Evening star., 1938-02-27
Young Residents of Capital Area Follow Varied Pursuits Hobbies
Balancing Broom Handle Is First Step
In Learning the Art of Juggling
Beginner Can Soon Ad.
vance to Balls and
Plates.

JUGGLING, whether 1t be the ma
nipulation Of balls. the spinning
Of plates, or the balancing Of broom
sticks. is one Of the most healthful
pastimes In the world, training the
eyes and developing the muscles to
a degree Of coordination almost i'm
possible to attain in any other way.
The beginner in juggling starts with
balancing, as this is the easiest branch
to learn. For the first lesson, nothing
is better than common broom handle
about feet long Practice with this
until you can balance it on the back
of either hand with scarcely any
visible motion, and then try a similar
balance on the forehead. the nose
and the chin, as shown in figure J..
Keep your eyes on the top of the
pole, as indicated by the dotted line,
so that you can Immediately detect
any tendency to fall and correct it
at once.
Once some degree of skill is acquired
you can go on to more snowy effects
in this branch Of juggling. One of
the best of these is the bpttle-tray
balance shown in figure 2. In per-
forming this effect the first bottle Is
balanced on the chin. Then an as
sistant hands you the pie plate, which
is set on top of the bottle The second
bottle is then set in place. followed
by the four cups, set at an equal
distance around the uppermoet bottle
The lower bottle should be fitted with
cork, cut of flush with the glass,
so that it will get firmer grip on
the flesh, and a round piece of cloth
should be pasted to both the top and
the bottom center Of the tray in order
to keep the bottles from slipping.
Other excellent effects, such as bal
ancing a cone of tissue paper, or the
hat shown in figure 3. can easily be
mastered once you have developed
the technique with the broom handle.
The tissue paper is pulled out stif1,
before balancing the hat is easiest
balanced just where the nose meets
the forehead.
Ball Juggling.
Ball juggling Is equally popular
There is something fascinating in
juggling three balls. then four, fve,
six, seven, etc. For beginning. how
ever. two are sufficient. These can
be of almost any variety-tennis balls
or small rubber balls do very nicely.
Hold both balls in the right hand.
Toss one of these into the air about
5 feet and when it is just about to
descend shoot the other ball up after
it. When the first ball comes down
it is Immediately sent up in the air
again. Practice this with the left
hand until it becomes almost me-
chanical.
Next come the three-ball juggles
There are many ways in which three
balls can be manipulated, but the cas-
cade" and the shower" are the two
forms most suited to the beginner.
First, try the cascade. whcih is shown
in figure 4. To commence, take two
balls IN your right hand and one
in your left. Toss ball No. J upward
from the right hand, with a slight
inward motion. AS ball No. Oeft
hand) is thrown into the air. ball No.
l comes down in the left hand, and
ball No. 3 fright hand) should just
be starting its upward flight. Do not
throw the balls too high-5 or feet
is the limit. If you count each ball as
you throw it into the air you will find
the going much easier.
'Showering" three balls is a little
more difficult. Start with two balls in
the right hand and one in the left.
The left hand should be held a bit
higher than the right, as shown in
figure 5. Start by throwing ball No.
from the right hand The first ball
should be thrown slightly higher than
the rest in order to get the movement
under way. Immediately the first ball
is in the air, ball No. 2 fright hand) is
thrown up after it. Ball No. 3 (left
hand) is then shot down to the empty
right hand As ball No. l is caught in
the left hand. ball No. 3 should be
leaving the right. Stick to the three
ball juggling until you can do it almost
without thinking Just because you
have failed once or twice, don't give
up! Be persistent until you accom-
plish these tricks.
To juggle four balls you juggle two
in each hand. Cascading five balls