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KAES GUIDE

TOCONTACT JUGGLING

by Kae Verens

[email protected] to the others of the Four Horsemen - Ferret, Rich, andMarco for providing the shoves I needed to finish this.

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Thanks to Ferret in particular for hosting the first ever contactjuggling convention.

Also, thanks to Rich in particular for www.contactjuggling.com,

without which I wouldnt have felt the need to constantlyimprove .org (competition is great)

Also, thanks in particular to Marco for providing lifesavingassistance when the website was in threat of disappearing.

Thanks to the many wonderful people in the contact jugglingcommunity, for pushing us to keep refining and creating moves. Icant name them all, but a few might be Shifty, Lance, the variousMatt[e]s, Klas, Chico, Ian (the Four Horsemens Stableboy), and all

the other people. Sorry if I havent mentioned your name theContact Juggling community is immense, and I have a book to write!

Thanks to all the people who contributed their experience andvideos to the www.contactjuggling.org website. This book is analmost direct consequence of your creativity.

Thanks to Bronwyn, for sometimes letting me sit at my computer soI could produce this.

Thanks to Michael Moschen for his video, and James Ernest for hisbook.

Thanks to Terry Pratchett I like his books.

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Basic Contents

Palm Hold.................................................................................................24

Cradle........................................................................................................24

Tripod Hold..............................................................................................25

Thumb Hold.............................................................................................26

Cradle Hold w/ Thumb Hold..................................................................26

Knuckle Hold............................................................................................26

Fist Hold....................................................................................................27

Open Fist Hold.........................................................................................27

3-Finger Hold...........................................................................................27

Elbow Hold...............................................................................................28

Outside Elbow Hold.................................................................................28

Forehead Hold..........................................................................................29

Neck Hold.................................................................................................29

Temple Hold.............................................................................................30

Windshieldwiper......................................................................................32

Wristhold Windshieldwiper....................................................................34

Elbowhold Windshieldwiper...................................................................35

Butterfly....................................................................................................35

Twirling Butterfly....................................................................................36

Spined Butterfly.......................................................................................37

Planebreaking Butterfly..........................................................................38

Palm-Palm Pass........................................................................................38

Back-Palm Pass........................................................................................39

Palm-Back Pass........................................................................................40

Back-Back Pass........................................................................................41

Back-Back Walkaway..............................................................................42

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Palm-Palm Walkaway.............................................................................43

Thumb-Thumb Pass................................................................................43

Forearm Roll............................................................................................45

Backarm Roll............................................................................................46Backarm-Forearm Roll...........................................................................48

Forearm-Backarm Roll...........................................................................49

Chop Roll..................................................................................................49

Armroll to Shoulder Hold.......................................................................49

Spiral.........................................................................................................50

Helicopter.................................................................................................50

Forearm Chestroll....................................................................................51Backarm Chestroll...................................................................................52

Neck Roll...................................................................................................53

Neck Loop.................................................................................................54

Pirouette Neck Roll..................................................................................55

Back Roll...................................................................................................55

Elbow Catch.............................................................................................58

Outside Elbow Catch...............................................................................59Shoulder Catch.........................................................................................59

Foot Catch................................................................................................60

Head Catch...............................................................................................60

Neck Catch................................................................................................62

Elevator.....................................................................................................64

Back-Back Butterflies..............................................................................65

Palm-Palm Butterfly................................................................................66

Palm-Palm Twisting Butterfly................................................................66

Flytrap.......................................................................................................67

Circle.........................................................................................................67

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Walking Halfpipe.....................................................................................67

Horizontal Circle......................................................................................68

2b Palmspin..............................................................................................71

2b Palmspin Transfer..............................................................................723b Palmspin..............................................................................................73

3b Cascade................................................................................................75

3b Palmspin Transfer..............................................................................75

3b Chasing Transfer................................................................................76

3b Pinkylift...............................................................................................76

3b Thumblift.............................................................................................76

4b Stack.....................................................................................................774b Stack Pinkylift.....................................................................................78

4b Stack Thumblift..................................................................................78

1b Palmspin..............................................................................................79

4b Flat Diamond Palmspin......................................................................79

4b Flat Spin...............................................................................................80

2b Orbital Isolation..................................................................................81

2b Ratchet.................................................................................................812b Curl......................................................................................................82

2b Isolated Curl........................................................................................83

2b Magnetic Palmspin.............................................................................83

3b Ratchet.................................................................................................84


4b Stack Tumble......................................................................................84

1b Isolation...............................................................................................85

4b Curl......................................................................................................85

5b Linespin...............................................................................................87

5b 2h Palmspin.........................................................................................88

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6b Linespin...............................................................................................88

6b 2h Stack...............................................................................................89

6b 2h Triangle Palmspin.........................................................................89

7b Linespin...............................................................................................907b Stack Linespin.....................................................................................90

7b 2h Flower Propellor............................................................................91

7b 2h Cheater Flower Palmspin.........................................................91

8b Stack Linespin.....................................................................................91

8b Linespin...............................................................................................92

9b Stack Linespin.....................................................................................92

10b 2h Pyramid Stack..............................................................................9211b 2h Cheater Flower Stack..............................................................92

2b Folding Butterfly.................................................................................93

2b Asymmetric Butterfly.........................................................................94

2b Symmetric Butterfly...........................................................................94

2b Back-Back Butterfly...........................................................................94

2b Twirling Butterfly...............................................................................95

2b Circle....................................................................................................952b Back-Palm Shower.............................................................................96

2b Forearm Roll.......................................................................................96

2b Train....................................................................................................97

2b Backarm Roll Transfer......................................................................97

2b Simultaneous Back-Forearm and Fore-Backarm Rolling..............98

3b Forearm Roll Cascade........................................................................98


3b Folding Cascade................................................................................100

3b Backarm Cascade.............................................................................100

4b Circle..................................................................................................101

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2b Palmspin Escape...............................................................................103


4b Stack Escape......................................................................................1054b Flat Spin Escape................................................................................105

Combining Chest Rolls with Hand-Hand Passes................................106

2b Square................................................................................................107

2b Elbow Catch......................................................................................108

2b Elbow Catch Shower........................................................................108

2b Elbow Toss Shower...........................................................................108

3b Mill's Mess with Cradle...................................................................1093b Back-Palm Mills Mess.....................................................................110

3b Mesh...................................................................................................110

3b Forearm Shower...............................................................................111

3b Baby Pass Shower.............................................................................111

Butterfly W/ Head Butterfly.................................................................113

Neck Butterfly........................................................................................114

Neck to Chest Circle..............................................................................114Head Butterfly........................................................................................115

Arm Roll to Forehead Hold..................................................................116

