juggling.tv

A short promo of my act

A video I put together from the past few weeks of my practice videos'

This one is quite easy, assuming you can already do a forward roll from a standing position. So, learn to do a forward roll from a standing position (get a gymnast to teach you :-) then put a hat on the floor in front of you, with the opening facing skywards and give it a go!

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.

Backcross to head catch - Throw the hat behind your back, and catch it on your head. Like most throwing moves, this is a variation on the Throw to head - so it's probably a good idea to learn that first! Hold the hat in your right hand using an inside grip, spread your fingers out nice and wide as you would for a normal throw to the head. Swing your arm out to the side, so that the crown of the hat is pointing downwards. Bring your arm behind your back and release the hat so that it does a nice, high, slow spin above your left shoulder. As the hat descends, look up into it and catch it in the same way that you would for a standard throw to the head. Top Tip: The catching part is easier if you turn your head towards your left shoulder just before the catch. Oh, and obviously learn this throw from both hands... From the TricksWithHats archive

Throw to Foot - Throw the hat to your foot as if it was a hatstand. Hold the hat crown up above the shoulder with an inside grip. Lift the leg and keep it straight, flexing the foot as much as you can. With a flick of the wrist throw the hat straight to the foot with a single spin. This trick looks best if the throw is as straight as possible. Foot to Head is a nice return trick from here.

Just transitioning from standing to lying down.

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Slide the back of the hand up your face to remove the hat with an inside grip. Do a forward tumble as you bow to your audience, and stick the hat back on your head as you stand up.

Ben runs a Last Man Standing for Kendama London at KentClicks.