Hi I’m interested in throwing things around and sometimes catching them. How would you suggest I learn this dark art?
I know “practice” of course but I don’t have the basic technique yet. Please recommend me some good videos on learning juggling and what basic gear I need. Thanks
4 Comments
snue@radikal.social · 6 pts · 118d
Sergio@piefed.social · 1 pts · 118d
"Looking at youtube" is the right answer. I have some older friends who are longtime jugglers and they say online video dramatically improved juggling worldwide, bc now it's easy to show new tricks, prove "runs", teach new people, etc. Everyone learns differently, so just check out youtube "how to juggle" videos until you find one that's right for you. BTW if you don't have beanbags, tangerines are about the right size and weight, IMHO.
In the US most cities and many larger college campuses have groups of jugglers who get together. Most groups welcome new jugglers and will let you try out different juggling balls and will give you tips.
NeptuneOrbit@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 118d
I learned as a small child and I think it went something like this:
Start with one ball. Hold your hands at just below chest height, elbows bent. Toss the ball in a nice arc about eye level or so to the other hand. Repeat. Repeat. Get a nice gentle toss. Catch. Keep doing this tile it's rote. Practice this. A lot.
Add a second ball once you have 1 ball down pat. Hold both balls, one in each hand. Toss the one as before and as it gets to its peak, toss the second ball. Keep this going. Practice is. Nice even arcs just about eye height or so.
Add in the third ball. Two in your dominant hand and the third in your other. Every time a ball is at the top of your very well practiced arc, throw one from the other hand.
I learned this from a book in the 90s. Lots of practice. The right ball is important. Bean bags work very well. Tennis balls are too light. Lacrosse a little too heavy. Eggs are great except for the mess.
Time for me to try juggling again for the first time in ten years.
My fave is the two in one hand, and switching back and forth from three balls, to two in one hand. Never mastered doing two with my left though.
Bluegrass_Addict@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 118d
there is no real technique. it's all hand-eye coordination. throw, catch-throw, catch-throw and repeat
voik@ttrpg.network · 2 pts · 118d
All right, I am not an expert juggler by any sense, but I did manage to pick the basics up. I'm sure you can find better videos and materials online, but whatever, maybe it will be helpful anyway.
For what you're actually throwing around, I found beanbags were by far the easiest. Good weight and much more forgiving than balls or sticks or chainsaws or what have you.
As far as actually learning the technique, the thing that did it for me was have someone help you. Get someone to stand across from you, and when you make the first toss, have them catch the beanbag and just hold it in midair. That gives you time to think about where your hands need to go next. Helps if they know how to juggle, but not strictly necessary.
Do that a couple of times until you don't have to think as long about where your hands are going on each toss. When you start hitting that point, have them hold on to the beanbag for less time. Keep reducing the time they are holding it for you until they are barely hanging on for more than a fraction of a second.
(just realised this presupposes you know what the basic pattern is... hold two bags in one hand and one bag in the other. With the hand that has two, throw one to your friend. They will drop it into your other hand. That hand has to both throw its bag and catch the one your friend dropped. Then you do the same thing on the other side, and that's it!)
At that point, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to have them drop out of the process entirely.
Took me about 20 minutes to go from zero to able to do it this way. Obviously there's much further you can go, but that at least helped me break the initial barrier.
Good luck!