Here follows a mostly serious glossary of juggling terms. A few are TWJC specific but most refer to the juggling community in general. Many terms such as trick names aren't included as much more detail can be found in the 3 Ball Tutorials & Diabolo Tutorials sections.
A
- Acrylics
- Transparent balls made of acrylic used for contact juggling. Also called crystals.
- Adagio
- Form of acrobatics & acrobalance where moves are performed in a slow & controlled manner.
- Aerotec
- Manufacturers of glowing juggling props particularly the globall, gloclub, glostaff & diaboglo. The company started off making globalls as a sideline to fund research into an alternative energy project but it quickly became a full time business.
- Alban Elved
- See String Danglers.
- Albatross
- Popular American style juggling club manufactured by Henry's.
- Albert
- Trick throw mostly used in club juggling made between the legs with both feet flat on the floor from the front to the back. Named after Albert Lucas.
- Alegria
- Touring show from Cirque Du Soleil. The word is Spanish for 'jubilation'.
- Antipodism
- Form of juggling where the performer lies on their back & manipulates an object with their feet.
- Astrojax
- Skill toy consisting of a length of string with two balls fixed to either end & the string is threaded through a third ball which is free to slide up & down between the other two.
B
- Backdrop
- Trick where a prop is held over a shoulder & dropped behind the back. Not to be confused with a Dropback.
- Background against which a performer performs.
- Balero
- Latin American name for cup & ball toys (any toy consisting of a ball attached by a string to a handle which has a cup on top). Forerunner of the kendama.
- Balisong
- Butterfly knife.
- Balloon Chain
- Huge chain of modelling balloons decorated with various balloon sculptures traditionally made while waiting for the Public Show to start at a convention. The idea is to get the chain to go all the way around the theatre. The tradition first started at the BJC in Nottingham, 1997.
- Barnum, Phileas Taylor
- Legendary showman from the golden age of circus. Frontman for Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth. Famous for the line, "There's a sucker born every minute."
- Bean bags
- Small sack of material filled with some grain like filling, excellent for Juggling as they are easy to catch & they have a dead drop.
- Beever, Ben
- Highly accomplished numbers juggler & siteswap pioneer, one of the first to flash 12 balls. Also worked with the Gandini Juggling Project.
- Bell
- Each of the 'cups' of a diabolo is known as a bell.
- Begleri
- Skill toy consisting of a short cord weighted at both ends which is manipulated by the fingers usually of one hand.
- Bi
- A bi pattern is an odd period passing pattern where two jugglers use both hands to make & receive passes, one passer passes Tramlines, the other crosses. eg 7 club 3-count < 4.5p 3 3 | 3 3 4.5p >
- Bilboquet
- French game similar to Balero & Kendama. Consists of a ball with a hole in it attached by a string to a handle which has a spike on top which is used to skewer the ball.
- Biverticycle
- Ridiculously difficult to ride type of giraffe unicycle which has two wheels stacked one above the other. The rider has to pedal backwards to go forwards.
- BJC, British Juggling Convention
- Annual gathering of jugglers in Britain. Further read: What do you do at a juggling convention?.
- BKA, British Kendama Association
- Organisation to promote the use of Kendama in the UK. See www.kendama.co.uk.
- BKC, British Kendama Championships
- Kendama competition & exhibition held at the BJC open to British kendama players.
- BKO, British Kendama Open
- Another kendama competition & exhibition held at the BJC open to attendees of any nationality. Part of an attempt by the BKA to monopolise all BK* acronyms.
- Black Light
- See UV.
- Blink
- Legendary collaboration between Jay Gilligan, Fritz Grobe & Morten Hansen.
- Body
- The wide bulbous part of a juggling club. American clubs tend to be much fatter than European styles, so clubs are referred to as 'Americans' (fat bodied) or 'Europeans' (slim bodied).
- Bohemian Rhapsody
- Epic song by Queen, the lyrics are often sung during renegade at BJCs (tune usually missing).
- Bowie, David
- Singer who played Jareth the Goblin King in the film Labyrinth (IMDb listing). David Bowie did not perform any of the contact juggling sequences. Instead Michael Moschen was ducked down out of camera shot contorting his arms into position & making all his moves blind.
- Box
- Family of juggling patterns where the props trace the outline of a rectangular box.
