The Carlo Method

The Carlo Method of Juggling
Link to Lesson 8
Preface

        Charles Lewis, who uses the name Carlo, developed the Carlo method of juggling. He had learned to juggle from Hovey Burgess in the late '60s. Hovey had been a busker in Europe, travelling with Bobby Jule. Carlo was so enthusiastic about juggling that he gave free juggling lessons at the Trinity Church Park at upper end of Wall St. in the financial district of New York City. He enjoyed teaching and tried different methods to discover what methods produced the best results. Hovey told him about the circus families in Europe; surely they must have a method that works. Carlo packed up and traveled extensively in Europe seeking out Circus families. His burning question to all of them: How do you teach your children to juggle? Carlo distilled the syntheses of all of these methods into a thin book that appeared from Vintage Press in 1973, The Juggling Book subtitled The Book on Teaching Yourself How to Juggle. This book started a landslide of juggling in the late 20 th Century. It went out of print and was forgotten because of other books, which were better marketed. Dave Finnegan from Juggle Bug is a good example. But The Carlo Method was the groundwork for Juggle Bug and all of the later books. I met Carlo at the juggling convention in 1979 in Amherst, Massachusetts. After, I gave him a few suggestions for the book; he seemed sad to report that the publisher was not planning to print any further editions.
        My history with juggling began in the summer of 1975. I met a man that could juggle, but he didn't know how to teach. Watching him was enough to convince me that I could juggle. I bought three balls and tried, without success, and after a week or two, I gave up. Six months later, I came across the Carlo Book. On the first page it said "Do not read ahead, take these lessons in order." I believed every word, followed every lesson. In one week, I could juggle three balls; in 18 months I could juggle with five. In 1978, I started to make a living with juggling. The following 3 years I traveled the East Coast of America, from Jamaica to Canada, as a street performer and learned from many other jugglers. Magicians are usually very secretive about their tricks, but jugglers are very open because, "You can't steal a juggling trick, you must earn it." In 1981, I became interested in computers and stopped traveling, but continuing to do about 50 shows a year in my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I went back to performing full-time in 1992, and because juggling was not the rare attraction it was earlier, I traveled to Europe and followed another fascination of mine, Languages. Today, I can do my show in English, French, Spanish, German and Greek.
        I am not a particularly fast learner, but with the Carlo method, I have become a determined believer that if some one has learned something, then I can too. Although it took me a week to learn 3 balls, I have taught people that have learned in 15 minutes. As Carlo says in his introduction: The best method would be if he were physically there, to see, and comment on the progress. But, because that was not possible, he laid a groundwork with which I could analyze my own mistakes and correct them; simple feedback and correction. I have with this method to learn many other things as well, from Slight of Hand to Foreign Languages.
        If you already juggle, good! But because the Carlo method is so deeply rooted in habit building, you should start this book from the beginning and work the exercises in order. They work!


The Introduction.