Head Circle.............................................................................................117

Through the Body..................................................................................118

Colour Change.......................................................................................119

Scarf Balance..........................................................................................120

Sleight Of Hand......................................................................................121

Videos......................................................................................................131

Books/Magazines....................................................................................131

Websites..................................................................................................132

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Finger Flip..............................................................................................133

Finger Roll..............................................................................................133

Pilf Regnif...............................................................................................133

Finger Flurry..........................................................................................133Tripod Pickup........................................................................................133

Caterpillar..............................................................................................133

Outside Elbow Flyaway.........................................................................133

2b Stairstep.............................................................................................133

2b Tandem Spined Butterfly.................................................................133

2b Mineshaft roll....................................................................................133

2b Blackstones Balls.............................................................................133The Train................................................................................................133

2b Back-Back Pass w/ Thumb Hold.....................................................133

2b Upsidedown Palmspin......................................................................133

2b Toss and Catch..................................................................................133

2b Palm-Palm Pass w/ Cage..................................................................133

3b Propeller Isolation............................................................................133

3b Mesh w/ Arm Catch..........................................................................1333b Mesh Cascade....................................................................................133

3b Mesh...................................................................................................133

3b Thumblift Isolation...........................................................................133

3b Rockabye...........................................................................................133

4b Isolation.............................................................................................133

4b Vertical Isolation...............................................................................133

Floating 4 Stack (aka Half Diamond)..................................................133

4b Twist...................................................................................................133

4b Snake..................................................................................................133

4b Rotating Columns.............................................................................133

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4b Propeller............................................................................................133

4b Collapse and Rebuild........................................................................133

4b Pinky Lift...........................................................................................133

4b Asymmetrical Orbital.......................................................................1335b Propeller............................................................................................133

Blossom (5 Stack)...................................................................................133

5b Pyramid.............................................................................................133

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Detailed Contents

Palm Hold.................................................................................................24

Cradle........................................................................................................24

Tripod Hold..............................................................................................25

Thumb Hold.............................................................................................26

Cradle Hold w/ Thumb Hold..................................................................26

Knuckle Hold............................................................................................26

Fist Hold....................................................................................................27

Open Fist Hold.........................................................................................27

3-Finger Hold...........................................................................................27

Elbow Hold...............................................................................................28

Outside Elbow Hold.................................................................................28

Forehead Hold..........................................................................................29

Neck Hold.................................................................................................29

Temple Hold.............................................................................................30

Windshieldwiper......................................................................................32

Wristhold Windshieldwiper....................................................................34

Elbowhold Windshieldwiper...................................................................35

Butterfly....................................................................................................35

Twirling Butterfly....................................................................................36

Spined Butterfly.......................................................................................37

Planebreaking Butterfly..........................................................................38

Palm-Palm Pass........................................................................................38

Back-Palm Pass........................................................................................39

Palm-Back Pass........................................................................................40

Back-Back Pass........................................................................................41

Back-Back Walkaway..............................................................................42

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Palm-Palm Walkaway.............................................................................43

Thumb-Thumb Pass................................................................................43

Forearm Roll............................................................................................45

Backarm Roll............................................................................................46Backarm-Forearm Roll...........................................................................48

Forearm-Backarm Roll...........................................................................49

Chop Roll..................................................................................................49

Armroll to Shoulder Hold.......................................................................49

Spiral.........................................................................................................50

Helicopter.................................................................................................50

Forearm Chestroll....................................................................................51Backarm Chestroll...................................................................................52

Neck Roll...................................................................................................53

Neck Loop.................................................................................................54

Pirouette Neck Roll..................................................................................55

Back Roll...................................................................................................55

Elbow Catch.............................................................................................58

Outside Elbow Catch...............................................................................59Shoulder Catch.........................................................................................59

Foot Catch................................................................................................60

Head Catch...............................................................................................60

Neck Catch................................................................................................62

Elevator.....................................................................................................64

Back-Back Butterflies..............................................................................65

Palm-Palm Butterfly................................................................................66

Palm-Palm Twisting Butterfly................................................................66

Flytrap.......................................................................................................67

Circle.........................................................................................................67

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Walking Halfpipe.....................................................................................67

Horizontal Circle......................................................................................68

2b Palmspin..............................................................................................71

2b Palmspin Transfer..............................................................................723b Palmspin..............................................................................................73

3b Cascade................................................................................................75

3b Palmspin Transfer..............................................................................75

3b Chasing Transfer................................................................................76

3b Pinkylift...............................................................................................76

3b Thumblift.............................................................................................76

4b Stack.....................................................................................................774b Stack Pinkylift.....................................................................................78

4b Stack Thumblift..................................................................................78

1b Palmspin..............................................................................................79

4b Flat Diamond Palmspin......................................................................79

4b Flat Spin...............................................................................................80


2b Ratchet.................................................................................................812b Curl......................................................................................................82

2b Isolated Curl........................................................................................83

2b Magnetic Palmspin.............................................................................83

3b Ratchet.................................................................................................84


4b Stack Tumble......................................................................................84

1b Isolation...............................................................................................85

4b Curl......................................................................................................85

5b Linespin...............................................................................................87

5b 2h Palmspin.........................................................................................88

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6b Linespin...............................................................................................88

6b 2h Stack...............................................................................................89

6b 2h Triangle Palmspin.........................................................................89

7b Linespin...............................................................................................907b Stack Linespin.....................................................................................90

7b 2h Flower Propellor............................................................................91

7b 2h Cheater Flower Palmspin.........................................................91

8b Stack Linespin.....................................................................................91

8b Linespin...............................................................................................92

9b Stack Linespin.....................................................................................92

10b 2h Pyramid Stack..............................................................................9211b 2h Cheater Flower Stack..............................................................92

2b Folding Butterfly.................................................................................93

2b Asymmetric Butterfly.........................................................................94

2b Symmetric Butterfly...........................................................................94

2b Back-Back Butterfly...........................................................................94

2b Twirling Butterfly...............................................................................95

2b Circle....................................................................................................952b Back-Palm Shower.............................................................................96

2b Forearm Roll.......................................................................................96

2b Train....................................................................................................97


2b Simultaneous Back-Forearm and Fore-Backarm Rolling..............98

3b Forearm Roll Cascade........................................................................98


3b Folding Cascade................................................................................100


4b Circle..................................................................................................101

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4b Stack Escape......................................................................................1054b Flat Spin Escape................................................................................105

Combining Chest Rolls with Hand-Hand Passes................................106

2b Square................................................................................................107

2b Elbow Catch......................................................................................108

2b Elbow Catch Shower........................................................................108

2b Elbow Toss Shower...........................................................................108

