can’t believe he kept that up for over four minutes!

7

That’s pretty much what happened. I saw the Chris Bliss video in April and decided to revive my attempts at juggling.

The video is apparently one of the most popular ever. Kidding or not, what gigi notes is true - none of the tricks he does is considered especially difficult. The way they flow together and conform to the music is what makes it memorable.

Here is a video made by a serious juggler (Jason Garfield) in response - it’s much the same routine set to the same music, but with 5 balls instead of 3. Impressive, but perhaps not as artistic.

8

Yeah, if only he could have done the exact same routine with 5 balls.

Opal might be away, but she is the most prominent juggler on the boards, AFAIK.

If you are doing the things you say you are, then I have no help to offer - you are way ahead of me after 20 years of random practice.

There are juggling clubs all of the place, I recommend you join one. Getting into partner juggling is cool, but they also have folk that can teach you about everything you always wanted to know about juggling, but were afraid to ask.

There are some neat videos and DVDs out there that can teach you about specific areas, I’d go to your local magic/juggling shop to find one that looks cool to you.

-Tcat

9

Simul juggle link post!

10

I’m working on a Mills Mess (read: I haven’t started but intend to learn it when someone shows me) so I’m no help, but:

Yay! Other jugglers!

11

Here’s a link to a Mills Mess tutorial that I found helpful. But I admit that it took me a long time to get this one.

Doesn’t UC Davis have a good juggling club? They should be able to help you.

12

Hi Xema!

I’m about at the same skill level as you are, though I’m pretty out of practice. (I did most of my “serious” juggling back in college, 15+ years ago.)

I never had much fun juggling rings, though if your goal is to juggle as many objects as possible, rings are easier than balls or clubs.

I enjoy juggling clubs, but mostly when passing with other folks. Granted, there are plenty of tricks you can learn with clubs, and it’s a neat skill to learn, but passing is where it’s at, fun wise. :slight_smile: (I consider the highlight of my juggling career to be when I was able to consistently pass 7 clubs with a partner in college.)

Most of my juggling as been with balls. I can do Mill’s Mess as well as a bunch of similiarly-difficult tricks. Sadly, I don’t know what to call them, and I’m not sure how to explain them using only written words. If you’ve found good websites, they’re probably a better learning tool than some guy posting “…then grab the second ball at the top of it trajectory and swing in down under your left arm while also tossing the third and flipping your hand…”

I was always crummy at contact juggling, so I’m not a good person to ask about that. But for equipment, allow me to suggest Brian Dube, which is where we bought most of our good equipment back in college. (Albeit out of a catalog; no websites to speak of back in them there stone ages.)

For ball juggling, I suggest learning with their “Squosh” beanbags, which are firm, nicely weighted, but (as beanbags) won’t roll away when you drop. For performance-level stuff, when you want actual round balls, their silicons are beyond cool, but very pricey. They bounce with near-perfect elasticity, which is great if you’re bounce-juggling, but be prepared to chase them down over long distances if/when you drop. Lacrosse balls are nearly as good, and much much cheaper. And for the cheapest thing you can buy that won’t roll away, pick up some used tennis balls, make a small slit in them with a knife, and fill them half-way with pennies.

Oh, and in my admittedly limited experience, there’s no better practice method than endless repetition. :slight_smile:

Hope that helps, and good luck with your juggling!

-P

13

Back in the seventies, I bought The Klutz’s Book Of Juggling, and taught myself how.

I have, however, kind of let my skills lapse. Back in college, I used to be able to juggle tennis rackets (a la Animal House) pretty easily, but durned if I can remember how I did it, these days.

14

Yeah, I’ve found tutorials, but I’ve noticed that I learn a lot better when a person actually shows me. And our club seems to have disappeared for summer :confused: . I guess I’ll just have to wait for fall and ( :frowning: ugh…) school.