Lift Bounce Cascade
Quick Look:
- Prerequisites: None
- Number of Balls: 3
- Last Modified: 2/19/21
This page covers:
The lift bounce is the slower and easier form of bounce juggling. If you are completely new to juggling, this is where I recommend that you start. However, if you already know how to juggle, the lift bounce may feel too slow, and you might have trouble with the timing. I personally learned Force Bounce before Lift Bounce for that reason.
If you want to see a video tutorial, check out this video I made:
Step 1: Two-Ball Exchange
Time to get started with bounce juggling! Stand with one ball in each hand and your feet shoulder-width apart (Image 1 below). Hold the balls on their sides so that your palms are facing inwards. Take the ball in your RH and throw it up slightly such that it hits the ground in front of your left foot (Image 2). Just as the green ball thrown from your RH hits the ground, throw the purple ball in your LH (Image 3). The purple ball should hit the ground in front of your right foot.
Catch both of the balls and return to the starting position (Image 4 and 5).
This two-beat motion is called the two-ball exchange. The rhythm is throw--pause--throw. That pause is important! The exchange should not feel rushed. Wait for one ball to hit the ground before throwing the other one. Also, note that this exchange cannot be juggled continuously. In other words, there will always be a gap before the pattern continues.
Practice the two-ball exchange on both sides (i.e., starting with both your right and LH) until it feels really solid. Your throws should be consistent so that you don’t have to reach or move your body to catch the balls. If you have trouble with the two-ball exchange, feel free to practice throwing with one ball and then move back up to two when you’re ready. This exchange is the foundation for three ball juggling, so take your time to get it right!
Step 2: Three Balls
Once you have the two-ball exchange nailed down, it’s time to move on to three balls! Juggling three balls is simply doing the two-ball exchange repeatedly without any pauses. Start by holding two balls in your RH and one ball in your LH (Image 6). Throw the ball in your RH that’s closer to your fingertips so that it hits the ground in front of your left foot. (Image 7).
Right as the red ball hits the ground, throw the purple ball (Image 8). Catch the red ball in your LH. Right as the purple ball hits the ground, throw the green ball (Image 9).
The next ball to throw is the red one. Note that this is similar to how we started, but the red ball is in the LH instead of the RH. To keep juggling, simply continue throwing from the opposite hand as soon as one ball hits the ground. The balls will always be thrown in the same order: red-purple-green, red-purple-green, etc. Notice that only one ball is moving towards the ground at any point. There should never be two balls in one hand besides when you start or end the pattern.
If you do not continue juggling and catch the green ball instead of throwing again (Image 10 and 11), then you will have completed a 3-ball flash. You juggled each ball once, and caught each one once.