- Bungay Ballsup
- Regular chilled out juggling festival held on a farm in Suffolk.
- Bungay Trick, the
- Juggle 3 clubs while balancing a pole on your chin with a ball spinning on top.
- Buugeng
- 'S' shaped staff.
- BYJOTY, British Young Juggler of the Year
- Competition & show started by Luke Burrage at BJC 2005 in Perth to showcase & nurture young British juggling talent. Now set as a major fixture of the BJC.
C
- Cake, Chocalate Slab
- Delicious piece of chocolatey goodness that Andrew often bakes for TWJC members.
- Cascade
- Basic pattern for an odd number of props. Props chase the shape of an infinity sign (8 on its side).
- Catch, The
- Much loved British juggling, new circus & street theatre magazine which was once published at a highly irregular rate but at a consistently high quality. The Catch was produced by Stuart & Jan & edited by the cheeky Diabolo whose real identity is still a mystery. Sadly no longer running.
- Causal diagram, Causal notation
- A visual notation system for juggling patterns. Gives a visual indication of what the pattern will look like, very useful for working out passing patterns. Not to be confused with a ladder diagram.
- Ceilidh
- Scottish folk dancing first introduced to the Juggling Convention crowd at the Edinburgh EJC. Fantastic fun.
- Chili Vodka
- One of the three official drinks of TWJC, along with tea & double vision cider. Less a drink more a test of endurance. Introduced by Dr Bob, 'enjoyed' by Devilstick Peat, made famous by Peewee.
- Cigar Boxes
- A set of three or more boxes, two are held one in each hand while the rest are gripped between them. The boxes are then thrown & turned in various ways.
- Circomedia
- Bristol based circus arts school.
- Circus Space, The
- London based circus school.
- Cirque Du Soleil
- French Canadian new circus company who have turned out a huge number of simply astounding productions (Read a little about Quidam & Saltimbanco) the like of which has never seen before. Visit their website www.cirquedusoleil.com.
- Clasic
- A classic passing pattern is one where all passes are Tramlines.
- Claymotion
- Stop/start style of multiplexing popularised by Richard Clay.
- Clay, Richard
- British juggler responsible for Claymotion.
- Club
- Juggling prop consisting of a handle & a bulbous end (known as the body), derived from the Indian Swinging Club juggled by throwing from the handle so that it completes a number of spins before being caught by the handle again. Originally made of wood but now made of lightweight plastic. Often called 'pins' or 'skittles' by non-jugglers.
- Regular meeting of jugglers for the purpose of juggling, sharing ideas, swapping tricks, playing games & general socialising.
- Combat
- Highly enjoyable family of Juggling Games played with a variety of props.
- Combination Trick
- Any trick that combines multiple different skills eg. juggling with your hands while balancing an object on your chin while standing on a rola bola.
- Contact Juggling
- Very graceful & hypnotic form of juggling where a ball is rolled around the hands, arms & body remaining in contact with the performer throughout. Invented by Michael Moschen & made famous in the film Labyrinth (IMDb listing) where Michael played the arm of Jareth the Goblin King as he rolled his magical crystal orbs. Labyrinth's creator Jim Henson said that "Contact juggling is the closest thing to real magic there is".
- Corteo
- Touring show from Cirque Du Soleil. The word is Italian for 'cortege' which is a ceremonial procession.
- Coulrophobia
- Fear of clowns.
- Cradle
- Branch of diabolo tricks where the string is woven into a pattern.
- Cross
- Pass made in a passing pattern that travels from one side to the other eg. For two jugglers stood facing each other, a crossing pass is one thrown by one juggler's right hand & caught by the other's right hand.
- Crystals
- See acrylics.
D
- Dancey, Charlie
- One half of famous comedy juggling duo Haggis & Charlie, author of 2 of the best juggling works available: the Encyclopaedia of Ball Juggling & the Compendium of Club Juggling. Excellent cartoonist.
- Daikagura
- Traditional Japanese juggling.
- Dark Crystal, The
- Fantasy film by Jim Henson & Frank Oz. Famous in the juggling community because it features some creatures known as 'the Landstriders' which are tall four legged beasts more commonly known as 'stiltwalkers on crutches'. See The Dark Crystal (IMDb listing)
- Dead Drop
- A prop that doesn't roll away after being dropped is said to have a dead drop.
