Secrets From A Pro To Help Your Technique

By Dick Franco

 

Rehearsal sessions in excess of five hours per day are necessary to become a truly proficient juggler. I have often found that after an hour or so of intense practice, I would tend to lose concentration and sometimes waste thirty minutes or more not giving a trick my full attention.

 

To prevent this, I often stop periodically to wash hands and face with cold water and do some brief stretching exercises. Also, I try to vary the props and tricks for the session, not dwelling on anyone trick for a long period of time, as I believe it more beneficial to come back to a trick three or four times rather than spend an hour on it with little progress.

 

Variety is the key to an effective public performance. Among jugglers, the difference between one trick and the next, no matter how subtle, is easily dis­cernable to their trained eyes and fully appreciated. With a normal audience, however, this is not the case.

 

I recall a bit of advice I read in a very old issue of the IJA Newsletter that I have always applied to my own performances. I rarely arrange a routine with similar tricks grouped closely together. I mix them so that a high trick would follow a low trick, then a behind-the-back trick followed by maybe a floor bounce.

 

Reasons being that even though the audience does not know exactly what you are doing, they are aware that you are constantly doing something different due to the drastic changes of body position.

 

A single or double pirouette is a valuable and easily learned tool for the juggler putting together a routine. I personally use them as connecting bridges between one intricate routine and the next. It is usually the last ball of a par­ticular routine that gets thrown high while the pirouette is performed, then when it comes down the same ball is the first ball of the new pattern.

 

A high throw with a pirouette serves as a good breathing space to give you time to gather your thoughts for the next "piece of business, " as Bobby May used to say.

 

Juggling two balls in each hand is quite easy, but when all four at once are tried, problems sometimes begin. When juggling two balls in the right hand, the natural tendency is for the pattern to move to the left. When two are juggled in the left hand, the tendency is to move right. When combined, you have a tendency for collision in the middle!

 

A good exercise to try utilizes a household door. Open the door and stand with the door edge against your chest and each arm extended on either side of the door. Practice each hand independently until you are able to move the pattern of each hand away from the door. Then back up a little bit and try both hands. I think you'll discover immediate improvement.

 

Dick Franco, former IJA President and Convention Chairman, did not begin juggling until age 19.  But in December 1980, he won a Silver Clown award at the 7th Monte Carlo Circus Festival.  In the photo below,, Princess Grace presents him the award.  Carlene, his wife and assistant, is at his side.  The couple is now appearing at the Hilton Hotel in Reno, Nevada.