Ideas for How to be Creative

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Creativity means producing something new and different from what you have learned or seen before. When we first learn to juggle, we typically start by following instructions. This page offers ways to go beyond that, and explore variations.

To make much headway, you'll need a solid foundation of basic skills, at least a solid 3 Ball Cascade and some Basic tricks as well.


Contents

[edit] Catching styles

There are many ways of making a catch, and any of them can be used in nearly any pattern. For example:

Imagine Rubensteins Revenge with all Claws (often is done with none or one), or with all knuckles. Or try Burkes Barrage with Fork catches.


[edit] Body catches and body throws

Throws or catches can happen under the leg (one leg or alternating), behind the back, behind the neck, under the arms, and so on. Good examples of the creative variations here are found in the video 3B Different Ways: Maxim does many behind the neck throws and catches that really have to be seen.


[edit] Throw and catch positions

In any pattern the positions of the catches and throws can be moved around to different locations, often with dramatic effect. For example the patterns 3 Ball Cascade, 3 Ball Reverse Cascade, Mills Mess, and Boston Mess are all identical except for where the throws and catches are made.

Modify your patterns with Reach Overs and Reach Unders, throwing one ball up on the outside and then catching it with the other hand, so that the catching hand has to cross the pattern. Many opportunities for variations here, all of which look different.

Are your hands crossed, uncrossed, crossing and uncrossing alternately, over your head, down low? This makes a world of difference, and it isn't just in presentation. Juggling 3 Ball Reverse Cascade extremely wide and high (Wide Reverse Cascade) is a very different trick than small and low, and it shows. Also, dropping a ball from the pattern with a sudden recovery can be weaved into a full trick and not merely a stunt.

Try all the tricks you know with crossed arms. Can you do a cross-arm 3 Ball Shower? What about Erics Extension? Try Mills Mess variations of any trick you do. What about cross-arm Oy Oys switching sides with each throw?


[edit] Timing

The even, right-left right-left rhythm isn't set in stone, nor is it necessarily interesting. Try shifting the timing of throws and catches to create something new. Think of it like jazz improvisation, where you're trying to stay within a theme but make it almost unrecognizable. You can reduce the carry time of a prop by combining a catch plus throw into a single upward strike on the ball or club as "pop-ups" or "slapbacks".


[edit] Surfaces

Try catching on, placing in or on, rolling on, or bouncing off any of these surfaces:

Floor, toes, flat of foot, ankle, calve, knee, top or back of knee, side of leg, between legs, stomach, chest, neck, chin, cheek, mouth, forehead, top of head, behind head, behind neck, back.

Body rolls (Contact Juggling) and head rolls are two very popular styles of body moves, and bounces, spins, placements and others are all possible. For example, try placing a ball on the head and letting it roll off. Then try throwing a ball and catching it on the head. Try Rubensteins Revenge with the "U" ball bounced off the leg.

A surface can also be more than just something to transfer momentum. Michael Moschen for example has several bounce routines where the sounds of the bounced balls, including tapping from his feet, produce complex and interesting rhythms. Dan Menendez made a career by bounce juggling on a keyboard on the floor to seem to play that as a piano.


[edit] Props

Experiment with using your props in new ways. Rings and clubs can be bounced. Tin cans can be contact juggled. Tennis balls can be juggled and caught with their can. Silicones can be both tossed and bounced into new patterns. Beanbags can be rolled. Many things can be stacked and manipulated like Cigar Boxes.


[edit] Creative carries

Patterns where a ball is held provide opportunities to be creative with the hold. For example, with 423 you can do the entire pattern with Claw catches to get a dramatically different look. Likewise, the hold in '(4,2)(4,4)' provides the basis for tricks like Yo Yo and The Machine.


[edit] Hold + multiplex

In any pattern and on any throw, you have the option to not make the throw, just hold the ball. When the next ball lands in that hand, you then hold two, and can do a multiplex throw. Work out how you need to do the multiplex throw in order to get the first ball to where you will need it for the toss.


[edit] Siteswap

Choose a pattern, such as 531, and morph it to make other patterns. With 441, try the '1' behind the back or neck. Turn a '1' throw into a Slam, or a pass around the body. With 423, do the '2' as in Burkes Barrage. Use a '3' to do a body throw, a helicopter spin on your head with a club, or a hold under your chin with a ball. Turn a very high throw into a body placement such as a stall on the head. Flashing two balls up and moving the third around different body parts is not fully explored.


[edit] Iterated transitions

Take two patterns A and B, and figure out how to transition directly from A to B and back to A. Experiment with switching back and forth as quickly as you can -- maybe a new pattern will result. Mills Mess, for example, was first discovered by Steve Mills as Windmill that continuously changes directions.


[edit] Flourishes

Flourishes are often emphasized with clubs and not with balls, but many ball flourishes can embellish tricks.

  • Curl and Reverse Curl -- easily done between high throws or while doing two in one hand.
  • Ball Spinning -- much easier with large soft balls, great for mixing in with other tricks (see also Curls there).
  • Side-sweeps -- Chops combines a side-sweep with an under-arm throw. Other tricks can be done with sweeps.
  • "Punches" and "Swimming" -- move your arms outward in a sweep between throws. It looks like fist-fighting or swimming.


[edit] Body movement

Bobby May did many forward rolls and somersaults; Jason Garfield does multiple pirouettes; Jay Gilligan does many sudden movements, and goes up and down and through a jungle gym.

Some other examples: single and multiple pirouettes, backflips, cartwheels, side rolls, sitting down and standing up, laying down, dodging bounce balls or clubs or rings, gymnastic moves, following the pattern with the body, dance, mime, martial arts, facial expressions.


[edit] Other

Intentional collisions, catching props on other props, kickups, footbag tricks, optical illusions.


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