- Devilstick
- A large brightly coloured stick & two smaller rubber or silicon wrapped handsticks. The main stick is batted back & forth by the handsticks.
- Diabolo
- Chinese spinning top popularised in England during the Victorian times. Well known as an 'egg cup on string' by non-jugglers. Nothing to do with the devil at all, the name comes from a verb that roughly translates as 'to throw across'.
- Editor of The Catch.
- DM
- Brand of unicycle made by Dave Mariner.
- Double
- Throw of a club with 2 spins.
- Double Vision Cider
- One of the three official drinks of TWJC, along with tea & chili vodka. Potent cider made by the Double Vision Cider Co. in Staplehurst.
- Dowel
- Length of wood or plastic that is the central core of multipiece clubs.
- Dralion
- Eastern themed touring show from Cirque Du Soleil. The word comes from the 'Dragon' & 'Lion', the two main symbolic animals in Chinese culture.
- Dropback
- Pass made backwards over the shoulder. Not to be confused with a Backdrop.
- Drop line
- Witty response made by a performer to make light of the fact that they dropped.
- Duicide
- A diabolo trick where both handsticks are released & caught in some way.
- DX
- Unique juggling ball produced by Beard that is a hybrid of a stage ball & a bean bag combining advantages of both. Personally I think the DX leans more towards the stage ball end of the spectrum.
- Dynamic Balancing
- Michael Moschen's preferred term for contact juggling.
E
- Eberhardt, Colin
- Creator & webmaster of the IJDb.
- Edge, The Juggling
- Online juggling community launched in 2012 to take over from the aging IJDb created by Orinoco (me!). See: The Juggling Edge.
- EJA, European Juggling Association
- A non profit organisation to promote juggling in Europe, works mainly by ensuring the EJC takes place.
- EJC, European Juggling Convention
- Annual festival in Europe. Further reading: What do you do at a juggling convention? & substitute 'European' for British, 'Europe' for 'Britain' etc.
- EKO, European Kendama Open
- Kendama competition & exhibition held at the EJC.
- Excalibur
- "Excalibur is a stupid name for a sword, let alone a style of diabolo!"
- Dave Barnes, 2005. See Vertax instead.
F
- Feast
- Multiperson passing pattern in which every juggler passes to every other juggler. Not to be confused with a handfeast.
- Feed
- A multi person passing pattern where 1 juggler passes to 2 or more other jugglers.
- Feedee
- A juggler who is passing with the feeder (the feedee may or may not be a feeder themselves).
- Feeder
- Person who passes to more than one person in a feed.
- Fence Monkey
- Person who puts up fencing during a convention.
- Fergies, Fergie bags
- A high quality & much loved bean bag manufactured by Michael Ferguson. Sadly no longer in production.
- Ferguson, Michael, Fergie
- One of the top posters to rec.juggling, numbers juggler & retired manufacturer of Fergie bags.
- Fight Night
- A one on one combat tournament often seen at conventions.
- Flash
- Act of throwing & catching everything only once. eg. "He flashed 13 balls".
- Act of throwing everything high so that the hands are momentarily empty. eg. "He did a three ball flash".
- Flourish
- A trick performed with a single juggling club, devilstick or handstick, spinning or twirling the prop one or more times in the hand.
- Flowerstick
- A type of Devilstick decorated with tassled ends that resemble flowers.
- Foot Juggling
- Form of juggling where the performer lies on their back & manipulates an object with their feet. Also known as antipodism.
- Force Bounce
- To bounce a ball by throwing it directly at the floor.
- Fountain
- Basic pattern for an even number of props. Each hand independantly juggles half the number of props without crossing them over.
- Freemount
- To get on a unicycle without holding on to a wall or something for support.
G
- Gandini, Sean
- Co-founder of the Gandini Juggling Project. Was once booed for being too artistic & is now one of the most inspirational figures in the juggling community.
- Gandini Juggling Project, The
- Company founded by Sean Gandini & Kati Yla-Hokkala. Famous for combining juggling with dance to produce highly innovative & artistic performances. Also acclaimed for their work with siteswaps & other mathematical techniques which have introduced many new tricks & patterns to the community. Also perform some of the best club & ring passing ever seen.
- Garfield, Jason
- American numbers juggler famous for his aggressive onstage attitude. Star of the popular Jugglemaster videos, founder & president of the WJF.
