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Hold the hat by the brim in an outside grip with the crown facing forwards.
Swing your arm up infront of you, until your hand is about eye level, with the hat tilting slightly upwards. If you let go at the top of the swing, the hat's momentum should carry it through, and it will roll down your arm.
The movement that follows is similar to the one arm tumble. Look down your arm, tuck your chin in, and raise your arm slightly so that the hat rolls downhill and on to your head.
Once you can do that, try throwing the hat from your left hand, and using the right hand to guide it into a dynamic arm tumble.
00:03
1713
0
04-12-2015
[0]
At some point, your hat will end up on the floor and you'll want it back in your hand. You could just bend down and pick it up (boring!), use a normal foot to head (less boring, but relatively easy) or you could use this little move... (Far more studly way to kick a hat :-)
Place the hat on the floor, to your left, crown downwards and the opening tilting slightly towards you.
Point your right toe, and bring it behind your left leg. Place your right toe into the opening of the hat, and give it a quick upwards flick. With luck (and practice :-) you can make the hat jump up into your left hand.
Top tip: If the hat isn't quite in the right position, you can use your right foot to move it around a bit before kicking.
Bonus points: Do it without falling over about 20 times whilst filming the damn clip for your website...
00:04
1678
0
04-12-2015
[0]
Grip the front of the crown of the hat and remove it from the head. Hold the hat vertically and spin it outwards while pushing the hat up with the finger tips. After one spin catch the hat in an outside grip.
With a bit of extra practice you can do this with two or three spins or do it in "slow motion".
00:09
1752
0
04-12-2015
[0]
Hold the hat by the brim with your left hand so that the crown of the hat is facing away from you. Take the stick in your right hand.
With a flick of your wrist, throw the hat up slightly so that it starts spinning anti-clockwise. As the hat descends, hit the brim with the stick slightly to the right of center, such that the stick curves slightly upwards and outwards. This will cause the hat to spin as it rises into the air. As it descends again, repeat the hitting action.
The idea of the basic spin is to keep the hat in the air by hitting it repeatedly with the stick in this manner. I find it helps if you look at the top portion of the inside of the hat.
Adjusting the spin rate and direction:
Hitting the hat nearer the center will give you a slower spin and more height, nearer the edge will give you a faster spin but less height. Obviously striking the left side of the brim will reverse the spin and cause the hat to go clockwise.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:05
2850
0
24-01-2015
[1]
Hold the arm out to the side and move the head so that you are looking directly along the arm.
Use the neck chop to knock the hat and a let it roll down the arm. Catch it with an inside grip.
Raise the arm up and flick the hat back along it. Tuck the chin in beside the shoulder as the hat gets close and it will pop back onto the head.
The key to this trick is to move your arm so that the hat is always rolling "downhill".
00:03
1578
0
04-12-2015
[0]
Onehanded, Continuous Tumbles - The hat keeps tumbling, in your hand, continuously, infinitely, forever, or at least until you stop.
This trick is an extension of the Tumble - so go learn that one now.
You'll notice that after you have performed a tumble, you are holding the hat the wrong way round to perform a second tumble immediately after it. This is where the extension comes in.
During the first tumble (which is a standard tumble), the hat rotates 1.5 times. The second tumble is similar, but the hat is thrown without a change in grip, it still does 1.5 spins, which means that it is now facing the same way as when you started!
Inorder to give yourself space for the second tumble, it feels like you need to throw it a tiny bit higher or faster.
Try to make it all flow together into a continuous movement, the hat shouldn't ever pause, the hand acts more as a guide to keep it rotating in the right direction.
A nice variation on this is to tumble the hat infront of you, switching hands between tumbles.
00:08
1801
0
06-12-2015
[0]
Use a palm-up fork grip at the back of the hat and remove it, straightening the arm. As the arm straightens twist the wrist and take the ring finger off the brim. Spin the hat so that it moves between the middle and forefingers, then transfer the grip to the forefinger and thumb and continue the spin for as far as you can.
