JUGGLING
Diabolo, Devil Sticking, Cigar Box Juggling and Toss Juggling are four types of juggling played all over the world. They have dated back to Ancient Egyptian times and have come all this way through time. Although we have modernized the designs and styles of the different acts, most of them are still performed the same way they were hundreds of years ago.
Toss juggling, or just juggling, is the physical human skill involving the manipulation of one or more objects usually through the air. The word “juggling” comes from the Middle English word “jogelen”, to entertain by performing tricks. The earliest known record of juggling is from a panel from the 15th Beni Hassan tomb of an unknown prince. On the panel are pictures of female through the dancers and acrobats throwing 3 balls air. Juggling has also been recorded in other early civilizations including, Chinese, Indian, Greek, Mexican, Aztec and Polynesian.
Balls, knives, rings, clubs, torches, chainsaws and food are just some of the stuff that can be juggled. Actually, pretty much anything can be juggled. Sergai Ignatov, Viktor Kee (Cirque du Soleil) and Andrii Kolenskinov are some of the greatest performing jugglers in the world, or maybe even ever. Circus, street, theatre and sport are some of the styles people express their love for juggling.
Viktor Kee, one of the performers for the Famous “Cirque du Soleil” show “ Dralion” was voted to have one of the best juggling acts in the world. Viktor was born in Ukraine his father was a musician and his mother was a dancer. He started Ballet school at age 4, but found his way into circus school with his brother by age 5. His Teacher, Alex Gruzin taught Viktor acrobatics, magic and of course juggling. By age 11 Viktor had a new teacher, Arcady Poupon and Viktor could juggle 9 balls and pirouette 7 times. In 1989, Viktor caught the eye of a well-known Ukrainian Choreographer, and was later recruited into Cirque du Soleil.
There are 2 main types of devil sticks, flower sticks and the original devil sticks. A flower stick is a wooden rod that is about 3 inches longer than the control sticks covered in rubber with leather or suede tassels and cups at the end. A real devil stick is much heavier and made of hard polished wood in a long, slight hourglass shaped form, the middle of the baton being the thinnest.
Devil Sticks are a set of 3 sticks consisting of 2 control sticks and 1 “devil stick” or baton, but it will often be referred to as just “ a pair of sticks”. Devil Sticks originated in Africa earlier than 3000 BCE and by 2000 BCE were being used by the Chinese. Then, it is commonly believed that Marco Polo brought Devil sticks to Europe from Asia and they have been used in Europe since the Renaissance. Devil Sticking became popular in the 1960’s when hippies modernized the design for their common outdoor festivals. Fire spinning is also becoming popular, it is just regular devil sticking but the ends have balls of cloth soaked in kerosene on them that are lit on fire. Devil sticks are gaining popularity all over the world.
Cigar Box juggling is almost just what it sounds like. You have three 7.5 x 4 x 2 and you manipulate them through the air. They are popular juggling props made popular by W.C. Fields (William Claude Dukenfield), a popular American comedian and juggler in the 1920’s. Kris Kremo is a more recent cigar box jugglers today and one of the best. Cigar box juggling always starts from the home position, the three boxes held end to end parallel to the ground. Instead of the more flowing style of toss juggling, cigar boxes produce more of a stop start illusion.
Kristian (Kris) Gaston Kremo was born is Paris but was a Swiss citizen. His father Bela Kremo was a great juggler so Kris inherited some skills from him. Kris grew up learning juggling and the art of manipulating other objects. Kris had his first circus season at the Blackpool Tower Circus in England. He then moved to the U.S and started performing at the Stardust. In 1988 he received the Las Vegas Award for best performing juggler for his cigar box and hat manipulation skills. Kris’ stage name is now just Kris Kremo.
A diabolo is a spool that is spun on a string connected to two wooden sticks. It is evolved from the Chinese yo-yo, which is the same thing, but with a longer axle and wooden disc-like ends. The word Diabolo is derived from the Greek word “dia bolo” roughly meaning to throw across. Gustave Phillipart coined the actual word diabolo. Even though it is from a Greek word it originated in China.
The some of the best diaboloists in the world are Ryo Yabe; a group called Higami and awarded The Best in the World in 2006, William Wei-lang Lin. The diabolo has been revolutionized to spin longer, spin faster and keep their balance better. It takes a bit of skill but once you get the hang of it is really fun.
These are only a few of the very interesting different forms and styles of juggling and they all originate from different parts of the world. Start juggling now and, who knows, you could become the next Viktor Kee, Kris Kremo or William Wei-Lang Lin!
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=kris+kremo+cigar+box&hl=en&emb=0&aq=f#
Above is one of Kris Kremo's performances with some cigar boxes, its pretty amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/juggling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_Sticks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar_box_(juggling)