The very first episode of “Contact” is here!

Show notes to follow in the next few days on the blog.

Contact Episode 1

I have been hard at work designing a podcast for contact jugglers!  Yep, as per my posts in the .org forums (Clicky me if you didn’t see them!) the podcast is in full swing.

I really don’t have a lot of time to chat about it here on my blog so click on over there and read all about it!

As for my progression, I have been trying to make my butterfly’s solid and fluid.  In my believe that is a very good place to start.  smooth?  Solid? Looks great?  Move on…

Whats next?  Well, I will be learning 3 to 4 transitions from the butterfly…

Palm to palm

Heel to heel (of hand)

cradle to cradle (back of arm rolls?)

and the half-pipe.

I will let you know vie footage on how that is going!  Now that its starting to warm up I will not be so afraid to use my acrylics over grass in my backyard

DJ~

I am finally getting the hang of the butterfly with both hands. Just that move alone has made me feel so good about myself! I love it when I accomplish something so unique and beautiful! It took me forever to even understand what people were referring to when they said ” You will see a figure 8 pattern starting to form when you have it right” I get it now!

What’s next on the menu? Well, lets see the list…

1. Butterfly smooth transfers (Left to right and vise a versa)
2. stall points.  exploring my arms for various stall points and rolling around with them
3. polish enigma, claw and push-ups.  Both hands.

That is about all the time I have to practice right now.  I have some pretty serious “real life” commitments right now (Wifes due in May!  Baby’s room will not paint itself!)   Of course I will post a vid on progress

DJ NAB~

As promised, it’s thursday and it’s time to post my progress to you all.

I have been working with what OcTaVO has layed out for me and been enjoying it a lot!

Grab your popcorn and enjoy ( I hope)

Comments are welcome.

Today I decided to pack up my daughter and go shopping. For what? a 100mm Stage ball! Seems like only 20 min away from where I live is a handy-dandy juggling store! Higgins Brothers, Fine juggling equipment is the place. I will have a link for their site at the end of this blog post.

Higgins brothers offers a pretty good variety of juggling equipment from rings to spinning plates. Also contact balls.

About Higgins Brothers
Since 1993, we have been busy manufacturing and distributing a complete line of juggling equipment. Our line consists of many different types of Diablo, juggling balls, devil sticks, and foot bags etc. All are ready for the gift market and professional jugglers alike. We are also logo imprinting specialists. Our beautiful and sexy juggling balls make wonderful stress balls and are available to be imprinted with your corporate logo. Cirque du Soleil counts on us for their juggling supplies; why shouldn’t you? As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of juggling equipment, we strive to be the best at what we do. We’re here to serve you.

Taken right from their site and believe me, There not kidding around! I had a neat private tour of the warehouse (sorry no photos, no camera!) by the lovely…..ummm…..oh crap.. What is her name??? Oh she is gonna kill me later if she reads this! Well, a very nice employee who also did a little bit of toss juggling for my daughter who smiled the whole way through! Thanks for that! I had a peek at all the neat toys in there and they are defiantly up to par with supplying such big names as Cirque du Soleil.

As I said, I picked up a new 100mm yellow (YES YELLOW! HA!) Stage ball from them and they were so kind as to give my daughter a neat little bag of Super Bandz wich she loves a lot. They were also very kind to me by giving me a set of 3 toss juggling balls for a very VERY reasonable price.

Here is the link to their site Higgins Brothers at the moment the contact juggling section is slimmer then say, Neon Husky but, I have personally instructed them to get ULTRA clear 100mm acrylics for us

DJ NAB~

As the title of this post states, I got something!  No, not a new ball…Nope, not a new puppy…..The Mona Lisa?? You’re crazy!

After talking with a certain someone from the www.contactjuggling.org forums (remaining anonymous for now) they have agreed to take me on as their pupil!  YES!  Some one wishes to see me advance in this beautiful art!  Let me just say this, out of most of the jugglers on .org they have stood out since day #1 on the site. 

I have been given a strict list of things to work on this week and into the next.  Here from the horse’s mouth.  No, their not a horse!  The only animal that can CJ is an Otter! I’ll post that vid at the end

“How well can you balance in the cradle?

First get that real solid. Walk around the house for a day and do EVERYTHING with a ball in the cradle. Look in the mirror and make sure your hand is nice and flat and your pinky isn’t sticking up in the air… that’ll come back to bite you later.