        First, you have to be convinced that you can juggle. Some people, when asked "Can you juggle?" simply say, "No." But remember, no one was ever born knowing how to juggle; everyone that juggles learned how, one time. So the answer to the question should be "Yes, I can juggle, but I never learned how." If you want to, you can. Some people are worried about a lack of so-called "Hand-Eye" coordination. Juggling builds this sort of coordination, so it is not a pre-requisite. As for physical limitations, I once taught juggling to a blind child at a school in St. Augustine Florida. After a show, he came up and showed me what he could already do. Instead of throwing them into the invisible air, he threw them to his shoulders so that he could feel where they were, making them easier to catch. Also, at the time I was juggling with balls filled with coins and easier to find when lost.
        You need to get a set of balls. The best balls available are dog balls from the pet store. These are made of hard India rubber and bounce very well. The best size for the average hand is 2 ½ inches. Because the rubber is heavy, the ball helps the hand close as it falls into the hand. If the balls are too light, they bounce out of the hand before they are caught. Beanbag style balls promote sloppy juggling, but maybe you can learn a little quicker with them because when they touch each other in the air, they don't fly away. Tennis balls filled with coins are also very good. The tennis balls can be found in the bushes near any tennis court. A slit is made with a knife, just large enough to let one coin pass through. Then, like a piggy bank, the coins stay inside. When the balls become dirty, just get more, they are free.
        Keep your balls as clean as you keep your hands.
Select a place that is free from distraction and has enough light. There, you should be able to stand facing a wall, about 3 feet away from it.
This book is not a novel, don't read ahead! These lessons must be learned in order because each one builds on information from the previous lesson.
        Read each lesson all the way through before beginning. In each lesson, there are given goals. These are achieved in small, reachable steps.
Counting with the voice is important because the voice is in the middle between the brain and the hands. When all thee move at once it reinforces learning. You only have to repeat a step 10 times, but here is the catch that makes the Carlo method work: "Ten times in a row, until you feel like you could do it forever."
First you try the step, when it succeeds the first time, that counts as "1!", say that out loud; notice it also sounds like "Won!". And you have won, you have achieved success one time. Try it again, if it succeeds the second time, that counts as "2". If on the third time it does not succeed, you must reset and the count will begin at "1", again. When you count as high as "10", you have to ask yourself, "Does it feel like I could do it forever?" If the answer is "No", do 10 more. If the answer is "Yes"; then you are ready to go on to the next lesson. It never has to be more than 10.
        Errors are difficult to see as moving objects tend to blur in the memory. The only way to see them is by "Freezing". This is the most important part of the feedback –correction method. Freezing on a dropped ball is easy to learn, but it goes against the intuition somehow, because the automatic reaction to a dropped ball is to chase it. Don't chase them, if you freeze correctly, you will learn to never loose them. We will see more about this in Lesson 1.
        Don't over do it! The mind is like a sponge; when "full", it can't soak up any more information until it dries out. A good sign that the mind is full, is that simple things that you could do before, are not working. This is sometimes difficult to see, because you get caught up in the desire to do it. Don't let frustration win, that is the worst way, because you repeat mistakes more than you repeat the successes. Failure is not pleasant, especially when you have to bend over to pick up the balls all the time. If this method is followed correctly, the balls will rarely be on the ground.
A note on practicing: If the mind is full, take a break, take walk, or do something else. When you come back, you will learn many times faster.
If you write with the left hand, don't bother to rethink everything to the other side. Juggling has nothing to do with left or right. After an object is thrown, it has no memory of where it started, left or right.

Lesson 1. Home Position

        To start off, we have to memorize were our body is, not were we think it is. We already know where we think it is, but how do we discover where it really is? Standing, facing the wall we begin with the eyes closed. Then wiggle the arms around a bit in the air, so that they feel free and loose. Slowly bring the arms into a position were they are parallel to each other and the ground, with the palms up. This is like holding a cafeteria tray of glasses filled with water, in the lower arms. This level, which for most people passes through the navel, is called the "Tray Plane". All of the throws are be made from the tray plane. The vertical plane that passes through the hands and goes as high as the eyes is called the "Picture Frame". In this sense, it is like holding a picture frame vertically in your hands. All the throws of cascade juggling happen in the frame area, not in front of it or behind it.
After you are sure you have the arms in the correct position, "Freeze!" that is, in a conscience effort, hold tightly onto that position. Now open your eyes. Remain "Frozen" and look at the actual position of the arms. Then slowly bring the arms into the position they should be, parallel with each other and the ground. By "slowly", I mean that this should take two or three seconds. This can be called "Thawing". But what is actually happening, is that the muscles are learning what they have to know in order to correct for the differences between where you think your body is, and where it actually is. This "Thawing" process is where the "body" learns, independently from the mind. Don't think about it, just Thaw correctly and the body learns all by itself.
        IF, still frozen, you open your eyes and notice that the arms are already in the right place. Instead of "Thawing", you can loudly count that as "1". Continue until you can do it 10 times in a row and feel like you can do it forever.

Lesson 2. The Pop

        Starting in the Home Position, with the palms up and a ball in the Right hand. Notice that the palm naturally forms a cup. You don't have to hold the ball with force; the ball just stays there because in a relaxed state the fingers curve slightly upward. The hand can be totally relaxed, using no energy at all, and the ball stays there in the cup. This is important because any wasted energy will be multiplied a thousand times. Every hand is a little different, but you will find a place in the center of the cup where the ball wants to stay. When you have found this point in the middle of the palm, you are ready to proceed.
        When you "Pop" the ball, the arm does not raise, just a small movement of the wrist while the fingers spread quickly, as wide as possible. This is a very sudden movement, and the hand relaxes immediately afterward. When the burst of energy is directly under the ball, the ball goes straight up in the air with out spinning. . This is similar to playing billiards, where the cue ball is shot with no spin. The number "1" is said simultaneously with the Pop. That is: the brain, the voice and the hand all "Pop" at the same time. Any energy that goes into the spin is wasted. And, as I said before, any wasted energy mounts up quickly. The goal of this lesson is to pop the ball to eye-level. Freeze when the ball touches the hand. Then slowly bring it back to the home position. The first few times it may not go very high. But, if it reaches eye-level, and you don't have to bring the hand back to home position, .the next count will be "2". Just up to 10, remember? Then repeat this with the other hand.
        The left hand often learns faster than the right hand because it does not have the habits associated with everyday things like opening doors and teeth brushing. Habits are what we are building here. A habit makes a physical motion happen automatically.
        Now, both hands can pop; and we can begin to use them together. The ball starts in the right hand and is popped to the left, at eye-level. You can see if it is spinning quiet easily. If not, put a piece of tape on the ball, so that the spin is easy to recognize. If you see it is always spinning in one direction, try to find a way to make it spin in the opposite direction. Somewhere in the middle, it will stop spinning and just seems to float in the air. Freeze on the catch, and slowly come back to home position before starting in the other direction. So the first one out of the right hand will be "1", and the first successful return with the left hand will be "2" Always begin the count with the right hand, because we are building a habit.

