Juggling
Juggling can refer to all forms of artful or skillful object manipulation. This includes most prop-based
circus skills such as
diabolo,
devil sticks,
cigar box manipulation,
fire-twirling,
contact juggling, and
hat manipulation.
The most recognisable form of juggling is
toss juggling. For more in-depth information on a given form of juggling,
juggling history or a specific juggling prop, follow the link to the related article.
Jugglers refer to the objects they juggle as
props, the most popular being specially made
balls,
beanbags,
rings,
clubs, or bouncing balls. Some performers also use "dangerous" objects such as
chainsaws,
knives and
fire torches.
The word "juggling" derives from the
Middle English "jogelen", to entertain by performing tricks, in turn from the French "jongleur", the
Old French "jogler", the
Latin "ioculari", to jest, and "iocus", a joke.
The
history of juggling pre-dates any
recorded history so the exact origins will never be known. The earliest known record of juggling, from the 15th Beni Hassan tomb of an unknown prince, shows female dancers and acrobats throwing balls. Juggling has also been recorded in most other early civilizations including
China,
India,
Greece,
Aztec (Mexico) and
Polynesia.
In Europe, juggling was an acceptable diversion until the
decline of the Roman Empire, after which it fell into disgrace. Throughout the
Middle Ages most histories were written by religious clerics who frowned upon the type of performers who juggled, called 'Gleemen', accusing them of base morals or even practicing
witchcraft. Jugglers in this era would only perform in
market places, streets, fairs or drinking houses. They would perform short, humorous and bawdy acts and pass a hat or bag among the audience for tips. Some king's and noblemen's
bards,
fools, or jesters would have been able to juggle or perform
acrobatics, though their main skills would have been oral (
poetry,
music,
comedy and
story telling).
In 1768
Philip Astley opened the first modern
circus. A few years later he employed jugglers to perform acts along with the horse and
clown acts. From then until the modern day, jugglers have found work in and have commonly been associated with circuses.
In the 19th century
Variety and
music hall theatres became more popular, and jugglers were in demand to fill time between music acts, performing in front of the curtain while sets are changed. Performers started specializing in juggling, separating it from other kinds of performance such as
sword swallowing and
magic. The
Gentleman Juggler style was established by German jugglers such as
Salerno and
Kara.
Rubber processing developed and jugglers started using rubber balls. Previously juggling balls were made from balls of
twine, stuffed leather bags, wooden spheres or various metals. Solid or inflatable rubber balls meant that bounce juggling was possible. Inflated rubber balls made
ball spinning easier and more readily accessible. Soon, in North America,
Vaudeville theatres employed many jugglers, often hiring European performers.
In the early to mid 20th century, variety and vaudeville shows started to decline in popularity due to competition from
motion picture theatres,
radio and
television. The
International Jugglers' Association was formed in 1947 to support professional jugglers. Their annual conventions became a focus for not only professional but amateur jugglers. Since the 1950's there has been a huge increase in the numbers of amateur jugglers compared to performing professionals leading to a very distinct
juggling culture.
Until the early 1950s, juggling was only practiced by performers. Since then more and more people have begun juggling as a hobby. The
International Jugglers' Association began as a club for performing jugglers but soon non-performers joined up and started attending the annual conventions.
As more amateurs around the world began to juggle as a hobby sport or pastime, they started meeting together regularly to practice and socialise in local groups. These groups formed into juggling clubs, and currently there are clubs for jugglers in almost every city and large town in the western world.
When juggling was practiced by professionals only, jugglers were secretive and possesive of their tricks and skills. Over the years the attitude has changed, and juggling has now become a major social activity for hundreds of thousands (or possibly millions) of people all over the world who are more than happy to share their skills and encourage others to join in. This more open approach, and the fact that basic juggling is not that difficult to learn, has made juggling an activity that almost anyone can participate in.
The majority of hobby jugglers can be split into one of two groups. The first are those who learned to juggle at
university or college juggling clubs. These people are often mathematicians, scientists, and computer programmers. They like juggling because it can be very structured and it can be analysed and modeled easily by mathematics and physics. Juggling has established itself as a very useful model for researchers studying motor skills and learning techniques. The second group are from the
counter culture or
alternative culture scene. They enjoy juggling because, while it can be very structured, it can also be as free as you want it to be, with a virtually infinite scope for individual personal expression. Fire juggling is a common appeal.
Since the 1970s, "Juggling For the Complete Klutz", a book by John Cassidy that is sold with a set of three beanbags attached, has probably introduced juggling to more people than any other single source. Another reason for the increase of people who can juggle is that many businesses and schools have employed professional workshop leaders to teach various
circus skills.