- Gather
- Finish for a passing pattern where one juggler stops throwing passes & collects all the clubs so that he or she finishes holding all of the clubs that were used in the pattern.
- Gatto, Anthony
- World champion numbers juggler holds most of the juggling world records. Came to England for the first time to perform at the BJC in York, 2000.
- Gatto, Nick
- Anthony Gatto's stepfather & mentor.
- Gilligan, Jay
- Highly innovative & energetic juggler from America, has spent time with the Gandini Juggling Project & features heavily in the Peapot videos. Famous for being able to bend his right elbow backwards & being able to do ring passing patterns with one eye closed.
- Giraffe
- Tall unicycle where the pedals & wheel are connected by a chain.
- Gladiators
- British term for Combat.
- Grind
- Diabolo trick where the diabolo is caught & spins on one of the handsticks.
H
- Hand Feast
- Passing pattern in which every hand passes to every hand of every juggler in the pattern (complicated).
- Heckle
- Something shouted out to/at a performer by a member of the audience.
- Heckler
- Person who heckles.
- Hef
- Throw in passing patterns where a prop is thrown & caught by the same hand.
- High, Low, Goal, Crush, Bane (Surprise)
- Traditional post-convention game first started by the Madison Jugglers & was popularised with the help of the Carmine Street Irregulars. Just get together with some fellow festival attendees & share the highlight, lowlight, goal (& to what degree you achieved it), crush & bane of your convention. The surprise category was added later.
- Hover
- To stay in the same place on a unicycle by continuously riding back & forth over the same spot with the wheel doing no more than half a revolution.
- Hurry
- Term for a move usually in club passing where you are forced to make two throws from the same hand in quick succession, for example when a passer throws a crossing single pass in 3 count the receiver has to catch & throw the crossing pass with the same hand s/he has just passed with.
I
- Icarian Games
- Form of foot juggling act where the juggler manipulates an acrobat rather than an inanimate object.
- Idle
- See hover.
- IJA, International Jugglers Association
- Organisation formed to promote juggling, helped start off the European Juggling Convention.
- IJDb, Internet Juggling Database
- The major internet portal for the juggling world from 2001-2012, created by Colin Eberhardt.
- Indian Clubs
- Wooden clubs originating from India swung for exercise as a gymnastic sport in the 19th century. Indian Clubs are considerably heavier than modern plastic swinging clubs. The more ornate indian clubs are often collected as antiques.
- Instant-Bi
- Class of Bi pattern where the hand that catches an incoming pass is the hand that makes the next outgoing pass.
- Inverse
- Family of modified patterns where the props are thrown & caught in the exact time-reverse of the original pattern.
- Inverted
- Family of modified patterns where a prop that is usually thrown horizontally underneath the other props is thrown over the top instead, sometimes creating the appearance of an upside down pattern.
- Isolation
- Move common to many forms of juggling where a prop is kept in one place (isolated) while the performer moves their hands, body &/or other props around it.
J
- JIS, Juggling Information Service
- The first major juggling website built when the web was young. Sadly neglected & is now extremely out of date but still contains some interesting resources.
- Jonglierkatakomben
- Famous juggling studio in Berlin that offered training space & workshops from 2002-2010.
- Juggling
- The manipulation of objects in a skilful show of manual dexterity (dictionary definition).
- The art of doing what doesn't need to be done in the most difficult way possible (more accurate definition from a usenet post).
K
- Ka
- Show from Cirque Du Soleil resident at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas.
- Kendama
- Advanced cup & ball game from Japan.
- Kenswap
- 7531744173334447531744173334. A challenging siteswap sequence courtesy of Ken Carlile.
- Kick up
- Range of tricks usually performed with clubs where the prop is thrown with the foot.
- King pole
- Main supporting pole of a circus big top.
- Knob
- Rubber or plastic end piece attached to the end of a club handle.
- Komaro, Maksim
- Star of Peapot productions.
L
- Labyrinth
- Film by Jim Henson responsible for popularising Michael Moschen's then unique contact juggling. Also a very good film. See Labyrinth (IMDb listing).
- Ladder diagram, Ladder notation
- Visual representation of a juggling trick showing the paths of the props as a set of entwining lines round a ladder. Not to be confused with causal diagrams.
