Glossary

Any term marked with an asterisk in a contribution to the journal has a definition specified on this page.

body trick
an expression that implies a juggler’s bodily involvement when performing a gesture or fragment of movements. Body tricks refer to a set of metaphorical or literal names that jugglers propose to use. A “sling” can in this sense mean a “behindthe neck throw”. It is therefore possible to specify body zones around or even with the help of which at least one object leaves, evolves or is caught, for example. Names may also include various additional details, such as the nature of the trajectory of an object: for example, “backcross” or “stomachcatch“.

cascade: one of the best-known juggling patterns, usually performed with an odd number of balls whose alternating trajectories form a lemniscate, otherwise known as the “infinity” sign [∞].

convention: a gathering of practitioners over several days whose organization is based on principles according to which jugglers and, more broadly, circus artists participate in, and even organize, meetings where performances and workshops take place.

duplex: multiplex with two objects.

dwell-time The term “dwell time” refers to how long an object stays in the hand of a juggler.

Échappées: a high point in the pedagogical journey of students at the Centre national des arts du cirque de Châlons-en-Champagne, which comes at the end of the three-year diploma course. The “Échappées” designate, in the same way as the “Envols” at the Académie Fratellini, all the short forms presented by the students to a large audience in order to share the fruit of their artistic research.

balance: an expression referring in part, in the case of juggling, to the act of suspending –balancing– an object.

excalibur (or vertax): term used by diabolists to designate the rotation of at least one diabolo when it is tilted at ninety degrees; its movement is generally made possible by a back-and-forth gesture with one of the two rods which consists in accelerating the speed of the object.

trick: generally refers to a gesture or fragment of movement in juggling that can be visually grasped and identified in itself through at least one performance.

fountain: juggling pattern consisting of throwing and catching at least two balls in the same plane (e.g. one hand).

flow
Flow is a term that can be translated as “flow”, and which in the case of juggling refers to certain practices known as ” flow arts “; the search for a feeling of continuity of movement constitutes their raison d’être.

multiplex: an expression initially used and developed by jugglers from the siteswap notation to designate the act of throwing several objects at the same time.

passing
(or “social” juggling ): English expressions designating the exchange of objects between several jugglers.

pattern A sequence of juggling movements that can be reproduced, and whose sequence makes it easier to read.

periodic: juggling is said to be periodic when it is based on repeated movements or a sequence of movements.

point of suspension (or fixed): point from which a body or an object reaches a threshold where the absence of speed and weight gives the impression that it is floating in the air, is suspended.

routine: expression designating the assembly of gestures and/or sequences of juggled movements. A routine can be considered for training purposes as well as for sharing, and thus in this sense to compose a juggling work.

siteswap swap: name of a notation system often known to jugglers, which refers to the act of exchanging (in English ” to swap “) one or more objects at places (called ” sites “) in space and time. The siteswap notation allows in part to transcribe the movements of muscular objects, in particular repeated sequences of movements(patterns). Whether it is one or more practitioners juggling together, the siteswap uses numbers, letters and punctuation marks to provide information about changes in the order of the objects, the height of the throws, and the time between a throw and a catch.

stop motion
A juggling technique based on blocking that the juggler and teacher Olivier Burlaud proposes to name in reference to the cinematographic field. He also uses the term “stop juggling” to describe the situation in which the blocking of objects occurs in the juggled movement.

swinging A technique related to the flow arts, which consists of making a swinging movement with at least one object.

symmetrical: Juggling is said to be symmetrical when at least two areas where juggling is identified (e.g. one hand) offer the same thing (e.g. the same throws) synchronously or not (alternately).