3b Mill's Mess with Cradle...................................................................1093b Back-Palm Mills Mess.....................................................................110

3b Mesh...................................................................................................110

3b Forearm Shower...............................................................................111

3b Baby Pass Shower.............................................................................111

Butterfly W/ Head Butterfly.................................................................113

Neck Butterfly........................................................................................114

Neck to Chest Circle..............................................................................114Head Butterfly........................................................................................115

Arm Roll to Forehead Hold..................................................................116

Head Circle.............................................................................................117

Through the Body..................................................................................118

Colour Change.......................................................................................119

Scarf Balance..........................................................................................120

Sleight Of Hand......................................................................................121

Videos......................................................................................................131

Books/Magazines....................................................................................131

Websites..................................................................................................132

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Finger Flip..............................................................................................133

Finger Roll..............................................................................................133

Pilf Regnif...............................................................................................133

Finger Flurry..........................................................................................133Tripod Pickup........................................................................................133

Caterpillar..............................................................................................133

Outside Elbow Flyaway.........................................................................133

2b Stairstep.............................................................................................133

2b Tandem Spined Butterfly.................................................................133

2b Mineshaft roll....................................................................................133

2b Blackstones Balls.............................................................................133The Train................................................................................................133

2b Back-Back Pass w/ Thumb Hold.....................................................133

2b Upsidedown Palmspin......................................................................133

2b Toss and Catch..................................................................................133

2b Palm-Palm Pass w/ Cage..................................................................133

3b Propeller Isolation............................................................................133

3b Mesh w/ Arm Catch..........................................................................1333b Mesh Cascade....................................................................................133

3b Mesh...................................................................................................133

3b Thumblift Isolation...........................................................................133

3b Rockabye...........................................................................................133

4b Isolation.............................................................................................133

4b Vertical Isolation...............................................................................133

Floating 4 Stack (aka Half Diamond)..................................................133

4b Twist...................................................................................................133

4b Snake..................................................................................................133

4b Rotating Columns.............................................................................133

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4b Propeller............................................................................................133

4b Collapse and Rebuild........................................................................133

4b Pinky Lift...........................................................................................133

4b Asymmetrical Orbital.......................................................................1335b Propeller............................................................................................133

Blossom (5 Stack)...................................................................................133

5b Pyramid.............................................................................................133

Foreword

Up until very recently, this rare form of juggling was unknown tothe general public. It was looked down on by a lot of themainstream jugglers, and it was impossible to find any more thanhalf a dozen websites that had any information on the art.

All that has changed. Contact juggling turns up in thestrangest places now, and almost every person has seen at least oneperson magically roll a ball around his/her arms. Contact jugglingturns up in music videos Pommes Frites by The Orb, for example books Robert Jordans Wheel of Time mentions a man rolling

golden globes over his arms and body television shows Star TrekDS9 has a scene where a man can be seen in the background contactjuggling and, of course, films Jim Hensons The Labyrinth isthe most famous example.

Up until very recently, there was no sign that a revolution wasabout to take place. Every search for contact juggling on theInternet returned the same three or four sites, and those sites hadnot been updated in years.

I had read The Book Contact Juggling by James Ernest, andhad studied every move in it there are only a few that I stillcannot do, and Im not certain that they are possible at all.

One day, I came across an Internet mailing list concerningcontact juggling. I was overjoyed for years I had been developingmy skills in isolation my only contact with another contact juggler

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being Paul Wills, who started learning at the same time as me, butleft off developing his skills after he reached a level sufficient forhis own purposes.

The mailing list gave me a chance to learn what other people

had been doing. Those of us who had been CJing for years had beendoing exactly as I had searching the Internet irregularly, andbecoming despondent when the same lack of news was returned.

In 1999, together with Marco Van Der Bijl, I createdwww.contactjuggling.org; a website dedicated to teaching newcontact jugglers, and providing a community website for us all. Thesite brought out the contact juggler in a lot of people who wouldotherwise have passed it by.

New people came, and brought fresh variations on old moves Shifty, Lance Coombes, and Matthew Olsen, for example. New

moves were also created by people who had been regulars in theoriginal mailing list Marco, Ferret, and myself, for example.

This book is an effort to bring to the public what has beencreated since James Ernest wrote his book. I have tried to describeas many different moves as I could. There are still many, manymore moves that I could have placed in the book, but I had to stopwriting at some point and publish the thing.

If you are new to the world of contact juggling, then I hopeyou find this book easy to follow.

If you are an experienced contact juggler, I hope you findenough variations and difficult moves to keep you busy for a fewmonths.

Enjoy.

Kae

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What Is Contact Juggling?

Good question.

According to James Ernest's book, "Contact Juggling" whichoriginally coined the term contact juggling is "manipulations ofsingle objects or object groups, usually involving very little tossingor spinning".

According to the community website www.contactjuggling.org, Contact Juggling is half dance, juggling,mime and magic1.

Contact Juggling is almost always about balls whethertheyre silicon, acrylic, or plain tennis balls, it is rare to find a

person doing something with anything other than balls, and callingit Contact Juggling.

Staff-spinning, pencil-manipulation, coin-rolling and othersuch stuff could theoretically be called Contact Juggling using thedefinition, but they already have their own names. Contact Jugglinghas been accepted as solely belonging to the manipulation of ballsusing the body, and shouldnt be confused with other forms ofobject manipulation.

The best way to really get to know what contact juggling is to

see it in action. Michael Moschen's PBS video, "In Motion", has asection at the end where he is contact juggling although heprefers the term "Dynamic Balance" or Dynamic Manipulation -perhaps he is more entitled to call it by either of those names, ashe was CJing before the term was invented. He can also be seenin Jim Hensons film The Labyrinth; he is the hands of Jareth inthe crystal manipulation scenes no, that is not David Bowie doingit. No. It is not. No.

Speaking of terms, there are many "Dynamic / Crystal /Contact - Manipulation / Balance", "Ball/Sphere/Orb Rolling" are

just a few. The average name for the art is "Contact Juggling", andthat is how I will refer to it throughout the book. There is a small

1 My own little maths joke

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glossary of terms near the end of the book that can be referred towhenever I forget to explain one.

Contact Juggling can be broken into two separate forms, eachof which can be combined at a later stage to form more complex

moves.The first form is ball-rolling, where balls are rolled over thehands, arms, chest, head, back, etc. The ball rolls from one pointto another. This is the most basic form of contact juggling. Thewindshieldwiper is the first contact juggling move which should belearned from this form, where the ball rolls from the palm to theback of the hand, then rolls back again.

The second form is palmspinning, where groups of two ormore balls are spun in the hands. Up to eleven balls are used inpalm-spinning routines.