Lesson 3. The Basket

        When you take three balls into 2 hands, you notice immediately that one hand must have more balls than the other. We will always start with two balls in the right hand, because we are building a habit. The "Basket" is the name for how two balls in one hand are held. The little finger and the thumb hold the deeper ball. Try it, if this is really a problem then the balls are too big and you must get a smaller size before continuing. Notice: That with the little finger and the thumb busy holding the deeper ball, there are three fingers free for the other ball. This other ball is touched in four places, the three fingers and the deeper ball. This is very solid. Now, I will change the names of the balls. The deeper ball is now the sleeper ball; and the other ball is called the flyer. Now we go back to the last part of the 2nd lesson and send the ball back and forth right to left. The right sleeper and the left sleeper just sleep there. Don't forget to watch the spin and keep all the throws at eye-level. The flyer is caught in the basket, first with the three fingers and then brought in to gently touch the sleeper. If it touches the sleeper first, instead of the fingers, it flies away. Just ten times, huh?

Lesson 4. The Exchange

        OK, what have we learned? We can throw a ball alone, accurately from hand to hand, 10 times and feel like we can do it forever. We can throw the flyer, while the sleeper sleeps in the hand, and we can even catch the flyer without waking the sleeper. Good work! Now you have everything you need to juggle; the start, the left throw, the right throw, and the ending. That's all there is. But now we have to put these four things together. Once again, the voice will help.
This exercise consists of 2 throws: First, the throw out of the right basket toward the left hand. Second, when the flyer is at the halfway point (right in front of your nose, because it takes half of the time climbing and the other half descending, and are thrown at eye level) the normal throw from the end of lesson 2 comes out of the right hand. The first thought is "Ah! They will hit each other!" That's why the first ball is thrown a little wider than usual and second ball is thrown from a place closer to the center of the body, but still in the Tray Plane.
        Here, the voice helps again. This time the words are "Pop, Pop, Catch, Catch." Try this a few times. What you should hear is an even rhythm. "Pop--Pop--Catch--Catch". The balls pass each other halfway between the tray plane and eye level, staying in the picture frame.
If you hear, "Pop----Pop-Catch----Catch" then the second throw is too late. This is called a low exchange because the balls pass each other very close the to the tray plane. This is more difficult than an even exchange because the left hand must quickly recover from the throw for the first catch.
If you hear, "Pop-Pop-------Catch-Catch" then the second throw is too soon. This is called a high exchange and is more difficult because of the traffic problems close to top of the arcs.
If you hear, "Pop—Pop—Catch—Catch", then check your frozen position, and if everything is OK, then loudly say "1", it's your first success. If it works again say "2"...
The temptation exists to reach up and catch the balls before they get too far away. Fight against it! You can believe me when I say they will eventually come down. And, if you don't reach up for them, you will have more time.
At this point in the exercise it might be helpful to note that you can move your head from right to left so that you can hold focus on one ball one at a time. As the first ball goes up, the eyes follow it, almost till it reaches the left hand. That's when the second ball climbs past it in the other direction. The second ball, you can follow all the way to the hand.
Another interesting note is that after the first ball is thrown; the right hand has nothing to do until the second ball comes down into the waiting basket.

Lesson 5- The Third Throw...&Reset.

