Bounce Juggling Videos and Books

Bounce Juggling Videos and Books

last updated 7-29-6

Professional Videos:

Passe Passe, about 86 minutes. I got mine from the Kinetic Juggling vendor table at a festival, although I couldn't find it in their online catalog, or anyone else's, or even at the Passe Passe website. This DVD has four sections. The one on bouncing is about 25 minutes long. The DVD won't play on my home-player, giving me the error, PLAYBACK PROHIBITED BY AREA LIMITATIONS. There is no warning of this on the DVD, at least not in English, nor did the Vendor warn me. It plays fine on my computer. The section on bouncing begins with an 8-minute instructional segment in which a bouncer named Sylvain (not Garnavault) shows how to do from 3 to 7 balls, while Chris Blair translates these lessons from French into English. He shows both the lift and force bounce (here they are called passive and active.) Then Fernando shows various combinations of tricks, repeated in slow-motion, from 3 to 8 balls. There's also some cool bouncing on stairs and escalators and wall bouncing.

Mars Needs Bouncers, 73 minutes, available on DVD, produced in Condor Studios November 2005. This is a collection of all those great and goofy bounce juggling videos by The Bounce Dicks previously available only as lower-quality free internet downloads, now for the first time on DVD. It also includes an instructional segment on bounce passing as well as all their personal best runs (most of these are current World Records), a picture gallery, and more. Check out the trailer. Buy the DVD here. The Bounce Dicks are David Critchfield and John Jones, five-time IJA Numbers Champions and current holders of 7 World Records in bounce passing. They are the only juggling team in history to pass 16 objects between them, a feat that remains unsurpassed to this day. Matt Hall says in his review in Juggle Magazine, "I found the best section to be their section on learning to bounce-pass -- nice narration and explanation coupled with simple video footage makes this section a definite must-have for bounce aficionados...If you...love record-breaking bounce passing, and have a quirky sense of humor, then you want to check this DVD out."

The Big Bouncer Show, 75 minutes, available in VHS, a Peapot Video distributed by Dubé. According to Dubé, "An extravagant compilation of ball bouncing in all its forms. Partly educational, partly a celebration of things that go boing boing. Including an amazing amount of solo bouncing work with up to 9 balls, this video should keep ball bouncers busy for a while and inspire many to start. Besides the Peapot residents, The Big Bouncer Show features also an exclusive ball bouncing improv by the leading expert of this art: Mr. Jérôme Thomas from France. Cast: Maksim Komaro, Ville Walo, Jay Gilligan, Valentin Lechat, Jérôme Thomas and Music by Malla Slot"

Bouncing in Paris, 2 hours, directed and edited by Vincent Bruel and JF Valentin, produced by MediaCircus and available at their website. The DVD plays fine on machines in the USA. Here's a review from rec.juggling by Itsik Orr: "The video is loosely divided into two parts, a demonstration part showing all kinds of ideas and crazy patterns, and an educational part, going progressively from 3 to 8 balls (solo) and from 6 to 18 balls (passing) with variations, tricks, techniques (force/lift catches vs. force/lift throws and various combinations of the two, mills messes from 3 to 5 balls etc.). I wouldn't stress this division though as it's very loose - there's a lot of educational stuff in the first part and a lot of show-off stuff in the second. A more practical division of the video can be made into "conventional" solo and passing patterns (people bouncing balls, standing on the floor, no walls or inclines or slopes or ceilings) vs. creative ideas (rolling balls on slopes and bouncing them off various crazy angles, people standing on different height platforms, touring Paris while bouncing, contorsion while bouncing, and lots and lots of small jokes, most of them very funny). The technical level is astounding in both categories, and I believe that regardless of your bouncing level you're bound to learn tons, and to have your jaw drop at least a dozen times. I particularly enjoyed the creative bits and the humor, and it's obvious that the people who made the tape (hi Vincent! hi J-F! ca va bien?) had a lot of fun. To sum it up, it's an excellent tape, certainly one of the best I own, and I recommend it to anyone interested in ball bouncing on any level. Some parts of it will mesmerize even non-jugglers, such as the excerpts from Groupe-111's show "IJK", and if my wife enjoyed it... well, that says it all believe me."

Ball Bouncing Juggling with Paul Bachman, 38 min, available from Dubé. This video is in 4 parts; "possibilities with 3, 4, and 5", "how to begin", "english", and "balls and stages". There's good bouncing here mixed with interviews with Paul discussing his philosophy on performing. Numbers bouncers will be disappointed since nothing higher than 5 balls is demonstrated however, the video is a must for bouncers.