Although contact juggling usually means the balls stay incontact with the body, a lot of contact jugglers like to put tosses intheir moves. These moves are sometimes looked down on bypurists, but I believe that bending the rules of contact jugglingshould be allowed where the result is a fascinating move.

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Materials

The first thing you need is a ball. For ball-rolling, there are no realrestrictions on the ball's properties, but the ball should be heavyenough for you to feel it, and solidly spherical enough for you to rollit.

For many, the ideal ball is a 3" acrylic ball, or a 2.5" if you areof slightly small stature (like me...). If you are on a tight budget,then it is crucial that you pick something which you will still be ableto use when you move onto a more advanced level so make surethat you buy something sturdy; this may mean saving for a while.If you plan on doing only single-ball work, you might like one of thelarger balls.

The ideal properties of a good contact juggling ball are slightbut solid weight, the ability to hold three comfortably in the palmof the hand (for multi-ball work), and the ability for the balls toslide against each other (for simpler palmspinning).

You can learn ball-rolling with a cheap rubber ball. I startedoff with a rubber ball I bought for one Irish pound, and it didn'timpede me I also got some much-needed exercise from chasing itevery time I dropped it!

Rich Shumaker (www.contactjuggling.com) advocates learning

with a lacrosse ball. Possibly, that is equivalent to a rubber croquetor cricket ball.Acrylics can be purchased sometimes from good juggling

shops, but if that's not true where you are, then you can alwaysorder over the Internet. www.dube.com, www.infiniteillusions.com,www.renegade.com, and www.seriousjuggling.com each supplyacrylics. If you have a large group of people interested in contactjuggling, then you can buy cheap acrylics by bulk from HYPERLINK"http://www.plasticballs.com/"www.plasticballs.com ($100minimum order).

It might be a good idea as well to have some balls you dontmind scuffing, for practice. Ferret has some balls he calls his stuntdoubles survivors of earlier mishaps in practice. Stunt doublesare ideal for practice, as you are not restricted to practicing in

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places that you would definitely not perform in for fear of ruiningyour good balls.

One of the frequently asked questions in the forums ofcontactjuggling.org is "How do I get the scratches out of my

acrylics?". The old adage "Prevention is better than cure" is apthere. A lot of scratches on acrylics are caused by the balls hittingand scraping against each other when being carried around in a bagor left in a box with other juggling materials or potentially sharpobjects.

A very easy way to stop balls from rubbing against each otheris to keep them singly or in pairs in tight fitting socks. The socksprevent the balls from moving against each other, and protect fromoutside objects as well.

Another way is to store your balls on a stand instead of in a

box somewhere - Shifty, at http://www.shiftys-spheres.com/,shows his acrylics on fantastic stands, possibly originally made forcandles, but easily adapted to hold acrylics.

I keep eleven balls beside my computer at home held by asimple piece of rope. Make a 7b "blossom" shape, and measure off acircle of rope so it goes around the tops of the balls, but not solarge that it might slip down over them. When you have the ropetied off, lay it in a circle and put the blossom shape within it. Thenyou can easily balance a 4Stack on top of it. Simple, yet pleasant to

look at.

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About This Book

This book was written to show some of the new moves that havedeveloped in the ten years since James Ernests book came out. It isnot a replacement. Jamess illustrations are extremely helpful inmost cases, and it is always advisable to learn different methods ofdoing the same things, so I would recommend that you at least geta look at a copy of the book, even if you dont buy it.

The instruction in this book is separated into chapters. I havearranged the chapters, and the moves in each chapter, inapproximate order of ease. Well you could learn Palmspinningbefore Armrolls, but thats up to you - you do not have to learnstraight through in order. Many difficult moves can be learned after

learning only a few simpler ones, so I would recommend that youskim through the book once to get an idea of what you would like tolearn, then start learning the steps that make up what you want.

The most basic list of moves you should learn might includeWindshieldwipers, Palm-Palm, Palm-Back, Back-Palm and Back-BackPasses, and maybe a hold or two. That will give you enough movesto make an interesting routine that will mystify most non-jugglers.

The book is not comprehensive almost every week,something new is developed by the contact juggling community.

Usually, these new moves have to do with combinations withdifferent arts magic and toss juggling, for instance but once in awhile something new which is pure contact juggling comes along.

Each style of CJing in the book is introduced with a chapter onbasic moves. Maybe the word fundamental is more appropriate,as some of the moves are difficult, even for the advanced contactjuggler.

Although it may seem so, I am not describing every possiblemove in this book. A lot of moves involving combinations of patternsseemed a bit redundant for me. The same reason I prefer not to

place an animation of a person performing a 4Stack in both handson the contactjuggling.org lies behind my not placing similar movesin this move. Suffice it to say that almost every pattern that can beperformed in one hand can be performed in the other hand at thesame time.

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Most of the two-handed moves that I describe are in the bookbecause they involve using patterns that cross between both hands.Any two-handed pattern that involves patterns that do not crossbetween the hands is really two separate one-handed patterns

performed at the same time.However, that does not mean that, for example, spinningsimultaneous 5Stacks while gripping another ball between theelbows is not a true 2-handed pattern. You could say that the held11th ball is halfway through a transfer - especially if now and thenyou actually completed the transfer...

By the way every image in this book is of me, yet they mostly looklike different people. This is partly because of my (very) moderateskills as an artist, and partly because I keep cutting my hair shorter

and shorter. In fact, as I write this, I am contemplating shaving myhead to make my head rolls a bit smoother

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Holds

This chapter is about how to hold a ball. Dont argue!There are many different holds, most of which you would neverthink of as out of the ordinary, some of which you would neverthink of how to get into, and one or two which are difficult to getout of. The Palm and Cradle holds are the most important for us,and are used in almost every move involving the hands.

Palm HoldThis is usually just called Palm. Hold yourhand out, palm up. Put a ball in the flat ofthe palm. Dont bend your fingers, but let

them relax.If you place the ball at the base of the

fingers, you are technically still doing aPalm Hold, although its stretching theterm slightly.

CradleThere are three basic ways tohold a ball on the back of the

hand.The first is simply knownas the "cradle". Hold your righthand out in front of you, fingerstogether, and palm facing theground. Lower the middle fingerto form a groove. Place your ballin that groove. The little fingermay raise slightly that's okay.This is also known as the "three-

finger cradle", as three fingerssupport the ball.

The second is the cradlethat I prefer the "two-fingercradle", so called that because

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the ball is balanced on two fingers. Place your hand in front of youin cradle position, fingers together. Form a slight 'V' between theindex and middle fingers. Balance the ball there. This cradle solvessome little problems with the windshieldwiper and similar moves.

