How to Do Contact Juggling

Contact juggling, also known as dynamic manipulation, is a form of juggling that involves keeping a ball in constant contact with your body while manipulating it with different body parts. It sounds more complicated than it really is, but without a little guidance to get you going it can be difficult to learn.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Start by finding a ball about the size of an orange that's solid and relatively heavy. It should feel hefty, but it should also fit easily in the palm of your hand.
2. Hold the ball on the backs of the fingers of your dominant hand. This is called the "cradle" and is the most basic and fundamental technique in contact juggling.
3. Roll the ball out of the cradle and catch it with the palm of your hand. Try to roll it over your fingertips, but if this seems too risky then roll it over the outer or inner edge of your palm. You can give it a little toss into the air if you want, which might help you have time to turn your hand over and catch it.
4. Practice rolling the ball out of your palm and into the cradle, using the same over-the-fingers or over-the-edge technique as you did when rolling the ball from the cradle to your palm.
5. Roll the ball back and forth between the cradle and the palm of your hand, trying to make the motion as smooth as possible. This is known as the "Butterfly" technique and is a classic intermediate technique in contact juggling.

Tips & Warnings

• Use your whole arm to move the ball instead of just your hand or wrist.
• Keep yourself from having to run after balls by practicing over a bed or somewhere low to the ground.
• Don't practice in areas filled with delicate or breakable objects. An especially wild ball can roll for some time and do a good deal of damage.