Didn't find what you were looking for? Search here for more!
(Mali ba? Hindi ba ito gusto mo makita? I-type at hanapin dito!)

I was browsing Digg earlier when I encountered a post about contact Juggling… I saw this a while back and it inspired me to do a little research and put it on my blog…

Contact Juggling Ball (Acrylic, CLEAR, 65mm)

Balls are manufactured from acrylic with other clear resins, reducing cost and giving a tougher surface, making minor scratch and marks easier to buff out. Each ball is individually wrapped.

Diameter Approximately 2 1/2′ (65mm)

A little history…

Contact Juggling

What is Contact Juggling?
Contact Juggling is the skill and art of moving a ball or balls from one place to another while keeping them in contact with your body.

Contact Juggling has several other names as well including, Sphereplay, dynamic manipulation, crystal manipulation. But Contact Juggling has the easiest definition for the average joe, bob ,jane or nancy. Contact Juggling is juggling in which the ball or balls maintain contact with the body.

Contact Juggling consists of 2 main forms
Rolling and Spinning
Often termed Body Rolling and Palm Spinning
By taking out the words body and palm you take away boundries that can be placed there.
So spinning can be done on the back of the hand.
And rolling can be done with a prop.
This site will usually refer to them as Ball Rolling and Ball Spinning to help clarify what is spinning and what is rolling.
There are several elements that are part of Contact Juggling.
They include isolations, curls, holds, flourishes, and stalls.

So you can isolate a spin or isolate a roll. The same would be true of each of the other elements.

Brief History of Contact Juggling
Contact Juggling is a term coined by James Ernest in his book of the same name.
James Ernest credits Michael Moschen with inspiring him to learn Contact Juggling.
Michael Moschen was very upset at this book when it was released.
Mr. Moschen created a routine and was doing a routine. He had no intentions of others learning, expanding, and then teaching other how to do Contact Juggling.

Contact Juggling’s roots go back centuries. China has had metal spheres for quite some time. These spheres have been used for spinning for quite some time.
Rolling of a ball has been around for quite some time as well.
One of the best ball rollers of the last century has been Francis Brunn. Mr. Brunn has shown the world his ability to roll the ball from his foot up his leg and back over his shoulder to his hand. Quite an impressive move.
The Harlem Globetrotters have been doing Contact Juggling for years as well in there RazMaTaz section of their show. They do arm rolls, behind the neck rolls and several other moves that are Contact Juggling.

source: http://www.contactjuggling.com/whatis.php

So the thing had been around for centuries… Geez.. why only now that it became quite popular? A week to learn and years to master? wow.. very impressive indeed if you happen to have mastered it yourself..

want to learn the basics?

“My First Lesson”
by Rich Shumaker

Before you start you will need a ball.
So check out this information about balls.
I recommend that you start with a lacrosse ball.
There are several other balls that will work just fine.
They include Stage Balls(specifically Mister Babache 80mm – 100mm)
Weighted Tennis Balls(weight the tennis ball by filling it and then reclosing it)
I started with an orange.
Now that you have a ball you want to place it in the cradle on the back of your hand.
To make a cradle depress your middle finger. This will create a 3 finger cradle.
Place the ball in the trough that forms on the back of the hand.
This was the way I was taught in my first lesson to make a cradle.
There are several other cradles that can be made. I will try to go over those in a future lesson.

Pointers before you start Step One:
1. Try to practice low or over a bed.
2. Try to practice with both hands.
3. Don’t skip steps. 1 then 2 then 3. Even if you are on 3 still start at 1 then go to 2 and then to 3. I always go back to step 1 a few times a week. Or I try to use it in finding new balance points or playing around with a new move.
4. Catch the ball with Control. Try not to bat the ball around.

Step One
Throw and Catch on the back of the hand.
Throw the ball about eye height.

Step Two
Throw and Catch in a Plane.
Imagine a brick wall in front of you.
Now throw and catch the ball in that brick wall plane.
From the back of the hand to the palm.

Step Three
Roll, Throw, Catch.
Roll the ball off of the tips of your fingers on the back of your hand.
Throw it in the air
Catch it in the palm of your hand.

Roll from the palm of your hand off the tips of your fingers.
Throw it.
Catch it on the back of the hand.

As you continue to do this your throws and catchs will come lower and lower.
Until one day it is a smooth roll over the finger tips.

The Back to Back Transfer
NOTE: Make sure to start the back to back transfer the day you start Step One.
Hold the ball in the cradle of one hand.
Roll the ball down the back of your hand towards the wrist.
Have the ball trasfer from one hand to the other near the wrist.
Now roll the ball up into the cradle on the other back of the hand.

Make sure the ball is travelling forward.
The ball should always roll forward for 2 reasons
1. When you move your hand out of the way if you are going backward the audience loses site of the ball for a split second.
2. If the ball went backwards you could run out of room and hit your body.

If you want to learn more visit this site… here is where i got the info..

http://www.contactjuggling.com/

Ciao enjoy

• The Mouse Potato
  thanks for reading as well..glad to have helped :)
• mechanical presswork
  Very nice description.Nice to read.Thanks for sharing!