Make sure not to exaggerate the 'V', as it is hard to correct later!The third is used by a few CJers on thewww.contactjuggling.org site, and is known as the "Vulcan cradle",after the Vulcan greeting gesture in Star Trek. Place your hand as inthe two-finger cradle position, but form the 'V' with the middle andring fingers. Personally, I find this to be awkward to use, but I'msure there are people that will find it useful if they have troublewith the others.

More advanced holds on the back of the hand include holdingthe ball right behind the knuckles of the first and second fingers

(between the tendons), holding between the little fingers firstknuckle and the ring finger, and holding between the thumbsknuckle, the base of the thumb and the first fingers knuckle. Youwill most likely never get to use these, though unless you come upwith some very outlandish moves - in which case, submit them towww.contactjuggling.org to share them with the world!.

Tripod HoldPut your thumb, index finger, and middle fingers up,

with the tips held close to each other. You canbalance a ball on the tips.This is used as a demonstration hold it points out

the ball. In the film, The Labyrinth, the firstcontact juggling clip begins and ends in this hold.

Personally, I prefer the three-finger hold to thisone, but a lot of people use this as their Look! A

ball! hold.It is simple to do, and can be moved into (or out of) from the

palm, open fist, or cradle holds.

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Thumb HoldFor this, start with a hand palm up. Place a ballthere, and wrap your thumb over it. Now turn the

hand over so it is palm down. The ball should stillstay in the palm, held there by the thumb. Thiscan be used to great effect as a surprise in themiddle of something routine. If you butterflynormally for a while, for example, then suddenlythrow in a single Thumb Hold so the ball ends upunder the hand instead of above it, the audienceis usually surprised and then impressed.

Cradle Hold w/ Thumb Hold

This hold, while it is simply a combination oftwo other popular holds, pops up enough incontact juggling that I felt it needed to bepointed out on its own.

The Thumb Hold is important to thishold, so should be practiced carefully. TheCradle Hold used here is the three-finger

cradle. Although I am a great fan of the two-fingered cradle, it issimpler by far to use the three-finger version in this hold.

Knuckle HoldJames Ernest says in his book that this isone of the only times he ever lets hisfingers tense. It is a style decision. Thehold is not right for everyone, but can beperfect for some moments.

Form a fist, and raise the forearm sothe fist is pointing up, with the index andmiddle fingers forming a groove along the

first phalanges. Place the ball there. This is tricky to get into, andtricky to balance. Try tossing from one hand to another, keepingthe same hold. Or, even harder try placing your two fists togetherand roll the ball from one to the other.

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Fist HoldThis hold is also called the Cup Hold, asthe shape of the hand is as if you were

holding a large mugs handle.Form a fist, with the fingers knucklesheld in a vertical line so the index fingerand thumb are on top.

Place the ball on the slight dip formednear the end of the index finger.

Mostly, this hold is used as part of a group of holds flowinginto each other it can look very good to flourish the ball with aseries of holds.

Open Fist HoldI call this the Open Fist hold because, fromthe Fist Hold, all you need to do is unfoldthe fingers and press the thumb in tighterto get this hold here.

This hold is elegant from all sides, sois ideal for little pauses in your routine.

3-Finger Hold

This hold is a good starting and finishing move.It is also fascinating when come by suddenly -The front view looks like the ball is justbalancing on the end of the fingers. The side iseven more magical sometimes.

It can be very impressive when you arerolling the ball around your arms for a while, then suddenlystop with the ball apparently just balancing on yourfingertips.

Start learning this by making a tripod of your index, middleand ring fingers. Balance the ball on the fingertips. To begin with,the fingertips should be held wide apart, but as you gainexperience, try to bring the fingertips closer and closer. Eventually,you come to a point where you can't bring the fingertips closer

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without bending the middle finger. Stop there - bending the fingermakes the hold lose some of its appeal.

Elbow Hold

A lot of people hold their balls here bygripping the ball between the forearm andbiceps. That is crude and unnecessary -The inner elbow is relatively flat, so all ittakes is a little practice to be able tobalance the ball there without a problem.

Balancing a ball there while doingsomething else with the same arm is

another thing altogether, but we'll get to that. This version of thehold is called the Inside Elbow Hold.

Outside Elbow HoldMuch harder to do than the Inside ElbowHold, this one has a lot of possibilities.Robin Spehar, in the first video I saw of him,rolled a ball from the cradle to here, thenpaused in the act to hop the ball up anddown there for a while. Joe DiNoto (theGolden Chicken) uses this in a strange

variation of toss jugglings Mills Mess.To learn this hold, you should first feel around the area withyour other hand, while tensing, untensing, and moving the armaround in small ways.

As you can see, I have let my right hand go limp in thepicture. If you tense the hand, then the tendons of the arm shiftand bunch in uncontrollable ways.

I balance the ball at the base of the biceps, about two inchesfrom the audience side of the forearm.

Another interesting move, I see Robin doing very often, is tobalance here, then keep the ball isolated while rolling it to thecradle, pass over the cradle to the other cradle, and do the same inreverse on the other arm.

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Forehead HoldThis is not a beginners hold. Not because I think you won't be ableto do it - with a few minutes practice, I'm sure you could be walkingslowly around the room with no problems!

No - it is an advanced CJer's holdbecause there are no simple ways to getinto it. The simplest way to get into it is atoss to catch there (see Head Catch), andthat is something I would refuse to teachany beginner because it is dangerous.

Anyway - assuming you are anadvanced CJer, here are my thoughts on

the hold.To begin with, the ball is held just above the eyebrow

muscles. Tense up your eyebrows (furrow them as if you wereconcentrating on something), and feel there - you will notice thatwith the muscles furrowed, you have a dip in the forehead - this iswhere the ball is held.

With practice, the ball can be held without furrowing themuscles. I'd recommend this, as a move always impresses more if itlooks effortless.

Don't let the ball go below the eyebrow area - if it reaches thenose, it is difficult to get back to the forehead.

If the ball starts moving left - move your whole body furtherleft, and turn the head slightly to the right - this will cause the ballto roll a bit to the right - correcting the error. If it rolls to the right,of course, just reverse these instructions.

If the ball starts rolling down towards the face, step slightlyforward and lean your head further back. If it starts rolling furtherup the forehead, step slightly back and straighten up a bit.

Neck HoldThis is another of the advanced CJersholds. There is no easy way to get into it.The most obvious ways a roll up the arm

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behind the head, tossing to catch, and rolling from the forehead tothe neck, are all advanced moves.

