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Page 30 Summer 1990
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The
Drop-Kick-Up Once
you have mastered the basic kick-up, you're ready for the
drop-kick-up. As the name implies, you will be dropping a club from
a regular cascade and kicking it back into your pattern. This is a
difficult move, so first we'll work on just the new part - the drop.
Try to drop a club from a regular cascade into the position shown in
Fig. 3. There are two choices for the type of drop: the flat drop
and the trickier spin drop. The
Flat Drop As
you catch a club in your left hand, carry it downward and drop it
onto your right foot (Fig. 5). Raise your toes and move your foot
forward a bit. You may want to bend your body a
little to reduce the distance of the drop. The club should be almost
parallel with the floor with the fat end slightly lower.
If
the club lands on your foot, stop for a moment. You
should
have a club in each hand and one on your foot. Adjust the club on
your foot by moving your leg. You may need to pivot clockwise on
your heel in order to "lock" the club into the right
position. Now kick it up to your right hand and juggle. Repeat this
exercise until you can drop the club into the correct position each
time with no adjustments.
When
you are comfortable with the flat drop, try to kick the club up
right away with as little pause as you can. Keep doing it with less
"ground time" until the ,club doesn't touch the ground at
all. It makes contact with your foot about an inch from the ground
and goes right back into the air to your hand. You will find that if
you raise your foot a little higher and then allow it to
"give" as it contacts the club, the motion will be much
smoother and the club won't tend to bounce off your foot. The
Spin Drop Just
give the club one spin as it leaves your left hand toward your right
foot. This is more difficult than the flat drop, but you learn it
the same way. At first, just try to get it to land on your foot,
then try to kick it up with as little ground time as possible.
Variations PASSING
- KICK UP A PASS · When you're passing, it's very convenient to be
able to kick a dropped club to your partner. Or you can kick up an
extra club to go into passing seven clubs (or more!). In either case,
the technique is the same as before, using your left foot to roll the
club onto your right foot You may find it hard initially to do this
while you're still passing the other clubs. But with practice it will
become more automatic to do these two things at once. The kick-up
itself may be easier if you step toward your partner on the left as
you kick with the right.
PASSING
- KICK UP A SELF · A good looking trick is to kick up to your own
right hand while passing, say to get a dropped club back into the
pattern. The trick is the timing of the kick. You should kick to your
right hand when your left hand is "throwing the hole"
(created by the dropped club) to your right hand. You'll make a pass
with your right hand as you catch the kick-up. UNDER
THE LEG. Just before your left hand drops a club flat to the right
foot, throw a club under the right leg with your right hand. Or throw
the club from the left hand under either the left leg or the right
leg, but with a spin and directly onto the right foot
HIGH
KICK-UPS · Kick the club up for a double or triple spin or more. Try
to pirouette before catching it.
BEHIND
THE BACK · Make a left hand throw behind the back so that the club
spins once and comes around the body to land on the right foot.
USE
BOTH FEET · Mostly we've been describing kick-ups with the right
foot, but obviously you can and should do the same things with your
left. Learn them both at the same timeit's a lot easier than going
through the whole process twice. In
Conclusion... Kick-ups can take a while to master, but they open up a whole new world of possibilities and are well worth the trouble of learning if just for all the bending over they can save you. Just take it a step at a time and be persistent and you will get better. Have fun!
(If
you have comments on kick-ups or other Workshop items, you can reach
the editors at: Juggler's Workshop, Palo Alto, CA 94303; or give
one of us a call: Marlin Frost or Michael Stillwell.)
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