Forums > Other Toys > Entry To Contact Juggling

Posted: 17th Nov 2009
Start with the Palm-Cradle Transfer and the Fingertip-Palm Transfer

https://www.contactjuggling.org/wiki/index.php/1_ball_tutorials

Posted: 18th Nov 2009
Alrighty, I always teach how to hold the ball on the back you your hand... arms... etc... you can already hold a ball in the palm of your hand, but the back of the hand is a new one...

Get used to throwing and catching on the back of your hand, and the inside elbow... Learn to walk around with it, learn to run etc...

Then start with butterfly, arm rolls and body rolls...

What you wanna also do is buy a copy of contact juggling Part 1 for starters, then Part 2, and somewhere in there buy a copy of IN ISOLATION, the most inspirational, awesome, wonderful performance DVD I've ever seen...

Hope that helps for now...

Cheers, Moka

Contact juggling was invented by dung beetles.

Posted: 18th Nov 2009
Heh, I'd disagree with both of the above - except for working on the cradle.

I never teach butterfly first, it's a surprisingly tricky move for a first move and actually isn't that impressive on it's own.

First think about if there's any area of CJ you'd particularly like to learn; body rolling, isolation/illusions and then go from there (I assume not multi-ball as you've only got one)

I tend to teach basic isolations first, just to get used to holding the ball and moving around and with the ball and it requires pretty much nothing in terms of hand strength, throwing, catching etc - and yet is still very visually effective and satisfying to learn.

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 18th Nov 2009
I actually have 2 balls, they were orriginally bought to make contact poi with, but I figured I should more than likley learn a bit of contact juggling first, had a little play around and found it to be quite thereputic so decided to pursue it a bit more than I thought I would want too.

But when I say I have no idea where to start, I mean I know absolutley nothing about CJ. I know what Isolations are through poi, and can assume what body rolls are, but other than that, not a dandy haha. I am essentually a 6 year old who has seen you do it in the park and asked you what it is

Originally Posted By: MokaAlrighty, I always teach how to hold the ball on the back you your hand... arms... etc... you can already hold a ball in the palm of your hand, but the back of the hand is a new one...

Get used to throwing and catching on the back of your hand, and the inside elbow... Learn to walk around with it, learn to run etc...


This makes a lot of sense for what I ultimatley wanted to learn it for in using it with poi.

Originally Posted By: DurbsI tend to teach basic isolations first, just to get used to holding the ball and moving around and with the ball and it requires pretty much nothing in terms of hand strength, throwing, catching etc - and yet is still very visually effective and satisfying to learn.

This also makes a lot of sense for what I orriginally wanted to learn for, but also what I want to do with it now.




He is doing a Butterfly first right?

I think I will give everything suggested a bash.

I can kinda do a butterfly with my strong hand. But it seems (similar to poi (IMO)) the best thing to do is learn the basic control in all the parts of your body?

"We were making castles in the sand: Now we swim in the seas that swept them away"

Posted: 18th Nov 2009
Sweet, I kinda have the cradle to palm transfer and been playing with the butterfly as I can see it being quite useful.

when it comes to learning to balance in different areas, are there any fundimental places I should be focusing my attention?

"We were making castles in the sand: Now we swim in the seas that swept them away"

Posted: 19th Nov 2009
Isolations in terms on CJ have the same concept as poi, but not really. The illusion is that you move your hands and it looks like the ball is staying in one place. Look up things like walks and the ever popular enigma trick. Tricks like those get you used to the weight of the ball. Work on the other things as well. Walk around with the ball on the back of your hand, flip it from front to back on all sides, pinky side, thumb side and over the top. I think the first set of moves I learned was the circle, its easy-ish and impressive.

Don't mind me, just passing through.