Despite all that, this hold is extremely simple. Simply bendover at the waist, scrunch your shoulders up, and hold your head up

so youre looking straight ahead. The ball is cushioned at all sides by the spine, the base of the head, and the shoulder muscles.The image here is of myself doing a neck hold with a 5 ball

its not a trick of perspective

Temple HoldThe Temple Hold is very difficult tokeep steady. It must be done in away that is awkward to the body(unless, of course, you are lying on

your side as you do it), so a bit offlexibility is also required.

Getting into this hold is adifficulty which all advanced CJers have to figure out at somepoint. The easiest way, in my opinion, is the first move of theButterfly With Head Hold, where you simply roll the ball off thecradle and onto the temple.

Robin Spehar (a comic artist who just happens to also be afantastic contact juggler) submitted a video to contactjuggling.org

of a small one ball show he did, in which he had the ball on theright Outside Elbow Hold, placed his head down so the right templewas on the ball, and flipped over towards the left and took the armaway so the ball was balanced on the right Temple Hold.

In the image, I am holding the ball right at the front of thetemple dip in the skull. I find that the bony rim of this area helps tokeep the ball steady.

Other people like to bring the ball further down so it is almostin the ear! This area is much more stable again, and makes yourhead contact juggling look extreme. I wouldnt call that a TempleHold, though but go ahead and learn it anyway.

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Basic One Ball Moves

I will describe all one-handed moves here using the right hand (mystrongest hand), but you should also practice with the left. If youare left-handed, simply reverse instructions here, and don't forgetto practice with your right hand. Two-handed moves should also belearned both ways.

This chapter is probably best practiced by choosingcombinations from the following chapter that youd like to learn,then learning the moves in this chapter that are necessary for them.The Windshieldwiper and the various Cradles should most definitelybe learned, as they are basic to almost all other moves.

It is not necessary to learn all possible moves in order to be a

great contact juggler. Just learn the basic versions of whatever youfeel you can do, then when you feel competent, move on to harderversions and harder moves.

Some of the moves at the end of the chapter should not belearned until you have practiced multi-ball and palmspinning. It ispossible to learn straight through, but you will be better off with ageneral education in all styles than in specific in one style.

Windshieldwiper

The first ball-rolling move most people learn is the windshieldwiper.This is a common basic move of a lot of complex combinations, andis also a good filler on its own between moves. It is named after themotion the arm makes, which is similar to the motion of a carswindshield wiper. The similarity is more obvious when you do itwith both arms simultaneously.

Start with your ball in the rightcradle. It doesn't matter which form ofcradle you use.

Toss the ball gently upwards, and

catch the ball in the same position. Beforeyou move onto the next stage, it isessential that you can do this. You mayfind that the ball bounces off your hand. In

that case, when you are catching the ball, drop your hand at the

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same speed as the ball and slow it so the ball comes to a gentlerest. It may help to examine closely how you would normally catcha ball in the palm of the hand, and apply that to the cradle.

Next, practice the same with the palm. Your forearm should

be pointing directly out from you, perpendicular to your chest. Thisshould be easier than the cradle-toss, so won't need as much work.It is important that you do not allow your fingers to curl around theball as you catch the ball, so a bit more care than usual is neededwhen cushioning the ball.

After you are comfortable with the first two practice tosses,you can go on to the next stage.

Practice tossing from the first position (cradle, forearmparallel to the chest) to the second position (palm, forearmperpendicular to the chest). When you are comfortable with that,

try practicing the same, but toss the ball back from the palm tocradle as well.

Now start to smooth out this movement. Learn to toss fromcradle to palm and back again, while keeping the elbow in the sameplace. A good way to practice this is to hold the elbow with the lefthand while tossing with the right (as seen in the images below).

The final stage is to lower the height of the toss until the ballis in constant contact with your hand as it moves between palm andcradle. Be very careful here if you are throwing from palm to

cradle and your fingers are curled, the ball will get caught in thecurl and be thrown at whatever is next to you! Practice somewhereout of sight of cats, TVs, valuable china, etc.

The catches can be smoothed somewhat by moving the handin the direction of the throw slightly as you catch the ball i.e.; asyou catch a ball tossed from palm to cradle, say, move your handslightly further to the left to give the ball more space to slow down(before falling off the end of your fingers onto your toes).

When you have this smoothly, your arm will be moving in asmooth windshieldwiper-like motion, hence the name of the move.

Congratulations, you may now celebrate learning your firstcontact juggling move!

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Wristhold WindshieldwiperIt is sometimes helpful to have a hand nearby to help you in caseyou drop the ball. In most cases, though, it is difficult to do thisaesthetically. In the 3b Escape I placed onto the contactjuggling.org

website, for example, I tried to keep my left hand by my side, butit jerked forward of its own accord when I almost dropped a ballfrom the right forearm. This move, however, allows you to keep ahand nearby while looking sufficiently graceful that it can beconsidered a move of its own.

Assuming youare doing theWindshieldwiper inthe left hand, here ishow to do it. First

try it without theball.

Hold a ball inthe left palm, whichis pointing left. Theright hand is palmdown, resting flat onthe left forearm sothe tips of the

fingers are near thewrist.The left hand comes up to vertical, with the right hand

slipping around the front side of it so the fingers are pointing leftand the thumb is at the wrist.

The left hand continues down so the ball is in the cradle. Theright hand slides further down the back of the forearm and the rightforearm is raised so the ball is still visible from the front.

Bring the left hand forward so the ball is on the other side ofthe right forearm.

Now, you simply bring the left hand back upwards to thestarting position, and the right hand back around to its startingposition.

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Elbowhold WindshieldwiperThis is just like the Wristhold move, except the right hand is furtherdown towards the left elbow and doesnt move as much.

Start with the left hand as before. This time, the right hand

rests on the inside of the left elbow.Butterfly the left hand out until the ball is in the palm. Allthis while, the right hand remains at the base of the left biceps.

Stretch the Windshieldwiper further left and slide the righthand around the right side of the elbow until its fingers aretouching the outside of the elbow (the pointy bit).

Butterfly the left hand in so the hand drops down inside theloop created by the right arm.

Raise the right elbow and dip the left hand further down soyou can then bring the left hand forward to the outside of the right

arm, and slide the left hand back to the base of the biceps.You can also do this move in the opposite direction, so the

ball comes up through the loop, but I think the way I have describedis easier to learn.

ButterflyThe butterfly is named after a handmotion used in some Middle-East danceswhere the hands intertwine and wave as if

fluttering in the wind.The butterfly is an extension of thewindshieldwiper. In the windshieldwiper,there are two end-points on the arc that

the ball follows. We simply smooth the movement out by removingthose end points, forming an infinitysymbol. Moving your elbow will greatly helpyou with this move.

Imagine a large figure "8" lying on it'sside floating in front of you (an infinitysymbol).

