About four months ago, I challenged the juggling community with ten tricks of which I was unaware that anyone had accomplished on video, as well as tricks from the first Dream Tricks Challenge that no one had done. A number of intrepid jugglers did succeed in meeting the challenge of these very difficult tricks. Below are the amazing videos that resulted.
Leftover from Dream Tricks Challenge # 1
5 Club Backcrosses In Singles – This challenge was to qualify five club backcrosses using nothing but single spins. After a tremendous amount of practice and hard work, this was finally accomplished by Florian Canaval of Austria. You can watch his progress and final success in the following video.
5 Club 5 Up Front Roll – This is perhaps the most difficult trick on this list, but it has been done before. Evgeni Biljauer was famous for performing a 5 club 3 up front roll in his act and doing the 5 up version in practice, but no video of it exists.
3 Devil Stick Cascade – This trick is specifically for devil sticks, not flower sticks. Nikki Sneep-Snijders has flashed this. The challenge is for a qualify of six “catches.”
Tricks from Dream Tricks Challenge #2
1. 5 club Blind / Scorpion Kick – I was really looking forward to seeing someone toss a club back out of a five club cascade and blind kick it back into the pattern without collecting the other clubs, but no one was up the the challenge. Maybe someone will get it in the near future.
2. 3 Club Bounce 360 – This trick was first achieved by Luca Pferdmenges of Germany.
It was also done by 2009 IJA Individuals Champion Doug Sayers.
3. 8 Ring Pancake Flash – No one succeeded in doing this trick, so it will remain on the list. Here’s what we were looking for. Out of an eight ring juggle, throw 8 pancake throws. Click here see Serge Ignatov flash 7 ring pancakes and click here to see Kathrin Wagner do the same.
4. 8 Ball Bounce To 8 In The Air – Another trick that wasn’t accomplished yet. I knew this one was going to be very, very tough. We’re looking for a run of 8 ball bouncing taken right into 8 balls juggling in the air. Click here to see a video of Eden Zak doing it with 7 balls and here to see Doug Sayers doing the same.
5. 3 Diabolo 3 Up Front Roll – Again this one was not attempted, as far as I know. I apparently set the bar a bit too high on some of these tricks!!!
6. Triple Ball Stack And Single Spin – This trick was done by the incredible juggler and ball spinner Angel Egea.
7. 5 Club Back Crosses With A Balance – This very impressive trick was done by Svetlana Zueva. She achieved the required 10 catches of five club backcrosses while balancing a club.
8. 1 High 5 Low 6 Club 360 – This one will be carried over since no one accomplished it. For this trick, juggle 6 clubs, toss one high, toss the other five low, pirouette, catch the low five, and then catch the high throw back into 6 clubs. No problem!! To see the five club version of this trick, click here to see Benjamin Thompson’s version, here to see Daniel Ledel’s version, here to see Carey Pickford Jr.’s version, here to see Florian Canaval’s version (into 744), and here to see Jack Denger’s version into back crosses.
9. 3 Club Kickup Into 5 Clubs – I worked on this trick myself for quite a while and could never quite get it, so I find this especially impressive that two jugglers got it. The first to do this trick was Jon Peat. As you can see below, he kicks the clubs high to start the pattern.
The other juggler to meet this challenge was Ketil Grammont of France. He kicks the clubs low to start the pattern.
10. Five Ball Shoulder Throws On Both Sides – This trick was done by Luke Davies of the UK. While they’re not as low or un-backcross-like as Dick Franco’s were when I saw him do it, it’s still shoulder throw-ish enough!
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 16 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-six books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).