Best juggling resources?

December 26, 2005 3:45 PM

What are the best free online resources for 3-ball juggling? What about best books?
posted by Ekim Neems to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (12 answers total)

I don't know if this would qualify as one of the "best" books, but I learned to juggle three balls by reading "Juggling For the Complete Klutz." You can probably find a used copy for next to nothing.
posted by Gilbert at 3:59 PM on December 26, 2005

I second Gilbert.

Though believe it or not, three ball juggling is something you can just find yourself doing after a good afternoon of attempts, book ot not. Persistence is key. After a couple of hours you'll just "get it."

Get some filled "juggling bags" so you don't waste so much time picking up rolling balls.

Perhaps practice over a table. This is good for two reasons: No bending over so much to retrieve dropped bags, and it could cure you of "juggler's sprint," the condition where you are always walking forward to catch the ball that beginning jugglers invariably throw ahead of themselves.

A book won't hurt, though it wasn't needed for me.
posted by sourwookie at 4:15 PM on December 26, 2005

Beyond the Cascade by George Gillson is a classic book, as is The Encyclopedia of Ball Juggling.

There are also quite a few websites out there with catalogs of patterns.
posted by beowulf573 at 4:24 PM on December 26, 2005

Google for "juggling". It really works!
ideally before coming to AskMe

Juggling in Tokyo:
Juggling Club Malabaristas.
University of Tokyo juggling club. Wednesday, 6-8 PM, sometimes Friday or Saturday, 6-9 PM, see schedule. Komaba elementary school at Meguro-ku Tokyo. Asanuma Nobuhiko, e-mail [e-mail]
posted by Aknaton at 4:27 PM on December 26, 2005

Thanks guys. I also forgot to mention that I consider myself a "good" juggler in the sense that I can juggle 3-balls with extreme ease and pretty good speed. I'm just looking to expand my repetoir of tricks (I can only do a few).
posted by Ekim Neems at 4:28 PM on December 26, 2005

Yeah, that probably would have been a good thing to include in your original question.

I learned by reading the klutz book, but the trick list included in that one is really limited.
posted by cyphill at 5:29 PM on December 26, 2005

The Internet Juggling Database has hundreds of free videos for you to watch. If you like juggling, you will get lost there for hours.
posted by evoo at 7:35 PM on December 26, 2005

Sorry about that. I definitely should've mentioned that.

Basically, my local Barnes & Noble didn't have much to browse through, and besides a few Amazon.com reviews here and there, I haven't seen much in the way of book reviews. Any suggestions/descriptions are very appreciated!

And yes, I google'd (juggling, juggling patterns, etc), but was unfulfilled overall with my findings. I did find a few decent tutorials of Mills' Mess and Burke's Barrage, but I was just hoping maybe there's some little known sites that have somehow escaped Google's all-knowing spiders.

Thanks again!
posted by Ekim Neems at 7:37 PM on December 26, 2005

Gilbert and sourwookie have it. I learned from having a friend encourage me and my borrowing his copy of Klutz. The same book goes into detail on multiplexing and the patterns for x-number of balls, etc. Or at least it did 20 years ago; I have to assume it's been updated and improved upon since then!

Two more things you need to know, if you don't already: "a dropped ball is a sign of progress," and Michael Moschen, the freakin' patron saint of juggling. Find a tape of his "Great Performances."
posted by kimota at 10:51 PM on December 26, 2005

The Internet Juggling Database is great, and the Klutz book is also how I learned. Once you want to do some tricks, there are a couple classic books by Charlie Dancey to get, but they were published in the UK. I've seen them in many American juggling stores, however:

The classic book of ball tricks:
Encyclopaedia of Ball Juggling

Best way to learn clubs and club tricks:
Compendium of Club Juggling

(Also, Dave Finnman's The Complete Juggler is pretty good for beginning ball tricks)
posted by themadjuggler at 11:21 PM on December 26, 2005

For those interested, someone suggested the Wildcat Jugglers tutorial page. Lots of videos and good descriptions... check it out.
posted by Ekim Neems at 6:15 AM on December 27, 2005

I also learned how to juggle using Juggling For The Complete Klutz, as mentioned above.
posted by surferboy at 10:16 AM on December 27, 2005