Your ball starts on the bottom of theleft loop, in the cradle. The ball then travels to the top of the right

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loop, where it goes over the fingertips to end up at the bottom ofthe right loop in the palm.

From there, you pull the ball to the top of the left loop,where it goes over the fingertips to end up in the starting position

again.Remember that at all times the ball ismoving right, the ball should be in thecradle, and at all times while moving left,the ball should be in the palm of the hand.Good movement of the elbow will help youhere, so limber up!

The butterfly can be reversed, but there is little benefit to it the average audience member will not notice the difference.Note: Butterfly is also used as a verb to describe the rolling of

the ball from the palm to cradle and vice-versa, no matter how themovement is accomplished.

Twirling ButterflyImmediately, we see an example of the wordButterfly being subverted. This move does not form aninfinity symbol, so technically it shouldnt be called a

Butterfly, but the word is so much nicer thanWindshieldwiper, that it is used in almost all cases where

the word Windshieldwiper should really go. Live with it.Start by placing your right hand palm up, and your lefthand over it palm down so they cross at the wrist. Thewrists should touch at all times.

Now put the forearms together, bringing the hands up,and keeping the fingertips of the left hand as far apart from

the right-hand fingertips (and vice versa) as possibly. Youshould end up with a T shape.

Continue the movement of the hands so the forearmsare brought apart and down again, and the hands cross

each other again at the wrist, this time with the lefthand palm up and the right hand palm down.

Repeat the movement in reverse to bring yourselfback to the beginning again.

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When you repeat this quickly, youll see that the hands aretwirling around each other. This is the basis of the nameTwirling Butterfly.

Start from the beginning again, but this time with a ball on

the right palm.Straighten the forearms out into the T shape. The ball is stillin the right hand, but moving towards the fingers.

Now, as you bring the twirl to a finish, Butterfly the ballover the fingertips and down into the cradle. That is the end of thefirst part.

From there, Butterfly the ball into the right palm as youstraighten out the forearms again. When the ball rolls over thefingertips, you should be in the T position again.

Continue the twirl, bringing the ball back to the original

position.

Spined ButterflyThe butterfly motion can be performed in many different ways this is a way to perform it in an almost flat line, using what Ferretcalls a flip-flop to do the butterflying part of the move.

Start with a ball in the right palm, with the palm held far tothe left.

Bring the palm to the right until its held in the normal

position just to the right of the chest.Now, bring the hand up slightly, and flip the hand under theball so the ball rolls into the cradle.

Continue the movement of the cradle to the far right.If you are doing this with both hands, you can either start

both butterflies from opposite sides of the chest (arms crossed), orfrom the same side.

If you are starting both from the same side, then the handwhich is on its own side of the body (i.e.: the left hand if you arestaring on the left) starts with the ball in the cradle position, andends up in the Palm Hold (remember that all contact juggling movescan be reversed!).

Expanding even further, you can add a third ball. Perform a2b Spined Butterfly as above, both hands moving from the same

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side, but start with a third ball held in the palm-down hand. Whenthe hands are flipping over, pass the ball from a Thumb Hold in thefirst hand to the second. The pass is a form of Thumb-Thumb Pass(described later in this chapter).

Planebreaking ButterflyIn the original CJ book, Contact Juggling, James Ernest pointedout that most CJ moves seem to be in only two dimensions, and thatthey can be expanded into the third just by thinking about it. This isone example of that instead of X and Y, we move the butterfly inY and Z.

Place your right hand out, cradle upwards, and put your ballon the cradle.

Now, swing the arm up and back so the ball rolls over the

fingertips to land in the palm, which is just above the rightshoulder.

The hardest part of this is when you bring the ball back down be very careful! If you make a mistake, your ball may get trapped inthe curl of your fingers, and be flung straight out in front of you destroying whatever mirror youre practicing in front of, orsmacking an audience member unexpectedly (I hope they neverexpect to be smacked).

Another variation on this is the Reverse Planebreaking

Butterfly, which is practically the same movement, but with thepalm upwards in the beginning, and the cradle at the end heldabove the shoulder.

Palm-Palm PassThere are four basic palm-palm passes the "classic palm-palmpass", a more difficult one I call the "chalice palm-palm pass", avariant of what is called the "cheater palm-palm pass", and thebaby pass.

The "classic palm-palm pass" is extremely simple just hold yourhands together, knife-edges and little fingers of both handstogether. Now place the ball in the right palm, and simply roll it tothe other palm, so it crosses at the base of the little fingers. It's

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called the "classic" palm-palm pass because it's the most basicmethod to do it.

For the "chalice palm-palm pass", hold your forearms together sothey're pointing in front of you and up. The palms should face

upwards, with the right fingers pointing right, and the left fingers left.Place the ball in the right palm, and roll it across the heels of thehands to the other palm. I call it the "chalice" palm-palm pass becauseof the shape the arms and hands make.The "cheater palm-palm pass" is based on a lazy way to do theclassic palm-palm pass, but smoothed up. Place your hands togetherso they're both pointing right, and the left little finger is touchingthe right knife-edge of the palm. Roll the ball from the right palm,across the knife-edges into the left palm, sliding the hands towardsthe left all the while so you end up with the hands pointing left,

right little finger against left knife-edge. This pass allows you tomake the movement quite large, which is good for stage work.For the baby pass, you should start with your right palm facingup, the little finger next to the left armpit. The left hand is alsopalm up, with its little finger next to the right forearm or elbow.This position is similar to how a baby is held against the chest. Theball rolls from the right hand to the left.From those four basic passes, it is possible to make more complexpasses palm-palm passes with the wrists crossed, palm-palm

passes with the forearms twisted right round, palm-palm passesover the fingertips. As long as the ball passes from one palm intothe other without too much messing around in between, it is apalm-palm pass. The choice of which you use at any particular timeis aesthetic whatever looks best is best.

Back-Palm PassThere are two basic forms of back-palm passes.

For the most common form, place your right hand in front of youpointing to the left, palm down, and a ball in the cradle. Place theleft hand so its pointing the same direction, palm up, with the heelof the hand touching the right hands fingertips. This is kind of anawkward position, but it can be adapted to more comfortable

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positions after its learned. Simply pass the ball along the fingers tothe left palm.For a more comfortable form of the above move, place your handsin the beginning position again, then, keeping the heel and

fingertips together, move the left hand forward. Youll find that theangle becomes less awkward, yet the look of the move hasntdegraded. This version of the back-palm pass is used in thehorizontal circle.In the less common one, the ball is passed from the cradle back upthe arm and off at the wrist to the other palm.

The first form is good for large movements, and can beperformed slowly, even isolated. The second is good for tight, orquick, movements, and is good for passing during twirlingbutterflies parts of your routine.

