Introduction

Series Summary

Evidence of juggling dates back to as early as 1700 - 1900 B.C.! They really didn't know that they were juggling though as this also may be the first recorded version of "hot potato" nevertheless wall paintings from this time period clearly show female dancers playing with balls in the air. Throughout the Middle Ages juggling was reduced to the level of the modern day mime and while today it is not necessarily a marketable talent it has grown to become quite a popular hobby and a great way to meet women! This year June 16, 2007 was World Juggling Day and there is now even an International Jugglers' Association. World records have also been established including juggling 10 balls! Don't worry in this free video series only 3 balls are used but it will be enough to impress your friends and loved ones.

Video Transcript

"EMIL LAMPRECHT: All right. Now, juggling three balls can be traced way back. It started in 1900 B.C. with the Egyptians. You move up another hundred years, you have some trace of Africans doing various juggling; also a big history in China where a lot of new props which are now very popular were developed and invented. Ball juggling, most people think it's pretty hard. Now, in truth it's not. In fact, if I can teach a whole group of six-year-old autistic children to do it, I'm pretty sure that you, using this video and determinedly practicing at home can probably teach yourself three balls and the tricks that I'm going to show you. Now, we're going to start with one ball and move on to two and then eventually three and then I will have a troubleshooting section where I'll describe some of the problems that usually come up when learning to juggle three balls and how to combat them. After that we'll move on to some tricks, explore some of the possibilities and then in other series, I can continue to show you more tricks and how to take the next step. Now, the juggling culture is a pretty tight little thing. There's not a whole lot of jugglers in the world but we do have a number of conventions that happen around the year including the International Juggling Association, the World Juggling Federation, the European Juggling Convention and a number of other smaller ones that happen at colleges especially in the Northeast and way out West in the kind of Washington area. So, let's get started."