Reverse the "twiddle" to place it back on the head.
The main video clip for this trick doesn't show the fingers in any great detail. See the closeup version (120K mpeg) for a better view. For best results you might want to set your video player to loop the clip.
00:03
1664
0
15-03-2015
[0]
Steve Rawlings showed me this trick in Birmingham and said that he used to do it in every show, but now that he's older (and a little rounder :-) he can't get it every time any more. Steve uses a china plate for this trick, but it works with hats too which is why it's here! :-)
Take the hat in your right hand, using an inside grip and hold it so that the crown of the hat is facing to the left.
Throw the hat virtically with some spin, and then do the following while the hat is in the air...
Put your right hand between your legs
Take the hand around the back of the right leg
Stand on your left leg and move the right hand & foot behind the left leg
Then, catch the descending hat in your right hand, from that position. Without falling over.
Top Tips: Practice the "tangle yourself up" bit first without the catch. Keep your eye on the hat as it decends, practice loads...
Luke Burrage managed to get this on video within 30 minutes. I've been trying for weeks and can't do it. It's pretty hard.
00:06
2448
0
15-03-2015
[0]
The hatstand made its debut at chocfest 7, where I was compering. After a period of prototyping and refining, I built the version that worked. I demoed this a couple of times then it broke. I replaced the elastic and set it up for the big day, used it on stage and it worked, then broke next time I used it.
Be prepared to spend significant tinkering time in between uses, and for frequent breakdowns. That said, it's never let me down when I've needed it.
All in all I've found it a great way to get chicks[1], if you don't count the long evenings spent honing the design and strewing the house with geeky construction equipment, and the fact you'll be laughed out of most nightclubs if you go in wearing a topper. But on stage it works, and it has drawn admiring glances from fellow jugglers and even won us a bag full of croissants on one occasion.
Sweavo, June 2003
[1] facts may vary
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:07
3182
1
24-01-2015
[1]
The Shuffle - Another three hat juggling trick - this time it's the half shower
This is a variation of a jugglers' trick called the Half Shower.
Start with one hat on the head, and one in each hand, held in an outside grip. Throw one hat across the body, flat, with no spin. As soon as you've let go of this hat, take off the one on your head with your now-empty hand. The other hand slaps/places its hat onto the head, just in the nick of time to then catch the first (thrown) hat. You should now be back where you started.
The timing is a little odd for this one, but just remember "Throw.... take....place....catch", and you'll get it.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:10
2692
0
06-12-2015
[0]
Thumb Spins - Spin the hat around your thumb
Hold the hat in an inside grip and spin it so the top of the brim stays in contact with the thumb. After a single spin catch it again in an inside grip.
Once you've mastered singles try longer spins. This trick is very versatile and can be used to add lots of flourishes. Try adding one in anywhere that you use an inside grip, or just throw one in with your hand outstretched or up above your head.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:04
2020
0
15-03-2015
[0]
Twiddled Big Circles - A trickier but nicer version of Big Circles
Big Circles is a big, visual trick, but the grip change can be slightly ungainly. The twiddle that this trick adds gives a similar effect but has a smoother, if slightly more difficult, change.
Mike and LP disagree on the best way to do this - LP's way, shown in the video clip above, is to do a finger twiddle, as described in the Forward Twiddle when the hat is at the top of the circle. Mike uses a Thumb Spin to adjust the grip.
Try both and decide which feels more comfortable to you, there's little point getting both smooth as they look identical to anyone except a hat manipulation geek, and there aren't many of them in the world!
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:05
1815
0
15-03-2015
[0]
Upward twiddle - Twiddle the hat directly above the head
Use a palm-up fork grip on both sides the hat, and lift it off the head and straight up. Remove the ring fingers from the brim and twist the hat between the fore and middle fingers. Stop the spin by gripping the brim between the fore fingers and thumb.
You can either place it straight back on the head, or reverse the twiddle on the way back down.
