The first role (Hovey's own) in his pattern has four consecutive passes - inside, inside, outside, outside (RLRL) - and then two selves (RL) (see Fig. 1).

The second role (originally Larry Pisani's) also has four consecutive passes, but it starts with only one pass (R - outside) and then two selves (LR). From there on, it alternates four passes - inside, inside, outside, outside (LRLR) - and two selves (LR) (see Fig. 2). This role is actually the mirror image of the first role, except for starting at a different place in the sequence; in one the consecutive passes are RL and in the other they are LR.

The third role (originally Judy Finelli's) is distinctly different from the first two since there are never four passes in a row. The third person has a self (R) followed by two passes - outside, inside (LR). Then an­other self (L) and two more passes - outside, inside (RL) (see Fig. 3). Each pair of consecutive passes is thrown to one person; the first pair goes to the person on the left ("Hovey") and the second pair goes to the person on the right ("Larry"). Note that the first three throws and the second three are mirror images of each other.

Hovey says that he  and his partners never got further than about twice through the pattern back in the 1970s.

 

With the aid of modern clubs and modern left­handed passing experiences, Hovey, Laurie, Epstein and I managed to get through three repetitions of the cycle at Leeds after Hovey had taught it to us. 

 

Public Nightmares

Through some unknown route down from the original four dreamers, "Hovey's Nightmare" seems to have become known as a 6-count triangle with everyone doing pass-pass-self and with an exchange between two jugglers on each count. As in Hovey's original version, after six counts, each person has thrown one club to each of the six hands.

 

In fact, there are two patterns that fit this description. One was published as Hovey's Nightmare by Dingman in Patterns. The book suggests doing both the Nightmare and a variation, namely doing the Nightmare backwards to get "a reverse nightmare," which is in fact the pattern published nine months ago in Juggler's Workshop. The difference between these two variations is simple. They are mirror images of each other. In both, the sequence for everyone is: inside, inside, self, outside, outside, self. In one, the two con­secutive inside passes are done right, left. In the other they are done left, right.

 

These variations of the original Nightmare may have come about because someone relaying the pattern knew only that one role did pass-pass-self and thought that the other two roles were the same. We may never know for sure the exact derivation. Perhaps this variation survived by itself because Hovey's original version was harder to remember. Well, just as we help some endangered species of life to survive, we're giving Hovey's Original a new breath of life now. 

 

The Collected Nightmares

It turns out that there are actually eight distinct 6-count triangles in which each person throws to all six hands once each cycle, with each count having two people exchanging clubs. I'll call these patterns (which are listed in Fig. 4) the Collected Nightmares.

 

At each count in a triangle pattern, you have three possible hands to throw to. You can make an inside pass, an outside pass or a self. In Fig. 4 strings of six letters show the six throws for each of the three jugglers (whom we'll call A, B and C) in each pattern. "I" means an inside throw, "0" an outside throw, and "s" a self. The six letters always start with a right hand throw and alternate between right and left throws.

Note that I don't care where these patterns are actually started within the six counts, although I always notate them starting with a right. Starting in the middle with the appropriate hand doesn't change the pattern. So II00ss is the same as OOssII and ssIIOO, but these are different From I00ssl, OssIIO, and sIIOOs, which all represent the mirror image of IIOOss. This is because if you shift the string over by one position, all the rights become lefts and vice versa (remember that the first letter represents a right).

 

The Possible Roles in the Collected Nightmares

Since in Fig. 4 each of Nightmares 1 to 6 is comprised of three people doing the same thing, those six patterns represent only six different roles for you to learn as a passer.

 

On the other hand, each of the other two patterns, Hovey's Original and Hovey's Opposite, is made up of three different parts, thus providing a total of six more roles for you to learn. That makes a total of twelve individual sequences for you to learn to cover the whole nightmar­ish collection.

 

Of these twelve roles, those from nightmares 1 and 2 are mirror images, as are those from 3 and 4 as well as 5 and 6. In each of 7 and 8, the first two roles are mirror images of each other, and the third role is its own mirror image.

 

If you consider pairs of roles like OIIOss and IOOIss to be sort of equivalent for learning purposes, and if you assume that mirror image roles are easy to learn, you're left with only these four role types to learn to master all eight of the Collected Nightmares: OIIOss (for 1 through 4), IIsOOs (for 5 and 6), and IIOOss and sOIsOl (for 7 and 8). Now just find two other day-dreamers and get to work!

 

Nightmare Comments

When I described to Hovey Burgess the versions of Hovey's Nightmare that Juggler's Workshop and Patterns had described in the past, he concluded that those versions actually invoked more of the "spirit" that he was shooting for in his original version.. This is because the sequence IIsOOs is symmetric with respect to inside and outside passes. Hovey says this repeating pass-pass-self was what he was looking for in his creation. I, on the other hand, like the fact that Hovey's version involves three different roles that you get to learn in doing the three corners in his pattern - that's as good for the individual as having three different patterns created.

 

In the above Collected Nightmares, you may realize that if you do anyone of these patterns, you really aren't doing a balanced sequence. For instance you'll do something like IIssOO starting with the right, but never starting with the left. So for a symmetric challenge, try alternating between two consecutive nightmares in Fig. 4, such as between 5 and 6 or between 7 and 8, switching after every six counts. This will give you an ultimate 12-count nightmare. Fortunately, I won't even begin to suggest that you should try doing all eight nightmares in sequence, or worse, all eight including enough repetitions so that you can all do all 12 individual roles. That would be a tough 72-count cycle to remember.

 

If you have any comments or suggestions for Juggler's Workshop, write to: Juggler's Workshop, Palo Alto, CA or call Martin Frost.