What we saw in lesson 4 is called the left exchange because it takes place over the left hand. The left hand did all the quick work of throwing and catching in a short time. The Law of Symmetry says that if you just did it with one hand, it is easy to do with the other. Because the left hand did the quick work, it will now be very easy to do with the right.
In the last lesson, we started with two balls in the right hand, did an exchange, and ended up with two in the right hand. In the time between the first throw from the right hand and the last catch, also with the right hand, the sleeper in the right hand did nothing at all.
In this lesson we go one step further. This time the sleeper from the right hand is thrown as the second ball reaches the midpoint in front of your nose. The last catch is into a left-handed basket. To start with, the voice does: "Throw-Throw-Throw-Catch."
After freezing, and returning to home position, notice that after it is all over, there are now two balls in the left hand. We are building a habit of starting with the right hand so we must do something to compensate. In the last part of lesson 3 we saw the solution, the left basket throws to the right basket, as you loudly say "Reset". Then, if everything is in order after the freeze, you proudly say "1", and are ready for the second.
After you succeed with the 10 times, and feel like you can do it forever, then comes a twist, new words. This time, repeat those 10 with the words, "Right-Left-Right-Catch----Reset". Unexpected difficulties here because the brain, voice, and hands all have built a habit together. Here the challenge is to change just one part of this integration.

Lesson 6. The Regular Cascade

The fourth throw is identical with the second; and sounds like "Right-Left-Right-Left-Catch", but there is no need to reset afterward, because it ends with two balls in the right hand. After the freeze, don't forget to say "1".
This time we change the words once more. Instead of "Left-Right-Left-Right-Catch", do "1","2","3","4","Catch", ten times in a row....
If you do five throws, don't forget to reset. "1","2","3","4","5","Catch"---"Reset"
At this point some people have recognized the pattern. Just count up to "10" and stop! Stopping is the most important part of juggling. Stopping must be practiced at least as often as starting! Stopping in a controlled way is the difference between you controlling the balls, and the balls controlling you. Show them who is boss! And, have you ever seen a juggler that lost his props all over the floor. Embarrassing, maybe not for him, but definitely for the public. So, it is better to have a controlled number of throws and stop, than to try to go forever and always fail. The difference between Success and Failure is stopping.
OK, if you want to consciously try to go forever, just to see if you can break your own record. I'll tell you my method. I count "1" up to "10" then, without stopping to juggle, I start again with "1" but instead of "10" the second time I say "20" and start over with "1". I found that this keeps the voice rhythm much better than somewhere trying to say "27", a four syllable word, during a pop.
Juggle to music, every beat has it's own height. This can be very beautiful.
At this time, try juggling in a mirror. The bathroom is best because the balls fall into the sink. After you can follow the balls in the mirror, look at your own face. See if you can smile, and you should, because after that you don't need to look at the balls any more, in the regular cascade. This is quite a phenomenon. You can read a newspaper taped to the wall or look out at the world. You can even close your eyes, and continue to juggle. Try blinking at first, and then longer and longer until the eyes stay shut. I learned to juggle clubs with my eyes closed, by keeping them closed, and after the freeze, I bent over to pick them up with my eyes closed, and that is how I learned to correct the spin problems.

Lesson 7. The Nine Shapes.

Home position has served us well! But now, a few changes, tray plane stays, that is every throw is made from the tray plane into the picture frame. The picture frame alone changes, because the hands can be held closer together, or farther apart; giving three possibilities; Narrow, Middle, and Wide. Also the height of the picture frame can change; giving Low, Medium, and High. The mixing of these qualities gives the nine shapes.
Up until now, you have worked exclusively with Medium-Middle (MM). Higher, with MH you have more time, and must wait longer, the problem is that the smallest error in throw is multiplied by the height. Sir Isaac Newton proved that 4 times higher gives you twice as much time. ML is the opposite, there is almost no time, but that is OK, because the need for accuracy is diminished. They can be juggled so low that they seem to roll over each other. With the hands narrower, the timing must be more accurate to help with traffic problems.
Of course, the extremes are the most difficult. NH can be made to look like just one column of balls. WH gives so much time that if it is high enough; you make it wider by jumping right and left to catch them. In WL the hands can be brought to shoulder height to allow them to be even farther apart.
How to get there is called a "Stretch", that is, starting from home position, throw a few throws in the new pattern, and before you loose it, bring them back to MM. Next time, do it again, but a little farther into the new pattern and quickly back to MM.

