Ball Juggling

What could be more fun than juggling?

 

Click here to see a short video of "Mr. World", a mechanical, wind-up juggler.

Here are some ball juggling patterns. The patterns are organized around the different ways one can throw a juggling ball. My experience has been that breaking down variations into how one throws has proven useful for many people.

Three Balls

Different Ways to Throw a Ball

Siteswap is a method of numbering juggling patterns. The number refers to the throwing order. A ball that is thrown with the number three will appear three steps down the sequence. As a result, one can use the numbers to estimate the height of throws. A five needs to be thrown higher than a three, as the five will show up five steps down the sequence.

 

Siteswaps don't specify what type of throw. As a result, the system is a different way of looking at juggling patterns. It can be very valuable. 

 

The links above will take you to the different points in the outline. Links in the outline will take you to pages with animated GIFs showing some of the variations. Additional GIF files will be added.

Ball Juggling Book Outline
 
Table of Contents
Introduction
Section One - Learning How to Juggle
What type of juggling balls?
Size
Weight
Color
Material
One Ball
release
one ball out of a three ball cascade = 300
Two Balls
two ball exchange = 330
Two in One Hand
Columns
Fountain - Circles Out
                  Reverse Fountain - Circles In

							
Sloppy, Difficult Way to Juggle two balls in one hand
Three Balls
Making Corrections
Section Two - Variations with Three Balls (Back to top)
Cascade
High Cascade
Low Cascade
Wide Cascade
	
  • Cascade from Overhead
  • Throw One Ball High and then begin the juggle
  • High Throw with a Pause
    High Throw with a Two Ball Exchange
    
    
    Reverse Cascade
    Ping-Pong variation
    Half-Shower
    High half shower
    Half-Shower in the other direction
    Wide reverse cascade
                   Statue of Liberty
    Second Way to learn Statue of Liberty
    Underarm Statue of Liberty
    Tim's Tumble
    Tim's Over Tumble
    Tim's Under Tumble                
  • Adam's Web
  • Fountain (covered in section one)
    3B - 2B in right hand
    3B - 2B in left hand
                   
                   Two in one hand tennis
    Columns
    Two balls in right hand, one in left
                   
    Two balls in left hand, one in right
                   
                   
  • Alternating middle ball between both hands
    weaving middle ball through pattern
    middle ball makes figure eight through pattern
    Ping Pong with Columns
    middle ball makes race pattern around two columns, showers around columns
  • middle ball makes box around both columns
    cut throughs
                   
  • False Columns < - Faking a throw with one hand
  • Shower
  • Shower with a Stacked Multiplex
  • Shower with Split Multiplex
  • Shower with a Leak
  • Exchanging two balls after a high toss
  • High shower
    • High-low show
     
                Hand Out of Home Position
     
    Crossed Arms
    Claws
    • Preliminary Exercise for Claws
    • How to Learn Claws
    • chops
    • clawed chops
    • wheel
    • triple claw
    • Tissage
    • Box with Slaps
    • Claws with Carries
    Chops
    • Carry Under
    • Reverse Chops
    • Second Type of Reverse Chops
    •  
    •  
    Juggling with Other Parts of the Body (Back to top)
    Under the Chin
    starting under the chin
    finishing Under the Chin
    eat the Apple Trick
    Touch the ball to the body
    On Top of the Head
    Back of hand - Fingerplex
    Fingerplex toss up
    fork
    two ball fork exchange
    Twist &endash; Three ball fork exchange
    Ball surfing &endash;Rolling balls along the arms
    Neck catch
    Elbow catch
    Foot juggling
    Foot catch
    
    Fingerplex
    Bounces and Slaps
    Bounce off the hand
    Bounce off the forearm
    Roll off head
    Hand, forearm, head progression
    Flick off &endash; Bounce off a held ball
    Kangaroo &endash; Bounce off the shirt
    Bounce off the knee
    bounce off knee to foot then return to juggle
    
