Serious Juggling > Glossary

American Club
A wide-bodied club made from one piece of hollow plastic, these are patterned after the larger clubs favored by early American jugglers (see European club).
Black light
An item that is "black light sensitive" will fluoresce, or glow when exposed to ultraviolet light (black light). These lights are often seen in nightclubs or on stages, and have a purplish color to the eye.
European (Euro) Club
A thinner-bodied club made popular by European jugglers.
Force Bounce
To juggle balls by bouncing them off the ground using a throwing motion in the direction of the ground (usually in a reverse cascade). See also "Lift bounce."
Glow
An item that is listed as "glow" in color, or glow-in-the-dark is made with phosphorescent pigment that stores light energy. If such an item is held in the light for a few minutes and then taken into darkness, it will give off a glowing light for a short time. In the light, the color of these objects is a pale greenish yellow or off-white.
Handle, long/short
A longhandled club is usually around 52 cm (20.5 in.), while a shorthandled club tends to be 48 or 49 cm (roughly 19 in.) Shorthandled clubs have a faster spin, and could often be seen in the circus ring. They used to be more popular, but since about 1990, most people use longhandled clubs, and now almost all clubs sold are longhandled.
Joggling
Running and juggling at the same time.
Lift Bounce
To juggle balls by bouncing them off the ground using a lifting motion to release the ball upward with the palm up (usually in a reverse cascade). This method is slower and easier than a "Force bounce."
Meteor
A long rope or cord with a small weight at each end. A traditional performance prop in Chinese acrobatics, the ends of the meteors can be swung in circles like poi, or the meteor can be used for staff moves or high throws.
Multi-piece (Composite)
A club design generally consisting of a central wooden dowel encased by a molded plastic body and separate molded or wrapped handle, with rubber tips at each end. These clubs are more comfortable on the hands, and usually have a finely tuned balance.
NTSC
See PAL & NTSC.
Numbers juggling
Juggling more balls than what most people can keep track of visually.
One-piece
A club design consisting of one piece of hollow, molded plastic. These clubs can be less expensive to manufacture, but have hard handles, and are less comfortable.
PAL & NTSC
Different VHS video formats: PAL is used in Europe and most of the world; NTSC is used in Japan and North America.
Poi
The art of swinging circles with a small weight attached to a cord in each hand. Poi were developed by the Maori people of New Zealand, as well as by people native to Hawaii and Alaska.
Siteswaps
A notation for describing a series of juggling throws. In basic site swap notation, one assumes that a juggler is making alternating throws in a steady rhythm, and assigns a number to each throw based on how many beats later the thrown object will have just landed and will be available again to be thrown. For example, if you were to juggle a steady three-ball cascade, and then juggle two in one hand for two throws of that hand, and then return to the three-ball cascade, the pattern would read: ...3 3 3 4 2 4 2 3 3 3... A 3 three is a crossing throw at three-ball height, a 4 is a throw to the same hand at four-ball height, etc. A 2 notates a ball held in the hand until that hand's turn comes up again, a 1 is a low throw straight to the other hand in time for the next beat, and a 0 denotes a beat in which a hand is empty.
Tri-Laminated
The method of coating mylar decorations with vinyl used by Brian Dubé to increase durability.

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last updated 7/26/13
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