Juggler's Workshop

Copyright 1990 by Martin Frost & Michael Stillsell

Mill's Mess

 

In this Juggler's Workshop we'll be looking at some interesting three-ball patterns. One of these is Mill's Mess, a popular pattern well known for being difficult to learn.

This pattern was popularized by Steve Mills, juggler extraordinaire, and carries his name. Once you know Mill's Mess you can apply it to many other tricks to come up with new variations (Mill's Mess clawing, Mill's Mess behind the back, etc.).

 

If you'd like to learn this impressive pattern, work your way through the explanations below. If you skip a section you may not understand something later on. We begin with some tips from which anyone can benefit.

 

Hints on the Cascade

* Keep the balls in a plane about a foot in front of you. Figure 1 shows the imaginary plane in which the balls should stay. If you find yourself always walking when you juggle, you're throwing too far forward. Try juggling while facing a wall.

 

* Scoop the balls. Imagine a spear sticking out of the center of your chest (Fig. 1). As you catch each ball, throw it under the spear with a scooping motion of the wrist. This wrist motion is essential for a smooth pattern. Don't roll the balls off your fingertips as you throw them, because that makes it harder to keep them in the proper plane.

 

* Catch the balls at waist level. Don't reach up to catch the balls. Let them fall to about waist height before you catch them. This allows you to keep the pattern comfortably in front of your chest.

 

* Stretch your pattern. Practice making your juggling very high and slow. Then try juggling as low and fast as you can, using lots of wrist motion. Now juggle as wide as you can. Your goal is to have control over your pattern. Many jugglers settle on a pattern with the hands about a foot apart and with the balls going about as high as the chin. Others prefer a very tight, fast pattern where the balls are only inches apart. Choose your style but have control over your pattern.

 

* Look past your pattern. Practice juggling while walking, reading, watching T.V. You shouldn't have to look at the balls. Try juggling while watching yourself in a mirror.

 

Reverse Cascade

Remember that spear in your chest? Start throwing the balls over the spear with a scooping motion towards the outside - this is the reverse cascade. Each ball

is thrown over the ball being caught instead of under it. Try making one ball go over while the other two continue under. This is sometimes called juggler's tennis.

 

Under the Wrist

As each ball enters your left hand, carry it across your body and under your right wrist and throw it straight up for your right hand to catch. Then move the left hand back to the left for its next catch. Start by doing this every now and then and work up to doing it with every left hand throw. Then try it with your right hand.

 

The False Shower

This pattern looks like a shower because the balls follow each other around in a circle. If you learn this pattern in both directions, you'll be very close to Mill's Mess.

 

Begin by throwing every ball from the left hand under your right wrist, as you learned above. Now, instead of throwing each under­the-wrist ball straight up, throw it back to the left. This will force your right hand to go over to the left side to make the catch. But first, move your right hand over to the right to throw its ball over the ball from the left hand.

 

Both hands thus throw from the right side and catch on the left. with the balls all traveling in a counter-clockwise circle. Try to get the same arc with both hands' throws, to make a smooth even pattern. Do this until it seems easy. Then reverse the entire procedure and learn to make the balls go clockwise.