05 August 2006

Balls

I mentioned contact juggling in my last post.

For those that don't know what contact juggling is, go to your local video store and get out a copy of Labyrinth. Basically it's juggling with one shiny ball that never quite loses contact with your hand... or arm... or shoulder, any part of your body really.

Unlike normal juggling, where you can pretty much learn to do it with anything, you need the right kind of ball for it. If the ball is too light it will bounce off your hand too easily (stop sniggering). The balls in the picture below are ideal for normal juggling (if you drop them they don't bounce or roll away, and you drop them a lot), but they're no good for contact juggling as they don't roll.

The usual ball to use is about two and a half to three inches in diameter and made of acrylic. This looks like a crystal ball and when it's rolling around on your hand you don't really have any perception of it rolling. As a result, it looks like it's floating instead.

Anyway, I've always wanted to learn to contact juggle, ever since I saw the abovementioned movie starring David Bowie (it wasn't actually Bowie doing the juggling, the real juggler was standing behind him, hidden from view). So, in order that I can tick contact juggling off my 'to do' list, I've ordered a ball from here.

I'll keep you posted on my progress, or lack thereof.

By the way, I don't actually have a physical 'to do' list yet. One day I'll get around to doing that too.

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