From the TricksWithHats Archive
00:03
1769
0
04-12-2015
[0]
While walking forward grip the front of the brim (using any grip you like) with the right hand and the back of the hat with the left. Stop when your right foot is forward and lift up onto the toes. Hold the hat still above the head and pivot round so the left foot and hand are now in front of you. You can continue walking or turn back and forth on the spot.
00:07
1805
0
15-03-2015
[0]
This is a combination of parts of two other tricks, so it would probably help to learn them first. They are the Arm Roll and the Wipe Up
Start with the hat on your head. With the right arm, do the first part of a wipe up, just to the point where the hat comes off your head. However, instead of carrying it out to the side, push the hat back on your head so that the bottom of the brim comes into contact with your shoulder blades.
Use your upper arm to push the hat off and to the left, so that it can roll down your arm as though you were doing an Arm Roll, catching it in you hand as you do so
One variation that Mike is fond of, is to grip the front part of the crown with the crook of the elbow. Mike claims this gives him more options, and more control over where the hat goes. Try it, it may work for you too!
00:03
2024
0
15-03-2015
[0]
Hold the plate by it's edge and spin it so that the rim stays in contact with your thumb. After a single spin catch it again. Once you've mastered singles try longer spins. This trick is very versatile and can be used to add lots of flourishes.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:03
1680
0
09-03-2015
[0]
Hold the plate by it's edge and spin it so that the rim stays in contact with your thumb. After a single spin catch it again. Once you've mastered singles try longer spins. This trick is very versatile and can be used to add lots of flourishes.
00:12
1386
0
09-03-2015
[0]
Slide the plate down your back and allow the plate to catch and stay in the back of your trousers. What comedy!
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:08
1679
0
09-03-2015
[0]
A variation of the simple turnover:
Start with the plate flat in your right hand. Throw it slightly, and while it's airborne turn your right hand so that the heel of the hand contacts the underside of the left rim of the plate as it descends. Push upwards and over with your hand and turn it over so that the plate comes to rest back in your palm.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:05
1737
0
09-03-2015
[0]
A variation of the simple turnover:
Start with the plate flat in your right hand. Throw it slightly, and while it's airborne turn your right hand so that the heel of the hand contacts the underside of the left rim of the plate as it descends. Push upwards and over with your hand and turn it over so that the plate comes to rest back in your palm.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:05
1654
0
09-03-2015
[0]
Start with a normal right handed upward curl and as soon as the palm is facing forward at the top reach the left hand over and put it onto plate to the right of the right hand. Curl both hands round the front of the plate, which comes down in front of the belly, and then continue to bring the hands round to the back, pushing the plate back up to the left. Take the right hand off and do a left handed downward curl.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:06
1623
0
09-03-2015
[0]
The plate is held and thrown vertically, and spins in the vertical plane. Jugglers will recognise this as the way that rings are usually thrown.
From the TricksWithHats archive
00:04
1493
0
09-03-2015
[0]
This form of staff juggling now seems to be commonly called "fei-cha".
It comes from the traditional Chinese acrobatic repertoire, and in chinese acrobatics books and videos that I have seen it is translated as "trident manipulation".
The trident has loose elements at the head, which make the jangling sound - it's often a very noisy act.
This spinner is Mohamed Badr El Nouby from the Cairo Circus School.
01:33
3292
0
02-09-2015
[2]
To get involved with Trigon juggling, head to https://www.facebook.com/groups/trigonjuggling/./nMusic is "Flight of the Lulu" by Possimiste. http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Possimiste/~/The_Flight_Of_Lulu/nThe music and this work are both licensed Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
03:23
3995
5
16-08-2013
[6]
Trip The Switch, Ian Deady and Gerardo Martin Martel went to Lugansk in the Ukraine, survived the vodka and got to perform at the Future of Circus Festival and win a prize which we were told was Jury Special Prize. We couldn't read it, it's written in Cyrillic. But lovely decrepit cheesy permanent Brehznev era circus building.
06:53
5766
1
19-02-2010
[5]