Lesson 8. The Full Shower Progression

The Full Shower Progression is a method to learn a specialized throw, one throw at a time. Many unbelievable juggling tricks are built with this method. In this example I use an Over-Throw, but it is applicable for any specialized throw. All of the special throws are like a figure on the background of "The Regular Cascade". That is to say, after a special throw is made, return to the regular cascade and cool down enough to try it again.
So, what is an Over-Throw? Up to now, we have learned The Regular Cascade with Under-Throws, that is, when a ball comes, we throw the next ball so that it passes under. The Over-Throw is different, in that, as the ball comes toward the hand the next ball is thrown over the incoming ball. It requires a Set-Up-Throw, that is, just before the Over-Throw on the right, the ball is thrown from the left hand a little lower than usual, but then the ball from the right hand has enough room to go over it.
To begin learning it, just try it! When it finally succeeds, and you have continued to juggle, say loudly "1". Continue juggling, when you feel confident, try it again, if it succeeds, say "2". After you have gotten to "10", and feel like you could do it forever, proceed.
At this point it is helpful if your balls are different colors, if they are not, mark one with a piece of tape, so that you can follow just one ball. Now, wait for that ball to be in the right hand and make it an Over-Throw. This begins a natural one to three rhythms, also called "Every Third".
After you can do 10 of those, forget the colors and do every second ball, also called "Every Other", once again build up to 10 of them. Finally comes "Every One" in which the right hand throws them all over and the left hand throws them all under. This is called the Half-Shower.
The next step is called "The Tennis Variation" and because of the law of Symmetry, mentioned above, the next step is quite easy. The right hand throws the ball over, when the left hand catches it, the left hand throws it back in an Over-Throw. Yes, of course, count to "10".
The ball going over the top, is The Tennis Ball, but what are those other two doing? That's called "Vamping", to practice this, you only need two balls. You begin juggling, with an "Imaginary Ball"; every time the "Imaginary Ball" is in your hand, you snap your fingers. This is also a good exercise for juggling strange objects. If the "Vamping" happens automatically, you can concentrate on juggling whatever strange objects you find. If you can vamp, and you can throw and catch the strange object. Then you can juggle two balls and the strange object, see?
Now that the Tennis Variation is there, that is the proof that you can do over throws on both sides.
Start with the regular cascade, when you are comfortable, throw one Right Over Throw, and one Left Over Throw, immediately afterward. And then return to the regular cascade. If that succeeds, count them. After making 10 Over-Throws, you should be able to see why the Full Shower of Over-Throws is called the Reverse Cascade. It looks exactly like the film is running backwards, from the Regular Cascade. I have known a few jugglers that taught themselves this method first, and for them it is easier.

Lesson 8a. More than Two Hands

        Juggling with other people is the test of everything you have taught yourself. To simplify the explanations, I will name the jugglers Alfred and Betty. Betty is a more solid juggler than Alfred, It balances out, because Betty can catch almost anything Alfred throws and Betty's throws are easy for Alfred to catch. There are two types of More that Two Hands tricks, Transfers and Passing. The Transfers, Give-Away and Take-Away are done with only three objects, cascade moves from one person to the other.

A Take-Away occurs as Alfred is juggling, Betty comes, and by placing her hands, palm up, above Alfred's hands, the balls fall into Betty's hands instead of his and she continues the Cascade. Alfred must continue as if nothing has happened. For Alfred, this takes a little practice because he must throw the last two balls even though the first one is missing. To help Alfred learn this, they play a game called Fake. In this game, Betty pretends she will take a ball, but doesn't. She is not allowed to touch the balls at all. Theoretically, Alfred should never loose them, and after a little practice, he doesn't.

        In the Give-Away, Betty and Alfred are facing each other, about 3 feet apart. Betty is juggling, and then, instead of throwing the balls to herself, she throws them to him. They leave her hands, Right-Left-Right, and Alfred catches them Right-Left-Right and continues to juggle. The balls cross in the air, thrown at eye level.
        Try the "Over The Head" Give-Away, where the receiver is standing behind the sender.
        The variations of Give-Away and Take-Away are limitless. One thing they all have in common, they are done with only three objects and the cascade is transferred from person to the other.