    							
    Multiplex
    Right, Right, Left
    Multiplex two balls with the left hand
    Right, Right, Left Multiplex
    Cascade and Reverse Cascade Mulitplexes
    Split Multiplexes and Non-split multiplexes
    
    [33]33
    
    [32]3
    [54][22]2
    
    [33][33]3
    Five Ball Split Multiplex
    Cascade Multiplex
    Split Multiplex
    Non-split multiplex
    Carries
    Slice
    continuous slicing
    Two hand weave
    Disappearing ball
    Bounce Juggling
    Section Three &endash; What else can you do with three balls? (Back to top)
    Juggling non standard objects
    Disparate Weights
    beach ball juggling
    comet - scarf tied around ball
    Starts, Stops and Transitions
    Hat finish
    hopstop
    stack and carry start
    Transitions from four to five to four
    Vesuvius &endash; Five ball start
    Moving While Juggling
    pirouette (1 high, 2 high and 3 high)
    flash pirouette
    half-pirouette
    continuous half-pirouettes
    joggling
    Section Four - Four Balls and Variations (Back to top)
    Columns
    Staggered Columns
    Four Ball Asynchronous Columns - Right In, Left Out
    
    Four Ball Asynchronous Columns - Right In, Left In
    
    Splits
                
    Fountain - Circles Out
    Reverse Fountain - Inside Circles
    Synchronous Reverse Fountain
    
    Aynchronous (Staggered) Reverse Fountain
    Four Balls in Two Wall Planes
    
    Four Balls Crossed
    Four Ball Burke's Barrage
    
    Four Ball Cross Bounce
    
    633 Bounce
    Section Five - The Numbers Game - Five and more balls (Back to top)
    Three in one hand
    Columns
    Three ball fountain in the right hand
    Reverse Fountain
    Cascade
    Five Balls
    Learning Five Ball Cacade
                   Five Ball Reverse Cascade
    half-shower = (4x,6x)
    half-shower on 5, (4x,6x) or 73
    Tennis
    Full Reverse Cascade
    Shower
    shower = 91
    Multiplexshower
    High Low Shower
    Columns
    Martin
    Multiplex
    Five Ball Stacked Multiplex
    Five Ball Split Multiplex 
    
    one-up four-up
    Mills Mess
    Mills Mess columns (three variations)
    Five Ball bounce
    Lift bounce
    Force bounce
    Five Ball column bounce
    Six Balls
                
    Seven Balls - Cascade
    
    
    
    Eight Balls
    cascade
    fountain = 8
    half shower = 97
    Nine Balls
    Section Six - Site Swaps (Back to top)
    Three Ball Site Swaps
                
                Four Ball Site Swaps
    Five Ball Site Swaps
    Section Seven - Juggling with Friends (Back to top)
    Steals
    runaround
    Passing
    Every third
    every others &endash; four count
    everies &endash; two count
    Two handed passing
    Three count
    One count
    four four eight
    three three ten
    Passing Formations for three or more
    Line
    Triangle
    W-feed
    Section Eight - Practice Tips and Techniques (Back to top)
    Space
    Mind Set
    Counting
    Timing
    The Soviet Method of Numbers Juggling
    Correcting the X
    Other Theories of Numbers Juggling
    Personal thoughts
    Modifications on the Russian Method
    Stepwise Learning
    Working at different levels
    Are You a Thrower or a Catcher?
    Where Do You Look?
    Section Nine - Some Thoughts on Performing (Back to top)
    Share Your Love
    Character
    Costume
    Props
    Choreography
    Working with music
    Choosing music
    What time signature?
    Finding and using the strong beats
    It takes ten years to become an overnight sensation
    Routine
    Lighting
    Handling Drops
                
    Afterward-A Million Ways to Juggle Balls, at Least - Inventing New Variations 
                                            

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    This web site was last updated on October 1, 2023.