Juggling Clubs

Series Summary

Juggling is a skill where objects such as balls, bowling pins or rings are thrown and caught in succession. The first known record of juggling is illustrated on a 2nd Millennium B.C.E. Egyptian tomb wall. Court jesters and court musicians were known to juggle in the Middle Ages in Europe and in the 18th century jugglers started performing in modern circuses. Today juggling is performed on stages across America and on cruise ships around the world but it is also a national past time enjoyed by Americans of almost all ages. From juggling balls, rings, or scarves, juggling can be learned without years of practice.

In these free video lessons you’ll learn how to juggle three clubs from Isaac Shivers, a juggling enthusiast and teacher. You will start with a basic one club toss. Once you’ve mastered that, you will learn how to juggle two clubs. From there, you will quickly advance to juggling three clubs. You will receive tips on equipment and correcting common problems. By the end of the series, you will know a variety of juggling patterns, including the basic cascade, over the top, reverse cascade, back cross and the challenging Mills Mess. You will also know tricks like double and triple spins, under the leg and flashes. With a little practice you’ll develop a skill to keep you and your friends entertained for hours.

Video Transcript

"In this clip we'll be talking about learning how to juggle free clubs. Now juggling clubs, I'm sure you've seen them if you've ever been to the circus or if you've seen jugglers on the street, anywhere like that, they're probably juggling with juggling clubs. Now, clubs are very different from balls in that they spin. You look at a club, this is a juggling club, it has a bulb at one end, usually it's out of plastic and then a handle here. Now every time you throw, your throw has to have some spin, like that. So it's a whole new dimension added to juggling. Instead of balls where you just have to get the throw right, now you have to get the throw and the spin right while you're juggling clubs. Juggling clubs are made specifically for jugglers. I don't recommend juggling with bowling pins, although they are kind of the same shape, there are many differences in actuality. You can get these juggling clubs online. There are a lot of good juggling stores all over the internet. You can also go to magic stores. They might carry some juggling clubs. If there are any juggling stores near you, some malls have a juggling store and some not. But if you do actually have a juggling and performance store, they'll have several different kinds of clubs. Clubs range anywhere from a couple of inches longer than this, and much fatter, to a little bit smaller. They give them different rates so they can spin at different rates, and make them different weights, so they might be wider and heavier. You can have different strengths of handle so that if they hit your hand it doesn't bruise as much. A whole lot of different variables. I recommend you go, find some clubs, see what you like and get those before I move on."