Lesson 8b. Passing

        The Throw In and Throw Out are from the other family of Four Handed juggling, called Passing. . Both jugglers count loud enough that the other can hear. This is very important because the mental Synchrony is critical.
To begin, Betty is standing, in the home position, with only two balls, one in each hand. Alfred, facing her, about 3 feet away, has one in the right hand, and throws it to Betty's left hand. When Betty sees the ball coming, she simply empties her left hand by throwing the ball to her right hand and beginning a cascade. After she is solid again, she throws a ball out, from her right hand to Alfred's left hand. She must stop and wait, as Alfred throws the ball from his left hand to his right, at eye level. This is important to learn here, because Alfred must later stay in synchrony. Then the cycle begins again, but just to "10". This is reversed so that Alfred learns it too.
In the next step, both of them have 3 balls and begin at the same time. As they begin, to help the synchronization, they raise both hands to eye level, looking at each other in the eye. When both are ready, all the hands drop to Home Position and they begin a cascade. They must watch each others right hands to hold on to the synchrony. This is In-Phase Juggling.
The next step is similar to the last step, except this time, Betty begins her cascade with two in the left hand. This is called Mirror Juggling, or Opposite Phase Juggling. With this method they can see how easy it is to hold synchrony.
So what have we learned? The Throw In and the Throw Out and Synchrony. Technically, that's all that is needed for Passing, so lets put them together. We just need some new words to "Count" aloud. Because the special throws are only with the right hand, we will count only the right hand throws. When the right hand throws to the other hand, that is a "Self", when the right hand throws to the other person, that is a "Pass".
After synchronizing, the juggling begins, much like In Phase Juggling. But instead of "Self, Self, Self, Self, Self, Self", we hear, "Self, Self, Pass, Self, Self, Stop". Planning to stop is even more important when juggling with more than two hands. When this works, congratulations to you both! This was your first synchronous pass together!
The next time comes "Self, Self, Pass, Self, Self, Pass, Self, Self, Stop", notice that the Stop is always "Self, Self, Stop" and the Start is always "Self, Self, Pass"
The Full Shower Progression begins with Every Third, "Self, Self, 1, Self, Self, 2......., Self, Self, 10, Self, Self, Stop". Every Other is counted the first time, "Self, Self, 1, Self, 2, Self, 3,......, Self, 10, Self, Self, Stop." Then do it again with "Self, Self, 1, and, 2, and, 3, and, 4,....., and, 10, Self, Self, Stop.
The Tennis Variation, and beyond, are all possible and left as an exercise for the reader.

Lesson 8c. More than 4 Hands

Alfred and Betty meet Charley, he is a better juggler and they set up a Feed with him. Alfred and Betty stand next to each other, and both are facing Charley. They all begin "Self, Self", but on the third throw, Alfred and Charley pass with each other, while Betty does a Self. On the fourth throw, Charley and Betty pass, while Alfred does a Self. To put it all together, Alfred and Betty are passing Every Other with Charley, and Charley is Passing Every One, but alternating between the Pass with Alfred, and the Pass with Betty. Charley is amused that the other two are counting so loud, but joins with them in counting, because it helps.
Line Passing, Alfred and Betty stand as if they were going to pass to each other. Behind Alfred is Charley, the strongest juggler. He is standing a little bit to the right of the line made by Alfred and Betty. Betty makes a quite normal pass to Alfred, in the direction of this left hand. Alfred passes his ball directly over the shoulder and it lands in Charlie's left hand. Charley makes a long throw, also at eye level, that reaches Betty's left hand easily.
Dawn and Edgar come, they both juggle, but are not as experienced as Alfred and Betty. First Dawn takes Betty's place at the feeding end of the line. Edgar watches as Dawn makes a normal pass to Betty, Betty passes over her shoulder to Alfred, who is passing over his shoulder to Charley. Then Edgar takes Dawn's place, and Dawn takes the place in the line in front of Betty. This method, of adding one at a time is much easier than trying to teach two people at once.
Charley goes home and works on his seven ball routine. The two pairs decide to try something together. Standing in a square, they see that they can pass across the middle or to the right or to the left.

Lesson 9. Clawing

So first, what is clawing? Instead of waiting for the ball to come down, it can be clawed out of the air. Just after the ball has passed the top of the arc, the hand leaves home position and with the palm down, grabs it out of the air. The hand returns with it to home position and turns palm up, for the next throw. This is another one that is good with The Full Shower Progression. When you can do a full shower of them, it looks like a frantic cat clawing at the air.

Lesson 10. Body Throws

A body throw is a throw that is made from some where else, other than Home position. To learn these, start with two in the right hand, and make the first throw from this new position. Then go into the regular Cascade. With this method you learn how to continue a juggle after the throw, first. Secondly, you make the body throw from with in the cascade. Here, the ability to freeze is very important.
Under the leg is probably the easiest to learn. You need a set-up throw from the left hand. That is, a throw that is made higher than the others, so that you have more time with the other hand. Synchronize the lifting of the leg with the throwing of the ball with the left hand. Then, as you had always been able to throw the ball with the right hand under the ball from the left hand. The leg is up there at the right time for the right hand to go under it. Don't forget you are throwing from a place lower than before.
"Behind the back" is better called "over the shoulder", don't forget to turn your head to see the ball at the earliest possible moment.

Lesson 11. Relocations

A relocation is when the hands have a new "Home" position. Slowly raising the right hand means that you have to throw higher with the left, and lower with the right. This is called "The Statue of Liberty". You can also juggle with one hand staying under the leg. Or even behind the back, the difficulty there is that you also have to catch it with your hand behind the back. Standing with the hands over a table you can tap against the table with the backs of the hands.
One of the most interesting relocations is with the hands over the head. In this variation, the head turns up and watches the balls fly between the hands. The hands are next to the ears, or higher, palm up.