Since the late 1980s a large juggling subculture has developed, almost completely unknown and unrecognised by the general public. The scene revolves around local clubs and organisations, special events, shows, magazines, websites, internet forums and, possibly most importantly,
juggling conventions. In recent years there has also been a growing focus on
juggling competitions.
Populating the scene are many "juggling celebrities". These people are notable (or notorious) for being good or creative jugglers, entertaining performers, convention organisers, experts in their field or just for having a curiously interesting personality or character. Of course, outside of the juggling world they are completely unknown.
* Local clubs/societies/workshops - most cities and large towns have juggling clubs where anyone is welcome to learn and share skills. Many universities and colleges have juggling or circus skills societies. There are also many community circus groups that usually aim to teach young people and put on shows. The
Internet Juggling Database maintains a searchable database of most juggling clubs.
* Organisations - The first organisation that promoted juggling and helped jugglers was the
International Jugglers' Association (IJA), based almost entirely in North America. The
European Juggling Association facilitates the annual European Juggling Convention and promotes juggling in Europe. Various countries have national associations, including Italy, Spain and Switzerland. There is also the
Christian Jugglers Association.
* Magazines -
Kaskade is the European juggling magazine, published in both English and German.
JUGGLE is the official publication of the IJA and focuses on the North American scene.
Juggling Magazine is published in Italy.
Newton Las Pelotas is published in Argentina for the Latin American readership.
* World Juggling Day - is the second or third Saturday in June. The date for 2006 is June 17th. There are events organized world wide to teach people how to juggle, to promote juggling or for jugglers to get together, and celebrate.
Conventions/festivals
Many countries, cities or juggling clubs hold their own annual
juggling convention. These are the backbone of the juggling scene, the events that regularly bring jugglers from a wide area together to socialize. The attendance of a convention can be anything from a few dozen to a few thousand people. The principal focus of most juggling conventions is the main hall, a large space for open juggling. There will also be more formal "workshops" in which expert jugglers will work with small groups on specific skills and techniques. Most juggling conventions will also include a big show (open to the general public), competitions and juggling games. The
Internet Juggling Database maintains a searchable database of all conventions in the past and future.
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Diabolos made from softer materials are recommended to begin with. |
There are many arts that involve manipulating objects which are considered juggling:
Diabolo
The diabolo, an hourglass shaped object manipulated with a string (attached to the end of two short wands), usually one diabolo at a time. The diabolo is spun by repeatedly applying rotation to the diabolo using the string, and is tossed by pulling the sticks apart suddenly and forciblytensioning the string.
Devilsticks
Stick juggling, aka
fiddlesticking,
devilstick manipulating, or simply
sticking, is an art in which a central baton is twirled, flipped tossed and spun by use of two shorter control sticks. The control sticks are used to strike, lift, or nudge the central stick or baton to maneuver it in various patterns.
Cigar box
Cigar boxes are rectangular boxes, or props intended to look like boxes, which are manipulated tossed twisted and stacked in various ways, usually used in groups of three.
Toss juggling
Solo toss
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Peter Bone juggling 9 beanbags |
Most toss jugglers concentrate on three main props. These are
balls,
clubs and
rings. Many of the same tricks and skills can transfer between the props but there are unique qualities for each.
Ball juggling is probably the most popular prop, as nearly every juggler learns with balls first. Ball juggling can be broken down into the following styles:
Contact Juggling, Numbers Juggling, Pattern Juggling, Trick Juggling, Technical Juggling,
Bounce Juggling and Football Juggling. For the purposes of record keeping and ease of communication, the terms balls and beanbags are generally interchangeable in the juggling world.
Rings are less popular than balls and clubs, mainly because they can be painful to juggle, and many jugglers find them more restrictive. The most popular styles of ring juggling are Numbers Juggling and Technical Juggling.
Clubs (sometimes erroneously called "pins" because they look like
Bowling pins) are very popular with solo jugglers. They spin when they are thrown and are more stable in the air than balls. The more popular styles of club juggling are Numbers Juggling, Trick Juggling, Technical Juggling and Club Swinging.
Joggling
Joggling is a mixture of
juggling and
jogging.
Group passing
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Manuel and Christoph Mitasch, world record holding club passers. |
Instead of juggling on their own, a juggler will often find a friend or two and throw props about as a pair or group.
When
club passing, two or more jugglers share a juggling pattern between them, usually facing each other. Passing has lots of forms and is by far most popular using clubs. The most popular are numbers passing, passing and doing tricks, passing in large groups, experimenting with new and complex patterns and working on high level technical routines.