Step 2. When you feel really comfortable with that, practice “losing contact” with the ball. Throw it straight up from the cradle, just an inch or so high, and catch it again. Then gradually make those throws higher and higher. Eventually you’ll be able to throw it right up to the ceiling and still catch it in the cradle.

Step 3. Now toss the ball from cradle to palm to cradle to palm to cradle to palm… moving your arm in a windshield wiper motion. When the ball’s in the cradle it’s in front of your chest… arm nice and level. When it’s in the palm, it’s out to your side, still at the same height.

Step 4. Gradually lower those throws until the ball is just barely clearing your fingertips.

Step 5. Now try to roll it clean over the fingertips.

You are now doing the butterfly… the most basic “idling” move in CJ.

Step 6. Slow the hell down because I guarantee you’re going too fast. We all do as beginners. Keep in mind it’s all about control, control, control… you should feel like the master of that ball at all times and at all speeds. You can go fast later if you like for style reasons, but first learn to go reeeeeeaaaall slow

That my friends, is a person that knows their stuff.  I should have a progress video up by Thursday this week.

As promised enjoy the Otter CJ Video!

DJ NAB~

As for any CJ progress.  Just practicing my cradle, catches and fiddling with some isolations.  I am getting excited to see some of my dull and boring training paying off.  I forced myself to use only my left hand (non dominant) to do some over time though.  I did find that the muscles are not where I want them to be.  All in all it was about 2 hours per day.

I have been putting together a NOOB routine here as I jot in my blog.   Very simple BUT my intentions are going to be speed and accuracy.   “SLOOOOOOOOOW DOOOOWNNNN DJ!”  Routine.  I want to teach myself the discipline of going slow and aiming for accuracy;  SEE my flaws (instead of masking them with blinding speeds) and fix them as soon as I see it.

My next video post will be this monday with some more progress.  Stay tuned!

DJ NAB~

Welcome back!  Thanks for stopping by again.  Todays blog will be all about the balls I have ordered and where from.

So, after surfing www.contactjuggling.org for different and applicable balls to a new CJ’er I decided to choose 2 balls to start with.  Below is my choices and who I did decide on them.

Company:  Neon Husky

Date ordered: February 4th

Item: Clear Acrylic Ball – 82mm

Price: $24.00 US (after -20% discount)

Shipping (To Hamilton Ontario):  $15.95 (OUCH!)

Total:  $55.85 CAD

Paid via PayPal (Other options were available but I had some PayPal Bucks burning a hole in my pocket )

Decision factor:

This site was highly recommended to me by a lot of .org CJ’ers.  Fast service, GREAT clarity of acrylics and their customer service is stupendous!  (Thanks Jim!)

The reason I chose a 82mm ball was I felt that the size of the ball would suit my hands a little bit better than grabbing a 100mm acrylic ball right out of the gates.  Now, I am not saying that I would NOT buy a 100mm Acrylic, just not right now.  I will be working on isolations primarily with this ball to start out so if I can get Isolations looking smooth with this medium-sized ball, (In Jess theory)when I invest in my first 100mm they will look even tighter. 

All in all I believe this 82mm Acrylic will serve me well for some time.  Practicing only on carpeted area of my house that contain a nice soft underpad.

*UPDATE*  As I am typing this blow the ball has made it over the border and is safely sitting one province away in Montreal Quebec.  Looking at a delivery some time this week! =D

Now, for ball #2

Company:  Home of Poi

Date ordered: February 9th

Item: MB Single 100mm Contact Stage Juggling Ball

Price: $8.76 CAD (used a Loyalty Discount that knocked off $.54)

Shipping (To Hamilton Ontario):  $6.13

Total:  $14.35CAD

Paid via PayPal

Decision factor:  PRICE!  For sure!  Even going to a local juggling place is more expensive than getting HOP to send me one!  Only down fall is that I get a conformation shipping notice like this…

“Your order was shipped on 10 February 2011.We expect it to arrive around the 24 March 2011”

Ack!  That’s over a month away!  Makes for a nice surprise one day this year…

Well that’s it for now.  I will report in with pictures and video of when these new friends come home.

DJ NAB~

I will be posting about…

• New balls bought (AKA Spherical news)
• Learing stages
• Thoughts and feelings
• Video’s of my progress
• and more…

So, thanks for joining me and my adventure into this beautiful art!

DJ NAB~