Lesson 12. Stalls

        Stalling is probably the most intuitive procedure. Start with one ball in each hand and one on the table. Throw the ball out of the right hand and, as soon as the right hand is empty, pick up the ball from the table and begin a Cascade. Stop by placing a ball on the table with the left hand. Catch your breath and begin again. The time that the ball stays on the table will be shorter and shorter. A Full Shower Progression of this is very funny, because the balls just roll around on the table.
        Other places to stall:

On your head so that when it falls, it falls into the other hand.

Under your chin. Be careful not to throw it through your throat.

		In the arm pit. The ball from the left hand is placed under the right arm, later it falls into the right hand.
		In a basket of fruit, but the ball picked up with the left is an apple, next time an orange...

Lesson 13. Clubs

        Juggling with clubs is arguably easier than with balls because the club is easier to catch. First, you need a set of juggling clubs. Today, there are many manufacturers and they should be easy to find. If you are good at do-it-yourself projects, you can make a club quite easily from a Liter Coke bottle, 18" long dowel rods from the hardware store, a small rubber ball and 2 nails. The diameter of the dowel rod should big enough that it passes easily into the bottle with out much wiggle. The first nail goes through the center of the bottom of the bottle, holding the bottle onto the stick. The second holds the rubber ball onto the other end of the dowel, making a knob. A little bit of electrical tape to keep the dowel from wiggling in the bottle, and you have a set of clubs.
        When the club is held in the palm of the hand, the knob is held not far from the little finger and the bottle end extends out past the index-finger thumb end. To start with the club lies entirely in the tray plane. Notice that the most comfortable angle for the club is 45 degrees from the center. So, from the right hand, the knob end points to the navel, and the bottle end points 45 degrees to the right.
        The club is thrown to the left hand by making a small circle with the bottle end, where it dips, then points 45 degrees in the other direction and is thrown. It turns exactly once in the air. Because the throw is 45 degrees in the other direction, it is easy to catch in the other hand.
        The errors in spin are seen with the freeze. If the hand has to go up to catch the club before it has turned too much; then it had too much spin. If the hand must go down to catch the club, waiting for the handle, then there was not enough spin.
        As you begin with clubs, all the throws should be to a level higher than eye level, with a long slow spin. When the club is in the left hand, it also dips in a small circle in the other direction and turns to 45 degrees to the right before it is thrown. Work to "10".
        Now we have proven that you can throw one club from hand to hand. Now with 2 balls vamping, go back to Lesson 8, using the club as the strange object.
        After you get to "10" comes the fun part. Vamping with 2 clubs. Start with one club in each hand, and throw "Right-Left" then "Left-Right" when this is fast enough, count the finger snapping during the vamp, up to "10".
        Now you have everything you need to juggle three clubs except the basket. Here, two clubs are held in the right hand. They make an "X" in the center of the palm. For the first throw, the little finger and the thumb hold the sleeper, when the flyer goes. The catch into the basket is the tricky part. Here, as the flyer arrives, the hand is held wide open. The sleeper doesn't fall out because; as the flyer comes in, it hits it with a resounding "Clunk". The hand must be wide open to avoid that a finger comes between the flyer and the sleeper. It really hurts when a finger is stuck between the two clubs as they "Clunk".

Lesson 14. Club Variations

        Of course, all of the variations that you mastered with balls are possible with clubs. The Nine Shapes are all possible, and there is an added quality, "Angle". You can juggle the clubs pointing directly forward, so that they are always parallel with each other. Or, you can juggle so that the clubs point to the sides, passing the chest almost parallel to it. The Full Shower Progression is used to build many of variations. In club clawing, the club is grabbed out of the air after it has spun only ¾ of a turn. At that time, the knob is pointing straight up.
        The clubs can also be juggled by catching and throwing the bottle end, this variation does not work well with torches, without gloves.
        There is a precise energy balance between the height and the speed of spin in a club throw. If you throw it higher, the spin must be slower, to accommodate for the extra time. If you throw lower, the spin must be faster, so that the club is pointing to you as it passes the Tray Plane. This balance is much more important with the Double Spin. In the Double spin, the club is thrown higher, with more spin, so that it turns exactly two times before it returns to the Tray Plane.

Lesson 15. Four Balls

        Four balls has different rhythms than three objects. The original power of the beauty of this mystical rhythm of three should be exploited to learn 3 clubs before starting with four balls. It never comes again.
        To begin juggling 4 balls we go back to Lesson 8, where we started with Over Throws. The difference this time is, that instead of an Over Throw, we begin with the Straight Up Throw. It helps to use an object in the background, like the corner of the room, to help judge how vertical it is. Vertical is vertical, this is an absolute quality. When the ball returns to the hand in the home position the hand has not moved.
After the right hand makes a Straight Up Throw, the ball coming from the left is quickly returned to the left and then the juggling continues. Building with the Full Shower Progressing has some limitations; for example, in the Tennis Variation, every ball makes a Straight Up throw, the right staying on the right, the left staying on the left. The middle ball goes up and down in a straight line, and the hands move back and forth under it.
        Next comes the Parallel Throw. This is where the right and the left hand throw Straight Up throws at the same time. The middle ball goes up and down in a straight line, and the hands move back and forth under it, just like the Tennis Variation of the Straight Up throw. In order to learn the Parallel Throw, start with only two balls and throw them parallel. Think about the line between the two balls. This line should remain parallel with the ground, and should not rotate in any way. When the Parallel throw with three balls works, it is time to work on two in one hand.
Two in One Hand (2in1) is simply two vertical over throws next to each other. Both balls remain in the picture frame, they pass each other side by side, much like elevators. When you get to "10" on both sides, you are ready for the next Lesson.

Lesson 16. Time Separation and Space Separation

        There are two ways to think about Four Balls, and both must be explored before putting them together. The Parallel Throws show Time Separation, that is, the two balls share the same time slot. 2in1 shows Space Separation, because the two balls are confined to one side or the other. All of the problems in juggling four balls can be analyzed in one of these two ways.
        Up until now, 2in1 was restricted to "Elevators", that is, each ball makes a Straight Up Throw. Now, we can explore the other four possible patterns with 2in1. They are Left Circle, Right Circle, Umbrella and Fork. In the Circle patterns the balls leave on one side of the hand and return on the other. The Umbrella and the Fork are basically transition forms between the two circles. In the Umbrella, one ball goes up and down in a Straight Up throw, the other ball hops back and forth from the right to left, over the other. The Fork also has one ball that goes up and down in the Straight Up Throw, the other ball shuffles quickly between a Straight Up Throw on the left side of the first ball, and a Straight Up Throw on the right.
        That makes five possible forms for 2in1, when you have mastered them in both hands, you now have the ability to do 25 different forms with Four Balls! Make a chart, and put an X on each one after you have done it.

Lesson 17. The Alternating Rhythm

        Up to now, all of the Four Ball juggling was done in the Parallel Rhythm. In the Parallel Rhythm, time and space separation make the juggling forms easier to correct, and build. In the Alternating Rhythm the balls are not thrown at the same time, but are staggered, one after the other. With Three Balls the Left-Right timing is determined by the height of the throws as we saw by juggling to music. But now, the Right-Left timing must come from within, to keep it from sliding back into the Parallel Rhythm.
        There is another pattern worth learning here, the Criss-Cross. In this pattern the balls leave the hands at almost the same time, in the direction of the other hand. To keep them from colliding, one is thrown earlier, and a little bit higher. This can be repeated, because the balls return to the hands. Don't forget, just "10" times.

Lesson 18. Five Balls.

        Start with Three Balls in the Medium Low pattern. Make three high throws all to exactly the same height, about a foot over the head, Right-Left-Right. Wait, and catch them again, one at a time, Left-Right-Left and continue the Medium Low pattern. This is called a Three Ball Flash. For an instant, the hands are empty, and you can clap your hands. Build to "10".
In the next step, instead of clapping the hands together, snap the fingers in the rhythm, that is, the high throws leave the hands "Right-Left-Right", in waiting time, the hands snap "Left-Right", then the balls return "Left-Right-Left" and the juggling continues. Now we have everything we need to juggle Five Balls, except the starting and stopping.
The Basket works for holding two balls in one hand, three balls in one hand uses the Grab. Every hand is different, all I can tell you, is that after the first ball is thrown, the other two should make a Basket form. Some people find it more comfortable to switch to slightly smaller balls here, 2 ¼ inch maybe.
Now, back to Home Position, the Tray plane remains the same, but the Picture Frame goes higher up. The balls will be thrown about a foot higher than eye level. We have Five Balls in the hands, the left has a Basket, and the right a Grab. Begin throwing just one ball from hand to hand, now with two sleepers in each hand.
You have already done the first three throws with only three balls in the hands. The adjustment to having five in the hands is that the weight of the balls and the awkwardness of throwing one of the balls out of a grab.

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