There are a few other ways two or more people can juggle together. These include
Sharing/Siamese/Buddy Juggling, where two jugglers stand side by side juggling half the pattern using one hand each;
Stealing, where one person juggles a regular pattern and another person takes away all the props, keeping the pattern intact, leaving the first juggler with nothing;
Takeouts (sometimes also called Stealing), where single props are stolen from another juggler's pattern and returned without either juggler missing a beat.
Currently, juggling world records are tracked by the Juggling Information Service Committee on Numbers Juggling (JISCON). All the records listed on the
JISCON page represent the longest runs with each number and prop that has been authenticated using video evidence.
Solo Records
Endurance Records
* 3 Balls: 11 hours 4 minutes 22 seconds by
Terry Cole, in 1996.
* 5 Balls: 3 Hours, 47 minutes, 20 seconds by
Thomas Dietz in 2005.
* 6 Balls: 25 minutes, 7 seconds by
Thomas Dietz in 2005.
* 7 Balls: 10 minutes, 12 seconds by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
* 8 Balls: 324 Catches by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
* 9 Balls: 305 Catches by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
* 7 Rings: 15 Minutes, 5 Seconds by
Anthony Gatto in 2006.
* 8 Rings: 368 Catches by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
* 9 Rings: 332 Catches by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
* 10 Rings 44 Catches by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
* 5 Clubs: 1 hour, 25 minutes by
Thomas Dietz in 2004.
* 6 Clubs: 7 minutes, 38 seconds by
Anthony Gatto.
* 7 Clubs: 4 minutes, 13 seconds by
Anthony Gatto.
Flash
As of January 2005, the top "flash" records for each prop are:
* Rings/Plates: 13 rings for 13 catches by
Albert Lucas in 2002.
* Balls/Beanbags: 13 beanbags for 13 catches by Peter Bone 2006
* Clubs/Sticks: 9 sticks for 9 catches, first done by
Bruce Tiemann in 1996, then later on by Chris Fowler.
Each of these records are what is known as a "flash", meaning each prop is thrown and caught only ONCE.
Qualifying juggle
Some jugglers, and some juggling competitions, do not consider a flash to be "real juggling" and use "qualifying juggle" (a term taken from the International Jugglers' Association's Numbers Competition) to denote a pattern where each prop is thrown and caught at least TWICE. The JISCON records for qualifying runs are:
* Rings: 10 rings for 27 catches by
Anthony Gatto in 2001.
* Balls: 10 beanbags for 23 catches by
Bruce Sarafian in 2001.
* Clubs: 7 clubs for 4 minutes, 13 seconds by
Anthony Gatto in 2005.
Unverified
There are other jugglers who have equaled or bettered these records but have not submitted video evidence to the JISCON. These non-verified records stand at:
* Rings: 14 rings for 14 catches by
Albert Lucas.
* Balls: 13 Beanbags for 13 catches, 12 for 13 catches and 11 for 18 catches by Peter Bone.
Haggis tossing
A
Haggis World Record competition is held at the Scottish Juggling Convention each year (large haggis are used). At present the records stand at:
* Haggis: 5 juggled for 26.01 seconds by Colin Sopper.
* Haggis: 4 juggled for 1min 31 seconds by Tempei Arakawa.
* Haggis: 3 juggled for 12min 56 seconds by Paul Taylor.
Bounce juggling
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Dave Critchfield & John Jones, The Bounce Dicks, bounce passing 18 balls. Photo by Jim Edmondson. |
One other solo (non-passing) record that must be mentioned is the bounce juggling record. This is tracked by the
Bounce Juggling World Record page, which styles itself on the JISCON page, and also only lists records with video evidence. These records are:
* Flash: 11 bounce balls for 11 catches by
Tim Nolan in 1990.
* Qualify: 10 bounce balls for 23 catches by
Eden Zak in 2005.
Passing Records
When passing, only the props thrown between two separate jugglers are counted. In some patterns (ultimates or one-count) all the throws are caught by the opposite juggler but in a few patterns each juggler makes some throws to themself. If these self throws were counted, two jugglers could make a single pass to their partner and then go on to juggle solo patterns for as long as they wanted.
The
JISCON page only tracks club passing records. The top records stand at:
* Flash (each prop passed at least once but less than twice): 14 clubs for 14 passes be Peter Kaseman & Darin Marriott in 2004.
* Qualify (each prop passed at least twice):12 clubs for 54 passes by
Vova Galchenko &
Olga Galchenko in 2004.
video on this pageBall passing records are not officially tracked by any site. However, the top records currently stand at:
* Flash: 18 balls for 18 catches by Ben Beever and Luke Burrage in 2002.
video on this page* Near-Qualify: 15 balls for 27 catches Ben Beever and Luke Burrage in 2004.
