A sun is a move where you swing the diabolo around in a circle in some way. Suns are also known as 'Around the world'. There are three basic flavours of Sun: in front of the body, behind the body (which are described on this page) & Between the arms.
In front of the body
Get the Diabolo Spinning then bring the tips of both handsticks together. Think of a circle in front of you, your handsticks are at the centre, the string runs from the centre to the edge where the diabolo is spinning. Swing the diabolo (it doesn't matter which way) all the way around the circle, over the top of your handsticks finishing the swing back where you started. Make sure you point the tips of the handsticks towards the diabolo throughout the move. Also keep the tips together otherwise the diabolo might come off of the string. Follow the diabolo round its circle with your arms so that you are not pulling it too hard as this will slow it down & possibly cause it to stop spinning.
After doing one Sun you'll notice that the string is crossed over twice. There are several ways to uncross the string, some will come up in later tutorials & one will come up a bit further down the page. For now simply do a Sun back the other way, this way you get to practise the move on both sides.
Just a quick note
When the string is crossed over twice, whipping will still speed the diabolo up, but moving the subordinate handstick back & forth won't correct the tilting.
Behind the body
Imagine a circle in front of you again, the sticks still mark the centre & the diabolo is still on the outer edge. Get the diabolo spinning, then turn your body round 90° (again doesn't matter which way) & move forward so that you are in front of the imaginary circle facing between the two cups. Hold your handsticks one above the other so that the string runs in a straight line across the axle. If your arms are side by side then the string will run at an angle across the axle, causing the diabolo to tilt. Having your arms side by side is equivalent to pushing one stick forward when Correcting a tilting diabolo.
Swing the diabolo around the circle just like before (yet again, it doesn't matter which way), bend & turn your wrists so that the handsticks always point towards the diabolo & keep the tips together. When the diabolo returns to where it started swing it back the other way to uncross the string. Bring the diabolo back round in front of you & whip it a bit to get it spinning again.
Practise this move turning 90° to the left & right so as to learn the move on both sides.
Putting the two together
The secret of good diaboloing is combining moves into a graceful flowing sequence. The two different Suns described above aren't that special when performed on their own. You swing the diabolo one way, stop (end of flowing sequence), then swing back the other way.
A nice simple combination is to perform two Suns, one in front of the body then one behind. Start off with an Sun in front of you, as the diabolo rises up & over the top of your handsticks step forward & turn your body to face where the diabolo is swinging towards. Then as the diabolo comes down continue to swing the diabolo in a circle behind you. As the diabolo rises past your shoulder step back & turn to face forwards again. As you finish the second Sun & bring the diabolo to rest in front of you you'll notice that the string isn't crossed, magic! Or the two moves simply cancel each other out.
The same combination can also be performed 'backwards'. Swing an Sun in front of the body, let it go all the way around, swing out the other side & up again for the second Sun. Then as the diabolo rises to point straight up step forward & turn away from where it is swinging to. Let the diabolo swing down behind you, then stop the swing & bring the diabolo back round in front of you.
In total there are eight different ways of combining the two moves for you to practise:
In front of the body first
- Swing clockwise in front - turn to the right - behind
- Swing clockwise in front - turn to the left - behind
- Swing anti-clockwise in front - turn to the right - behind
- Swing anti-clockwise in front - turn to the left - behind
Behind the body first
- Turn to the right - swing clockwise behind - turn to the left - in front
- Turn to the left - Swing anticlockwise behind - turn to the right - in front
- Turn to the left - swing clockwise behind - turn to the right - in front
- Turn to the right - Swing anticlockwise behind - turn to the left - in front
Once your sun technique improves & the moves really flow together you will be able to do more circles on less spin. Meaning you could string 4, 6 or more Suns together in various different combinations. You can also stick in any number of Sun - Between the arms at any point in the sequence.