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Clawing
by
Steve Stafford
"Clawing"
is the act of grabbing a ball out of the air with the hand
held palm down. The first key to this initially awkward move
is knowing when to grab the ball. The best time is when the
ball is at the top of its arc. At this instant it is
stationary and most easily plucked out of the air, palm
down.
The
second key is timing the release of the ball. In regular
cascade juggling, the hand is under the ball and the release
timing is somewhat flexible. But in clawing the hand is
always above the ball. If you release too soon the ball will
sail away in front of you, too late and i! will fly over
your shoulder or hit you in the face. It's a very different
feeling from the usual underhand toss, you must move your
hand up rapidly, then open it and pull it out of the ball's
way.
Practice
first with one ball, clawing it from hand to hand. As
always, the pattern should stay within a vertical plane..
The
next step is not clawing with two
balls, but clawing with only one hand while juggling a three
ball cascade. At first you can claw just an occasional ball
while keeping the cascade under control. Next, claw two
adjacent throws, right-left. Another good exercise is the
two-ball exchange, each clawed, concentrating on perfect
releases. The goal, of course, is to claw every throw with
both hands.
A
common comic use of the claw in performance has been the
Internal Revenue Service gag. The performer explains how
taxes are rising by saying that in the old days the IRS just
took a little (claw a ball occasionally while saying, "Gimmie!).
With time, however, taxes increased (claw two and say,
"Gimmie,gimmie!"). Now, says the performer, it
seems they want everything you have (continuous claw and
emphatic "Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!).
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Tricks
by
Joey Jordan
It
is important to note that a proper pirouette is a turn on one
leg and not a jump.
Beginners
may find the jump faster, but with practice the spin is
actually faster and can get you around more times if multiple
spins are your goal.
Find
which leg is more comfortable to turn on. An inside pirouette
turns you counter-clockwise on your left leg, and I'll discuss
the mechanics from this point of view. To begin the inside
spin, place the left foot slightly behind the right with your
toes pointing outward. Sit slightly on your left hip and hold
your body straight, as if there were a string running up your
spine.
Bend
your left arm in front of your chest and hold your right arm
out to the side. Your eyes should focus on a spot directly in
front of you at head level.
To
begin the turn, throw your right arm across your body as if
you were making a roundhouse punch. As you begin to turn, pull
your right foot up so that the toes touch your left leg
between the knee and ankle. At the same time, pull your body
up with that imaginary string.
The
focus spot is the key. Your head should be the last part of
your body to turn and the first to get around! Watch that spot
as long as you can, looking over your shoulder as your turn,
but snap you head around quickly when necessary and find the
original spot. When pirouettes are done with props in the air,
the focus spot for your eyes becomes the props. To end
smoothly, place your raised right leg on the ground and come
to a complete stop.
If
you find yourself falling at the finish, adjust your beginning
stance, make sure you are spotting, throw your weight in and
up rather than outward, and don't spin too fast. Remember,
pirouettes are useful stylish moves, but should not be
overdone. Happy turning!
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Multiplex
made easy
by
Larry Vaksman
.
The
last article on multiplex described juggling pairs of balls almost
as if a pair were one. Split
multiplex actually requires much less skill!
Step
1. Place two balls in one hand. one held with the fingertips and one
by the palm. Throw them both so that the fingertip ball travels
higher and crosses to the other hand. The lower ball travels
straight up and back down to the same hand. Try twisting your hand
as you throw so that the fingertips point toward t~ other hand.
Step
2. Start thusly: The
left hand tosses its single ball to the
right hand, which holds the pair to be multiplexed. Wait until the
instant that this single ball passes its peak, then the right hand
throws the pair as in step 1.
The
right hand catches the ball coming in from the left in the palm. A
nanosecond later the right fingertips catch the ball tossed
straight up out of the right palm. Then the uppermost of the
multiplexed pair will land in the left palm. Notice you still have
one ball in the left and two in the right.
Step
3. Put two balls in each hand. Repeat step 2, but when the fingertip
toss from the right hand comes down toward the left hand, throw the
remaining left hand ball across to the right. This restarts the
cycle. Note that the left hand will juggle as in a normal three ball
cascade, while the right hand will throw and split a multiplex pair
each time.
Step
4. Learn to throw and split pairs from the left hand, too.
Step
5. Juggle five balls by throwing split pairs with each hand each
throw . You can do six and seven in split multiplex also by learning
to throw three at a time. Send one to the other hand and let two
return to the throwing hand.
To
do six, throw trios with one hand and pairs with the other. With
each hand tossing trios, you can do seven! Have fun working on
numbers the easy way!
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