The
Bounce Page tracks bounce passing records. The top records stand at:
* Flash: 18 balls for 30 catches by
Dave Critchfield & John Jones in 2005.
video on this page* Qualify: 16 balls for 74 catches by
Dave Critchfield & John Jones in 2005.
videos on this pageFor the past hundred years, since the "Golden Age" of vaudeville, variety and circus to the present, a few methods of presenting juggling on stage have survived and remained popular with audiences. These
Classic Forms include:
* The Gentleman Juggler - using everyday objects such as hats, canes, plates, wine bottles and cigars.
* Comedy Juggling - the juggling skill is secondary to the comic character and jokes of the performer.
* Traditional Circus Style - presenting pure skill with precision, skill and panache. Also cultural extensions of this form:
** Chinese Circus - using mainly rings and badminton rackets, fantastic costumes, concentrating on numbers juggling.
** Russian Folk - colourful costumes and characters, unique props with acrobatics.
** Sport themed - the performers dress in sporting attire and juggle sports equipment such as tennis rackets, footballs, or even snooker balls.
During the last quarter of the 20th century, many jugglers saw a way to use their skills as a form of artistic expression. They put aside the goals of popular entertainment for the masses, and instead sought out new ideals, something more than just juggling.
Modern juggling begins again from first principles, abandoning traditional definitions and systems of creating new work. This dismissal of tradition also involves the rejection of conventional expectations, stressing freedom of expression and experimentation. The most experimental presentations of modern juggling often startles and alienates audiences unused to the bizarre and unpredictable. Even so, the avant-garde approach has been very influential to the rest of the juggling world. Many performers working in traditional venues such as variety and circuses now mix modern juggling ideas into their acts.
Modern juggling artists use their physical object manipulation (juggling) skills in combination with various performance concepts that can include patterns based on numerical sequences, character work, theatre, new props and obects, or working in new environments and staging. Some would say that Modern juggling is now so well accepted by juggling audiences that it is no longer avant-garde. In
juggling convention shows in
Europe, modern juggling is just as popular as the classic forms of juggling, if not more so.
In the past ten years a new type of juggling performer has emerged. They aren't full-time, professional jugglers and they don't create work for a non-juggling audience. Instead they perform exclusively at juggling conventions, to other people who share their own understanding of juggling performance and culture. This environment has produced a new style of juggling performance know as
Postmodern Juggling.
Where Modern performers hoped to unearth universals or the fundamentals of art, Postmodern performers embrace diversity. They reject the rigid boundaries and favour eclecticism, the mixing of ideas and forms. Postmodern performers use references to other jugglers, other performers, other parts of juggling culture or even to their own previous performances. This could be in the form of recognizable tricks, styles, characters or ideas. A postmodern juggling act taken out of context, to an audience of non-jugglers, could not be presented as a stand-alone work of art; instead it relies on knowledgeable audience members to find the meaning behind the act for themselves. Postmodern juggling performance also blurs the line between "mass entertainment" and "high art". The artistic expression is in the repetition and distortion of currently accepted forms of performance. While the mindset of the performers are very different, most juggling audiences make no distinction between Modern and Postmodern juggling acts, they simply see both as Modern.
During the early growth of
movies,
radio and
television, juggling, as a form of popular entertainment, suffered more than other variety acts. Music and comedy transferred very easily to radio but juggling, being mostly physical, didn't. In the early years of TV, when variety-style programming was very popular, jugglers were often featured, but developing a new act for each new show, week after week, was impossible. Comedians and musicians can pay others to write their material but jugglers can't get other people to learn new material for them.
Venues
Circus. Wherever there are circuses, there are jugglers, though usually only one or two jugglers per circus. This means that only the best, most advanced jugglers perform in traditional and established circuses. Most circus jugglers are from
Russia and other Soviet block states, products of very prestigious circus schools. Some of the greatest jugglers from the past 50 years are from Eastern Europe, including
Sergei Ignatov,
Evgenij Biljauer and
Viktor Kee (featured in
Cirque du Soleil productions).Clowns would often dress up and perform this art with several objects ranging from bouncy balls to scarves.
Variety Theatres still do business in Europe, particularly Germany. In North America the closest thing to variety shows are in
casinos, in places like Las Vegas, where jugglers perform alongside singers, comedians and others. As with circuses, the demand for jugglers to perform in variety theatres and casinos is far lower than jugglers seeking work, meaning only the best, most dynamic performers find regular work in the top venues.
