Juggling
Juggling is the art of repeatedly throwing several objects in the air and catching them, so that at least one object remains in the air at all times.
Common juggling props include balls, beanbags, rings, clubs, knives, and torches, although other props are occasionally used.
More generally, the definition of juggling may be stretched to include all forms of artful object manipulation. Such variations include prop spinning and balancing, diabolo or Chinese yo-yo, devil sticks, bounce juggling, cigar box manipulation, and contact juggling (where one or more balls are skillfully rolled across the hands and body).
The earliest known record of juggling is Egyptian, from the 15th Beni Hassan tomb of an unknown prince, dating from the middle kingdom period of about 1994-1781 B.C.
Modern independently verifiable records for number of objects juggled (defined as at least two catches per object - a "qualifying run") are 10 balls, 10 rings, and 7 clubs. The less stringent requirement (at least one catch per object - a "flash") has been reached with 12 balls (beanbags), 13 rings, and 9 sticks (or 8 traditional clubs). It has been said that the limits of human ability lie around the 14-ball mark, though evidence to back this up is understandably scarce.
Juggling involves doing the same thing repetitively. It is this uniformity that is difficult to master. The simplest trick to learn is the three-ball cascade. Other more difficult tricks can be described by a mathematical notation called siteswap.
Juggling is one of the circus arts.
Juggling patterns and tricks
See also:
