Contact juggling - Definition and Overview

Contact Juggling

Contact juggling is the art of juggling without letting the balls leave contact with one's body. Instead, they are rolled around each other (palmspinning), or along the arms and body (bodyrolling).

Alternatively, 'still ball' or 'isolations' which use a solid coloured, or often transparrent ball, involve the movement of the hands or arms around the ball, whilst the ball remains stationary. This gives the impression that the ball is fixed to the spot.

Contact juggling in its modern popular form originated with a juggling routine developed by Michael Moschen. Some of the various moves of the artform (headrolls, for example) existed long before that, but it was Moschen who pulled them together.

In the film Labyrinth, David Bowie (aided by the arms of Michael Moschen) is seen to contact juggle throughout the film.

External links

Online contact juggling communities

• Contact Juggling (.org) (http://contactjuggling.org/)
• Contact Juggling (.com) (http://www.contactjuggling.com/)

Popular contact jugglers

• Greg Maldonado (http://www.gregmaldonado.com/)
• Shifty (http://www.shiftys-spheres.com/)

Resources for learning

• Contact Juggling Part I - Instructional Video (http://www.gregmaldonado.com/ggear.htm)
• Contact Juggling Book (http://www.bobhughescompany.com/store/customer/product.php?productid=17702&cat=3&page=1&XCARTSESSID=da24b1c6f1623c8cd784ca07c92fce12)
• "My First Lesson" by Rich Shumaker (http://www.contactjuggling.com/lessonone.php)

Other links

• Contact Juggling Wiki (http://www.contactjuggling.com/blast/?blast=HitGo)
• Contact Juggling Resource Page (http://www.contactjuggling.com/blast/?blast=ContactJugglingResourcePage)