- La Nouba
- Show from Cirque Du Soleil resident at Disney World, Florida. The name comes from the French phrase, 'Faire la nouba' which means to party, or to live it up.
- LAP, League Against Poi
- The League Against Poi webpage (archived by Danny) was the front for a spoof organisation that was dreamed up mid 2000 while poi was becoming popular.
- Legos
- Branch of tricks usually performed with clubs where the props are held in different ways then moved or thrown & held in another. Named after the Danish construction toy Lego.
- Lift Bounce.
- Method of bounce juggling where balls are thrown upwards slightly before being allowed tob bounce off the floor.
- L.I.H.M.
- Labour Intensive Hand Movement. Delicious chocolate/caramel/biscuity stuff made by my mum & enjoyed by TWJC members. Cut into bars which are signified by a labour intensive hand movement.
M
- Mad French Posse, The
- Team of top diabolists from France consisting of: Antonin Hartz, Baptiste Durand, Eric Longequel, JiBe, Priam Pierret, Lutin, Tony Frebourg, Trash & Vux. Check out their own website: Art of Diabolo.
- MagiClub
- Collaboration project that sees a single club travelling between juggling clubs & featuring in juggling videos. First proposed by Bungle from Southend Juggling Club
- Manipulator Hat
- Brightly coloured & very durable felt hats for hat manipulation made by Nils Poll.
- Mariner, Dave
- Unicycle manufacturer since 1969, made the first production unicycle with a splined axle.
- Matt Hall Effect, The
- Phenomenon where a performance by a popular performer is perceived to be better than an identical performance by a less popular performer.
- Mills Mess
- Very elegant 3 ball pattern where the arms cross & uncross. Invented & popularised by Steve Mills. Mills Mess Tutorial.
- Monkey
- Person who does the juggling part of a take out routine.
- Moschen, Michael
- Highly creative juggler who invented contact juggling (which he prefers to call dynamic balancing), very protective of his work & is said to not be pleased by all the people copying his work.
- Multiplex
- Practise of throwing two or more objects from the same hand at the same time.
- Murray, Rob
- Comic juggler famous for his nonchalant disinterested style.
- Mystere
- Show from Cirque Du Soleil resident at the Treasure Island Hotel, Las Vegas.
N
- Noice
- Gandini for 'Nice'.
- Numbers juggling
- Pursuit of juggling one more ball/club/ring.
- Numbers juggler
- Juggler who practises numbers juggling.
O
- "O"
- Show from Cirque Du Soleil resident at the Bellagio, Las Vegas. The first aquatic show from the company featuring underwater acts alongside traditional circus routines.
- Objuggle
- Word sometimes used in rec.juggling posts. It is an amalgamation of 'obligatory' & 'juggle' & is used to bring hopelessly off topic threads or flamewars back on topic. As such including an 'objuggle' is an effective way to deal with trolls. For example "objuggle: 531 with the 3 thrown Behind the back & the 1 Handed behind the back".
- One hour challenge, the
- Popular renegade spot where someone tries to run something without dropping for a whole hour. First started by Thomas Dietz running a five ball cascade in 2003 at the EJC in Svendborg
- Orbit
- Circular carry of one or more props around another.
- Path of a single ball through a pattern.
- Orbit Balls
- Original name for Astrojax.
- Oxymoronocycle
- Another name for a biverticycle, so called because it is a unicycle with two wheels.
P
- Pass
- A throw of a prop from one juggler to another.
- Passing
- A form of juggling where props are exchanged between 2 or more jugglers. Club passing is by far the most common & is the reason why most juggling clubs & festivals exist.
- PCD, Post Convention Disorder
- Feeling of depression when coming down from the high of attending a juggling festival.
- Peapot
- Production company responsible for the videos: 3 balls different ways, radical club news. Starring Maksim Komaro, Ville Walo & Jay Gilligan.
- Peden, Wes
- Much loved & massively influential juggler from the US. Points a lot.
- Period
- In siteswap the period is the number of beats in a pattern.
- Pirouette
- Action of spinning round once.
- Popular European style juggling club manufactured by Henry's.
- Poi
- Two balls attached to two pieces of string which are swung around in rhythmic patterns. Poi were originally swung as part of a traditional Maori dance. Poi swinging was a way of keeping fit & developing flexibility.
- Short for pointless (unless done extremely well).