Germany and the
USA have also produced some of the greatest jugglers from the past 50 years, most notably
Francis Brunn from Germany and
Anthony Gatto from America.
Rennaisance and Medieval Fairs in North America and in Europe can also offer short-term performance venues for professional jugglers. With the increasing popularity of such venues (and with the continued success of Medieval/Rennaisance themed restaurants) the ancient art of juggling finds a home since it is certainly ancient but can still be quite entertaining.
Street Juggling All around the world, especially in holiday centers (Spain, Cyprus, London) you can find entertainers on the street
busking. Some of them are jugglers. It is not about juggling only, but mostly about fun. "I play, you pay" is the password for them.
Juggling tricks and patterns can become very complex. While these look great when performed, they can be very difficult to communicate using plain English or other languages. To get around this problem, various numeric or diagram based notation systems have been developed for communication between jugglers, as well as for investigating and discovering new patterns.
Diagram based notations are the clearest way to show juggling patterns on paper, but as they are based on images, their use is limited in text based communication (email and the internet).
Ladder Diagrams track the path of all the props through time, where the less complicated
Causal Diagrams only track the props that are in the air, and assumes that a juggle has a prop in each hand.
Mills Mess State Transition Diagrams track the position of the hands during the pattern, but not the pattern of the props.
Numeric based notation systems are more popular and standardised than diagram based notations. They are used extensively in both a written form, and for those "fluent" in juggle-speak, in normal conversation.
Siteswap is by far the most common juggling notation. In its most basic form,
Vanilla Siteswap, it is very easy to use, as each pattern is reduced to a simple sequence of numbers, such as "3", "97531" or "744". However, vanilla siteswap can only notate the most basic alternating two-handed patterns, with no deviations from a very strict set of rules. If one of these rules is broken, say an extra hand is added, the same string of numbers will result in a wildly different pattern than first conceived. For slightly more complicated patterns, extra rules and syntax are added to create
Synchronous Siteswap, to notate patterns where both hands throw at the same time, and
Multiplex Siteswap, to notate patterns where one hand holds or throws two balls on the same beat.
Vanilla, synchronous and multiplex siteswap are the "standard" forms of siteswap, not only understood by many jugglers, but also many computer programs capable of animating juggling patterns. Other extensions to siteswap have been developed for specific purposes, though these are far less common than the "standard" forms of siteswap, understood by far fewer jugglers and only specialized software. These extensions include
Passing Siteswap,
Multi-Hand Notation (MHN) and
General Siteswap (GS).
Beatmap is a relatively new numeric notation. It notates every "hand" on every beat during a pattern, unlike all forms of siteswap, which only notates each hand on every other beat. This means that beatmap can notate any number of hands or juggling prop and in any rhythm with no added complexity. Beatmap doesn't only notate throws, but also the time and place of each catch. By including a simple indication of crossing and uncrossing arms, beatmap can notate
Mills Mess style patterns. Within beatmap it is also possible and easy to notate not only the balls in a pattern, but also the hands or arms of the juggler, as well as the position, location or orientation of the body of a juggler. Luke Burrage, the inventor of beatmap, claims that beatmap can more accurately describe more patterns than all ladder diagrams, causal diagrams, mills mess state transition diagrams, vanilla siteswap, synch siteswap, passing siteswap and multi-hand notation combined. So far use of beatmap is very limited, as most jugglers and all juggling software understand only variations of siteswap.
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Toss juggling*
Stick juggling*
Contact juggling*
Equilibristics*
Joggling*
The International Jugglers' Association (IJA) - worldwide community of jugglers united.
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The European Jugglers' Association (EJA) - european community of jugglers united.
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The Internet Juggling Database - very current; very exhaustive; active wiki community.
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Juggling Information Service - dated but has a huge amount of information. Excellent.
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The World Juggling Federation - private company aimed at promoting competition-style juggling.
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Juggling Records Database (Bogleg) International database where everybody can enter their own personal records.
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The Passing Database - contains an awesome amount of video footage of advanced club passing, as well as plenty of other passing content.
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The Juggling Trick Database - details and instructions for a large number of juggling tricks.
*[news:rec.juggling rec.juggling] - juggling newsgroup.
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The Bounce Page - all that is Bounce Juggling: videos, World Records, how to do it, list of Bounce Gods, etc.
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Juggling Talk - popular English speaking juggling forum moderated by
Anthony Gatto.
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Just Your Average Joggler - Instructions on how to juggle while running.
*
Giocoleria.org - Home of Italian Juggling - The biggest community of Italian Juggling.
