The Transition Move

The transition move will let you switch between the two directions of the false shower. Practice this move with just one ball. Hold the ball in your right hand with your left hand empty, and cross your right wrist over your left as shown (Fig. 2).

 

Throw the ball from your crossed right hand {over} your imaginary spear toward your left hand. Now uncross and recross your hands so that your left wrist is on top and catch the ball in your left hand (Fig. 3). That's the transition move.

 

 

Throw the ball back in the same way: it goes over the spear, the hands are recrossed, and the ball is caught in the right hand. Practice this simple move until you understand it completely. When you are doing Mill's Mess, one ball will be doing exactly this and nothing else.

 

Mill's Mess Explained

Now we're up to our goal. To do Mill's Mess, you just alternate between the clockwise and the counter-clockwise false showers, using the above transition move to change directions.

 

Begin by doing a counter­clockwise false shower. This pattern should be very comfortable to you by now. Notice that your right hand is making all of its catches on the left side.

 

When you're ready, do a transition move starting with your right hand. Just take a ball caught by the right hand on the left side and throw it over the top from the left to the right, then uncross and recross your hands as we practiced in the transition move above.

 

If you only do one transition move, you will find that you have changed the direction of your false shower. Now do a transition move starting with your left hand. Keep changing the direction of your false shower. When you can change from one direction to the other continu­ously, without actually staying in a false shower, you are doing Mill's Mess.

 

Mill's Mess Pictorial

 

Figures 4 through 9 show Mill's Mess frame by frame. In each of these drawings, the ball close to the hand has just been thrown and the ball in the hand has just been caught. Notice that each hand cycles through the three balls, but each ball has its own unique path:

 

The white ball is thrown from a hand crossed on top, to the other hand, which is now crossed on top. This is the transition move.

 

The dark ball is thrown straight up from an uncrossed hand and caught by a hand crossed on the bottom.

 

The striped ball is thrown straight up from a hand crossed on the bottom and caught by an un­crossed hand. One more observation:

 

Notice that three balls in a row are thrown from the right side of the body (Figs. 4, 5, 6) and are sent in a counter-clockwise direction. The next three throws are from the left side of the body (Figs. 7, 8, 9) and are sent in a clockwise direction. The pattern then repeats. This is the false shower reversing after every three throws.

 

In Conclusion...

There's nothing physically difficult about Mill's Mess. It's just confusing. If you master the false shower in each direction, you should be able to succeed with Mill's Mess. Play around with it, have fun, and sooner or later it will start to make sense. Good luck! .:.

 

If you have comments on Mill's Mess or other Workshop items, you can reach the editors at: Juggler's Workshop, Palo Alto, CA  or give one of us a call.