- Savoury food consisting of pastry & some sort of meat &/or vegetable filling found in Birmingham.
- Poll, Nils
- Danish juggler who makes the very popular manipulator juggling hats.
- Polyrhythm
- Form of juggling where the manipulators (hands, feet etc.) throw at different rates eg. the left hand makes three throws per second while the right hand makes two throws per second.
- Prechac, Christophe
- Juggler & mathematician from France who discovered a method for transforming solo siteswap patterns into 2 person symmetrical passing patterns.
- Prime
- A prime siteswap is one that contains no repeatable subsequences.
- Pull down
- Ring juggling trick where rings are sequentially pulled down over the head.
- PX3
- First juggling club with a plastic rather than a wooden dowel through the centre. Originated from Italy.
Q
- Quad
- Short for quadruple. Throw of a club with 4 spins.
- Qualify
- Juggling n props for 2n catches is said to be a qualifying run. The term comes from the IJA numbers competitions where competitors have a time limit in which to juggle a number of props. If the competitor manages twice as many catches as the number of props they are juggling they qualify for the next round.
- Quidam
- Touring show from Cirque Du Soleil. The word comes from Latin & means an anonymous passer by.
- Quin
- Short for quintuple. Throw of a club with 5 spins.
R
- Radical Fish
- Brand of juggling equipment, known for their unusual designs. Radical Fish clubs tend to promote a love/hate reaction in jugglers.
- Rastelli, Enrico
- Legendary Italian juggler of the 1930s, famous for juggling 10 balls & many impossible balancing & ball spinning feats. Loathed cascades & juggled odd numbers by juggling an odd number in one hand & an even number in the other.
- Recursion
- See Recursion.
- Rec.Juggling
- Usenet newsgroup dedicated to juggling & all things related.
- Reduced Public Show Company, the
- Traditional renegade act parodying the Public Show in a highly condensed form starting at the BJC 2002 in Whitstable.
- Renegade
- Special show held late at night at juggling conventions where people from the audience get up & perform a bit like an open mike spot at a music or comedy club. The tradition first started at the 1986 IJA Festival in San Jose by the Renegade Jugglers of Santa Cruz, California.
- Club made by the Renegade Juggling Company.
- Rola bola
- Apparatus for balancing on consisting of a short flat board resting on top of a round tube that rolls side to side.
- Runaround
- Popular pattern where two people share a three object Cascade which stays in one place while the jugglers continually walk around each other in circles behind it.
- See Wild goose chase.
- Running Feed
- Passing pattern in which the feeders & feedees swap rolls as they move position.
- Russian ball
- Solid plastic juggling ball partially filled with sand or seed.
S
- Saltimbanco
- The first big touring show from Cirque Du Soleil. The word is Spanish for 'joy'.
- Scarves
- Lightweight squares of material used for Juggling, often used as a teaching tool because they float down slowly rather than fall.
- Self
- Term used by passers to describe a throw that is thrown & caught by the same juggler, as opposed to a pass to another juggler.
- Shaker cups
- Set of metal cups that are thrown & caught stacked inside each other. Extremely noisy.
- Shower
- Any pattern where all props follow each other round in some sort of circle without directly crossing each other.
- Siamese
- Style of juggling where two people stand side by side as if joined at the hip & juggle a pattern using one arm each (usually the outside arms).
- Silicones, Silis
- Very high quality juggling balls made from silicone invented by Frank Radtke. Great feel, excellent bounce, beautiful finish, easy to clean (only stained by coffee) but very expensive.
- Silks
- See Scarves
- SIL-X
- Russian ball variant filled with a liquid silicon manufactured by Play
- Single
- Throw of a club which spins only once.
- Siteswap
- Mathematical notation system for denoting juggling patterns.
- Slapback
- Club juggling trick where the body of the club is slapped to reverse the spin.
- Sofa, under the
- Popular hiding place for juggling balls to hide after being dropped.
- Solstrom
- TV series produced by Cirque Du Soleil featuring many acts from their main shows plus other artists.
- Sport Juggling
- Style of juggling promoted by the WJF. Big numbers, lots of pirouettes, don't move your feet.
- Squeeze Catch
- Catch of two or more props thrown from different places/at different times by squeezing them together.
- Stage Ball
- Rigid sphere that doesn't go out of shape. So named because they are popular among stage performers because of their consistent visual shape. Juggling stage balls allegedly makes you a more accurate juggler because they are less forgiving than beanbags.