Palm-Back PassThis is just the opposite of the previous pass. The ball is passedfrom the palm of one hand to the cradle of the other.

The most common two methods are similar to the two mostcommon Back-Palm Passes, but in the opposite direction.

For the most common version, place your hands in line, lefthand pointing left and palm up, right hand pointing left with thepalm down and the fingertips touching the left heel. Pass the ball

from the left hand to the right. This must be done relatively slowly;as it is difficult to correct high-speed passes in that position (thehands arent too maneuverable like that).

The more uncommon pass is done by placing the right handpalm down, parallel to the chest, and the left hand above it, palmup, both wrists touching. The ball passes from the right palm overthe base of the thumb to the left hand. In this move, the right handhas more movement available to it, so fast passes can be correctedby raising the fingers, making the ball slow.

There is a Baby Pass version of this as well. The right handis placed palm up, with the little finger next to the left armpit. Theright hand is placed alongside the left forearm with the thumbpointing downish so the left index finger is fully in contact with the

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right forearm. The ball is rolled from the right hand along the armto the left.

Back-Back Pass

The Back-Back Pass is the more difficult of the basic passes, andcan be very frustrating for the beginner. Dont worry, though persevere! You will get it.

Start with a ball in the right cradle; arm parallel with thechest. Place the left hand in front of it so the base of the indexfinger is against the right wrist. There is a groove between theindex finger and thumb that slides very nicely against the oppositeforearm. Try to get your hand into a comfortable position there sothat the base of the left thumb is against the right hands heel.

To start off learning this pass, it is

possibly best to bend the left hand up andback so the fingers end up almost touchingthe ball in an almost vertical cradle. Tipthe hands over to the right so the ball rollsover the right knuckles and is stopped bythe left hands fingers. Tip the handfurther and further so the ball is supportedmore and more in the left cradle, until youcan take away the right hand.

That method is only good for learningthe move it will hinder the speed atwhich you can perform moves at a laterstage, so well learn to improve it now.

Starting again in the same position, liftthe right fingers up to about 30 degrees,tilting hand so the ball rolls to the lefthand, passing on to just behind the leftknuckles. The ball should have enoughspeed to continue on to the left cradleposition.

If you find that the ball continues toofar and falls off, you can slow its progressby raising the left fingers up at an angle to

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cause the ball to have to climb uphill. The further you raise thefingers, the quicker the ball will slow.

It is also a good idea to move the receiving hand slightly in thedirection of the balls motion, bringing it to a halt smoothly.

You can practice this using a move called the Back-Back Roll.Pass from the right cradle to the left cradle, then bring your righthand under the left to the other side and pass again from left toright. Done continuously, this feels great, and looks like the ball isrolling left to right.

This pass is not yet complete. As it is, you are passing directlyfrom the cradle to the opposite cradle. To make it look a lot better,and increase the control you have over the action, you can lengthenthe move out by passing to positions further down the hand andback of the arm.

Be careful, though I used to practice with glass balls, whichare very heavy and very hard. This caused bruising on the backs ofmy hands that took weeks to get rid of2.

The best place to pass to aesthetically is possibly the positionnear the base of the radius and ulna bones, but not so near that theball hits the lump of the ulnas base (that can hurt, too).

Back-Back WalkawayThis move is based on a variant of the Back-Back pass, and looks

best when isolated.Start with a ball on the right cradle, hand pointing forwards.Place the left hand in front of the right and roll the ball onto it soat passes onto the back of the left hand and rolls to its cradle.

Now, repeat the same move onto the right hand. You willneed to step forward to be comfortable with this.

The move can then be repeated over and over, all the whilewalking forward. The effect is that the ball is walking away,hence Walkaway.

This move can also be isolated the ball stays still, and thehands are pulled from under it, keeping the same movements of thehands, but the ball doesnt move. This gives the effect that the ballis floating, which is a point of all isolations.

2 It also caused my to learn very, very quickly (through something like shock therapy), but I dontrecommend you learn that way.

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You can also reverse the move, so the ball is actually comingback towards you. In this case, you start with the ball on a cradle,and roll the ball backwards, picking it up with the opposite cradle.If done right, this makes the ball appear as if its moving smoothly

along a path which is being created as it moves.If you reverse this move, it becomes the Back-BackWalktowards (imaginative naming scheme!).

Palm-Palm WalkawayAfter learning the Back-Back Walkaway, you should find this simpleto learn.

It is exactly as you would imagine. Hold a ball in the leftpalm, place the right hand in front of it so its heel touches the leftfingertips, and then roll the ball forward onto the right palm. Then

repeat with the left hand in front.You can, of course, variate this idea further by having Back-

Palm Walkaways, Palm-Back Walktowards, etc. I guess furtherinstruction would be very redundant.

Thumb-Thumb PassThis is part of the Twirling Butterfly suite of moves, and looks outof place with most other moves.

Start with the right hand over the left, crossing at the wrist. A

ball is held in the right Thumb Hold. Twirl the hands as you would anormal Twirling Butterfly, pausing at the palm-palm position to rollthe ball from the right hand to the left, grabbing it in the leftThumb Hold.

Continue the twirl so you end up in a mirror image of thestarting position, then repeat back.

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Body Rolling

When you first describe Contact Juggling to a person who has neverheard of it, you might say something like Its like normal juggling,but the balls are rolled all over the arms and body instead ofthrown in the air.

This gives a mental image, which is fascinating, and is what Ilive for as a CJer the idea that someone could dance, or mime, allthe while rolling a ball on the body as though strings are attached.Unlike Palmspinning, which is a very close-up art, body rolling islarge and expressive. To entertain your audience, you have tobecome large and expressive as well.

Compare close-up magic and stage magic. In close-up magic,

you concentrate on the hands (usually) it does not matter whatexpression is on the magicians face, or whether he/she is wearingan outfit. All that matters is the interaction of the hands with theobject being manipulated. In stage magic, however, the magiciansbody language is all important.

A fantastic contact juggler can practice for weeks, and bebaffled about why the audience is not impressed if he/she forgetsto include the whole body with the move. I have seen routineswhere the audience oohed and aahed at moves which any

green CJer could pull off with only the minimum experience thiswas because of the performers stage presence an invaluable aidin a performance.

By all means, learn the most difficult moves you can learn,but always be aware of how they look to the audience!

When you practice any move in body rolling also practicemoving the body to accentuate the move. Pretend the ball has a lifeof its own.

One comment I heard about a CJer I knew years ago was thathe nevermoved his legs. The commenter did not say anything about

the CJing itself, which said to me that the fact the CJer had notmoved his legs made the legs stand out more than the ball. Youmust avoid this.