Posted: 5th Dec 2009
alot of the advice already stated is great but heres the place i learned

https://www.contactjuggling.org/wiki/index.php/1_ball_tutorials

that should give you some bearing to start from, and have fun on your contact juggling journey, and when you get serious i recommend getting an acrylic ASAP. the extra wieght helps getting muscle memory quicker. ill often go weeks with my grippy stage ball and then go to my heavy acrylic the next week.

Posted: 6th Dec 2009
yeah, Moka and Durbs are on the right track.

no point learning the butterfly first. Think of it as a transition, not a fundamental piece of contact juggling. Just a tool for going from one side of the hand to the other.

If you want to learn rolling, the easiest way is like Moka said, balance and catch the ball on loads of places on your body. this will get you used to being able to control the ball in places other than your hands. try your head, forehead, shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, feet, back of neck, your back... find a place you can hold the ball and explore how much movement you can comfortably do without dropping. then push it out of your 'comfort zone' and try to keep the balance. but there is a little more;

Make tracks and paths for the ball with and on your body, and roll the ball along. even if you push it with your hand to start it off, that's great. this bit gets you used to the positions your body needs to be in in order for the ball to roll smoothly from one place to the next. Don't worry about drops, just make a track, and send the ball along. your aim is to make the final destination without moving your track at all.

Put them both together, and you have body rolling.

If you want to learn isolations, and I mean learn them well, you're gonna need a lot of spatial and body awareness. Not to mention patience to practice little things over and over again until you're happy with the look. Practice things like speed control, moving the ball in a straight line, starting and stopping the movement... holding the ball in one spot whilst you walk/move around it, practice being a statue, slow motion, holding the ball between two fingers and making it look easy... Illusion and Mime are key here. One of the exercises I find most useful when wanting to play with illusion, is to stand still (Qi Gong style) for as long as you can. no movement, just concentrate on your breathing, and start to feel your mind becoming more aware of each individual body part as it screams for you to move it. don't give in. after longer than you can bear, everything around you goes into slow motion, you can feel exactly what muscles you are using to perform an action, hey, you can even feel the electrical impulses as you send them from your brain along your nervous system. you feel your heart beat, and even the blood flowing through your veins... I often end up feeling really euphorically high after this, and above all, super focused.

Don't get disheartened. Enjoy striving for perfection. make it into a little game with yourself, let this game bleed into your everyday life, but don't grow to hate failure. doing something wrong is as useful as doing it right, if you take it as a learning experience. contact juggling does end up looking less and less magical the more you do it; you become aware of all the tiny imperfections when your audience doesn't. Some things can take ages to learn, others a few seconds. the most important thing I ever discovered with contact, is to relax. like, really relax. only use the muscles that are ABSOLUTELY necessary to perform a move. relaxation makes it look like you are using less effort. Effortless = magic.

Empty your mind. Be formless, Shapeless, like Water.
Put Water into a cup, it becomes the cup, put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Water can flow, or it can Crash.
Be Water My Friend.

Posted: 6th Dec 2009
that is supreme advice dude thanks.

i just wanted too add a tip for body rolls. if you wet the ball and roll it across naked skin. it leaves a trail of wetness that you can feel as it evaporates. this was how i learned most of the rolls i do. you can simply guide the wet ball over your skin and get a "feel" for what it should feel like.

Posted: 13th Dec 2009
Originally Posted By: Learning_To_Cookbut don't grow to hate failure.

No such thing as faliure, just building the blocks slowly.

Massive thanks for the advice, really, really useful, this goes for everyone who has posted in here, I really do appreciate it. I have been playing with my balls a lot recently (lets keep this mature guys :P). I have had several poi breakthroughs so have been putting more time into that, but am definitely becoming a lot more comfortable with contact, I havn't been trying ot learn loads of stuff, but instead getting these basics down and feeling comfortable with them.

Will keep this updated with my progress
EDITED_BY: T-S-A (1260765078)

"We were making castles in the sand: Now we swim in the seas that swept them away"

Posted: 15th Dec 2009
cool dude, put up vids of your progress. its always fun to watch someone grow.