- State
- In siteswap a state is a schedule for when props will be caught next.
- Straight
- See Tramline.
- String Danglers
- Alban Elved, aerial dance company who died on stage at Whitstable in the most spectacular fashion imaginable.
- String Dangling
- Art of hanging from a rope attached to the waist via a harness. Made Famous by Alban Elved.
- Suicide
- Diabolo trick where one or both handsticks are released & caught again in some way.
- Sympathy act
- Act usually performed by a young child which relies on audience sympathy in lieu of entertainment to elicit applause.
T
- Tea
- One of the three official drinks of TWJC, along with Double Vision Cider & chili vodka. The stuff of legend.
- Team KD
- UK kendama demonstration team consisting of The Void, Guy Heathcote, Tom Derrick, Robin Gunney, Matt Pang & Arron Sparks.
- Tennis
- Class of tricks where a single prop travels back & forth over all the other props.
- Thuds
- Term for beanbags coined by More Balls Than Most, named after the sound the beanbags made when dropped to the floor.
- Tip
- Rubber or plastic circular disc attached to the end of a club body.
- Tomahawk
- Special throw for club passers where the club is thrown over arm with reverse spin like the axe of the same name.
- Tonga
- Archipelago (cluster of islands) in the south Pacific Ocean where juggling is a part of the indigenous culture. See The Juggling Girls of Tonga.
- Torch
- Juggling club with a wick for soaking in parafin & setting on fire instead of a regular body.
- Tramline
- Striaght line throw from one juggler to another in a passing pattern eg. For two jugglers stood facing each other, a tramline pass is one thrown by one juggler's right hand & caught by the other's left hand.
- Trebla
- The reverse of an Albert (hence the name). A throw made between the legs from behind while both feet are flat on the floor.
- Triple
- Throw of a club with 3 spins.
- Typewriter feed
- Class of feed where the feeder passes to each feedee in a line in turn then jumps back to the beginning.
U
- Überpointer, the
- See Peden, Wes.
- Unicycle
- A one wheeled bike with no handle bars.
- Ultimate Wheel
- A wheel with pedals.
- UPD
- UnPlanned Dismount (ie. falling off a unicycle).
- UV, Ultra Violet
- Special light that makes UV active props & material glow brightly.
V
- Varekai
- Touring show from Cirque Du Soleil. The word comes from the Romany language & means 'wherever'.
- Vertax
- VERTical AXle. Style of diaboloing where the axle of the diabolo spins vertically rather than the normal horizontal.
W
- Walking Globe
- Large ball that a performer balances on top of & has to walk backwards to roll forwards.
- Walo, Ville
- Star of Peapot Productions.
- Wang
- The application of too much momentum to a throw of a prop (usually a club during club passing), resulting in a throw of excessive height &/or length &/or spin after catching the prop without having a sufficient hold to remain in control of it.
- Wild goose chase
- See Runaround.
- Wilson, Luke
- Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain prize winning juggler, also magician, performer, teacher, director, Rubik's cube enthusiast.
- Wimpy
- Pattern for an even number of props made up of synchronous crossing throws.
- WJF, World Juggling Federation, the
- Organisation set up to promote sport juggling. Holds high profile competitions with complex scoring systems to determine who is the best juggler. See www.thewjf.com
- WJVF, World Juggling Video Federation
- Randomly held competition organised through Rec.Juggling, where people are invited to make the best juggling video based on a theme.
X
Y
- Yla-Hokkala, Kati
- Very graceful juggler & co-founder of the Gandini Juggling Project.
- Yoink
- Move performed in Combat where an attacker steals a club from another person's pattern.
Z
- Zen wrestling
- Noble test of skill for two people. The combatants stand face to face about half a metre apart with their feet together. Combatants then place their palms together & then try to make the opponent lose balance by pushing or absorbing a push. No grabbing or any other contact is allowed. Requires a great deal of anticipation.
- Zap
- A quick half spin pass.
- Zetie-shift
- Transformation of a passing pattern where all selfs are changed to passes and all passes are changed to selfs. Zetie shifting 3-count becomes pass pass self. Named after Ken Zetie.
- Zip
- The handing of a club from one had to the other. Mostly used when describing club passing patterns.