- Toss a ball from the hand with two balls to the hand with one ball, and just before it reaches that hand, drop the second ball next to your foot, catch the first ball, and stop. (Toss, drop-catch, stop.)
- Repeat step 1, but this time, instead of dropping it, toss the second ball under the first ball, so that it lands in front of your other foot.
- Start the same way: Toss the first ball. Just before you catch it, toss the second ball back. Just before you catch it, drop the third ball, and stop. (Toss, toss-catch, drop-catch.)
- Repeat step 3, but this time toss the third ball under the second ball, so that it lands in front of the opposite foot.
- Start the same way: Toss the first ball. Just before you catch it, toss the second ball back. Just before you catch it, toss the third ball back. Just before you catch it, drop the fourth ball, and stop. (Toss, toss-catch, toss-catch, drop-catch.)
- Repeat step 5, but this time toss the fourth ball under the third ball, so that it lands in front of the opposite foot.
- Start the same way: Toss the first ball. Just before you catch it, toss the second ball back. Just before you catch it, toss the third ball back. Just before you catch it, toss the fourth ball back. Just before you catch it, drop the fifth ball and stop. (Toss, toss-catch, toss-catch, toss-catch, drop-catch.)
- You can continue adding a new drop-catch and toss-catch with each additional step, or you can just forget to do the next drop, and don't stop: just toss, toss-catch, toss-catch, toss-catch, toss-catch, . . . and now you're doing the Cascade. And now you are a juggler.
- Watch the top of the arc. Toss across your body, head high.
- Keep your hands at about waist level. Wait for the ball to come to you.
- If you find yourself walking forward, try standing in front of a wall.
- If you get stuck, go back a step or two, or try it again tomorrow.
- Begin each session with the warm-up and go through every step you can.
- If you get tired of picking up all those drops, try juggling while kneeling, or while standing next to a couch or bed.
- Better than balls are small beanbags, or baby's socks or tennis balls filled with sand or rice. Three soft tangerines are good. (Beanbags are best.)
How To Juggle
Warm up by tossing a ball from hand to hand, across your body, about eye high, until you've done ten even tosses in a row. Now put two balls in your favored hand, and toss one of them from hand to hand until you've done ten good repetitions. Now pick up three balls, put two in your favored hand, and begin step 1. When you can do a step ten times, you are ready to go on.
Some Hints
How To Teach Someone Else To Juggle
Make a copy of this document and give it to them. This copy was made for you by The Illini Juggling and Unicycle Club
Hints for wheelers (wheelchair users)
You'll have to toss a little higher than your head and hold your hands up to the bottom of your rib cage. Relax your shoulders. Later, like all jugglers, you'll want to make as tight and low a pattern as possible. Work over a table set against the wall, or have a large tray on your lap or across the armrests. Use small areas on the tray or table, under each of your hands, as drop targets. Relax your shoulders. Use beanbags.
If you have one hand
This is going to be much harder and take much longer. So what's new? (I think of my grandmother, after the trolley took her arm, making kreplach.) The Cascade is not your best way to start; you will do a Shower. Your steps will consist of learning how to throw and catch one, then two separately in a circle (clockwise or counter, not toward or away from you). Juggling is "more balls than hands," and two balls is not very hard, so you want to do three. Make your tosses higher -- almost twice your height, then syncopate your throws (toss-toss, space, catch-toss, catch-toss, space, catch-toss, catch- toss, space, etc.). Then put a third ball into the "space." Figure on ten minutes every day, anywhere from two weeks to a year, but think of the expression on their faces.
If you cannot grasp
First you must learn to place and balance a beanbag on your hand or forearm. Keep it there while doing other things, until it becomes comfortable. Then switch to your other hand or arm. Then begin the "How To Juggle" warm up. If you can't hold one bag down while tossing the other, start with two in your non-favored hand, toss the one in your favored hand, and immediately load your favored hand with one of the other two. That's the hard part. Now you're ready to begin the "How to Juggle" steps.
Non-readers, children under nine, and slower learners
Adult non-readers may prefer instructions on tape, otherwise, just describe the procedure one step at a time as they do it, i.e. teach them. You should learn how first, and the more you know, the better you can teach; try the Klutz method (below) for a different approach. Children under nine and slower learners usually need more individual attention, and should concentrate on one or two steps per session. Keep sessions under ten minutes, but encourage them to practice whenever they want. From the beginning, refer to what they are doing as `juggling'. A continuous 3-ball pattern is not the goal, it's just another step.
Beanbags
-- or something like them that will not roll or bounce, are a MAJOR help. A set of three are included with the book Juggling For The Complete Klutz", found at most toy or bookstores. On the Internet you can check out the jugglers mall at the Juggling Information Service or this list of Juggling Vendors.
And lastly
This is not a test, a
trial-by-obsession, or a guilt trip. Nobody needs to juggle. So,
if it's not fun, stop, and do something that is. Please duplicate
this paper and give it to friends or strangers, adults or
children: anyone who can read. You may NOT sell it or include it
in a commercial package, put it in a curriculum, or make it a
course requirement. And except for the club name and information,
and the beanbag sources, you may not change any part of it,
including this notice. Your comments, suggestions, and
experiences are appreciated and needed. Send
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