Expert Ball Bouncing with Tim Nolan, 60 min, available from Tim Nolan Video, P.O. Box 11656, Norfolk, VA 23517, (757) 627-4643. Tim is a great bouncer and spends about 30 minutes just on 3-ball tricks. He then shows several 4 and 5 ball patterns and then a couple of patterns each with 6 & 7. Next Tim juggles 8 balls and then the video concludes with old footage of Tim using small superballs to juggle 9 and flash 10 balls while standing on a chair. The Nolan video is longer than the Bachman video, shows more tricks, and will delight the numbers jugglers and so receives my vote as the one to buy if you're only buying one. Both, however, belong in the serious bouncer's video collection. New! The 2003 edition of Expert Ball Bouncing is now available with 11 and 12 ball patterns plus 5 minutes of extra tricks.

In Motion with Michael Moschen, 60 min, available from Dubé. I haven't seen this one, but according to Dube, "A PBS Great Performances documentary on one of the world's greatest creative jugglers. Michael is the recipient of the 1990 MacArthur Fellowship, the "genius" grant. Includes his famous crystal ball work and innovative ball bouncing/triangle piece."

Performances:

Superb bouncing excerpts on IJA videos:

Miguel Herrera won the Seniors in 1992 (Montreal) with a primarily bounce juggling routine involving interesting force bounce tricks with 3, 4, and 5 balls. He closed by lift bouncing 6 and then 7 balls. He had a near flawless performance and a commanding stage presence.
Eric Wenoker won a bronze medal in 1993 (Fargo). The second half of his performance was a bounce routine with 3 and 4 balls involving interesting movement and patterns matched nicely to some didgeridoo music by Outback, I think.
Jay Gilligan didn't place but did some great bouncing in the Seniors in 1994 (Burlington). He did unusual things with 3 and 4 balls, force bounced 5 and did other 5 ball tricks, and then finished with a 7 ball lift bounce with U2's Zoo Station as the music.
Arnelio Diaz did a mistake-filled performance in the Seniors in 1995 (Vegas). It was quite painful to watch but it was obvious that the man is a serious bouncer. His Vegas-style performance from a special bounce stage included a 6 ball lift bounce while keeping the 7th ball going by tapping it with his feet.
Emile Carey won 2nd place in the Juniors in 1997 (Pittsburgh) with a routine that had some decent bouncing.
Greg Kennedy opened the Cascade of Stars in Pittsburgh with Orthogonal. This bounce routine ROCKED. Greg bounced balls off of a "V" shaped slab while fog and alternative music filled the air. This may have been the best act in the show. Unfortunately, only about a minute and a half of this is shown on the Festival Highlights video.
Emile Carey won 2nd place in the Juniors again in 1999 (Niagara Falls) with more good bouncing. He force bounced 5 on one knee while throwing an occasional ball under his leg.
Nate Seefeldt won 2nd place in the Juniors in 2001 (Madison) with a routine made up largely of bouncing. He had a table that he used in various ways to bounce off of including kneeling on while forcing 5 and looking at the audience. He also laid down under it while bouncing 3 off the underside. Then he stood back and forced 6 off the underside. The final trick was lift bouncing 7 on a rola bola on top the table.
Christian Kloc, competed in the 2002 Juniors and included some good force-bounce moves in his routine. He also attempted a 7-ball force and a 6-ball shower.
Pat McGuire won 2nd place in the Seniors in 2002 (Reading) with a routine that included some smooth 5 and 7-ball bouncing.
Emile Carey won 3rd place in the Seniors in 2004 (Buffalo) with an all bounce juggling routine including a 5-ball force while descending a set of stairs.
Nate Seefeldt competed in the Seniors in 2004 (Buffalo) bouncing balls off a table and chairs placed in various combinations and different angles.

Books:

Sylvain Duchesne: Jongler avec des balles au sol, Les Editions Logiques, Montreal, 1996, ISBN 2-89381-392-5. There is the only book devoted to bounce juggling. Johannes Waldmann provided this review; "my French is rather bad, but I (tried to) read through all of the book. The author discusses some 3 ball tricks, but for numbers greater than 3, discusses only basic tricks, but with a lot of detail (positions of body, hand, fingers, shape of the pattern, etc.). A lot of helpful drawings are included." The contents include about 8 pages on history and equipment, 18 pages on the 3-ball basics, 40 pages on 3-ball tricks, 22 on 4 balls, 18 on 5 balls, and 12 pages on 6 and 7 balls.

Encyclopaedia of Ball Juggling by Charlie Dancey, 224 pp, available from Dubé. Though not a bounce juggling book, this exhaustive manual covers some bouncing patterns and illustrates them completely. The basic bounce patterns are explained as well as spin and such tricks as "Bouncing Beast" and "Orbit Bounce". All the juggling tricks are arranged by name, alphabetically so you have to thumb through the book to find the bounce tricks.

Acknowledgements: Isaac Orr and Johannes Waldmann provided information for this page.

The Bounce Page was established 11-7-99