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What would be the best book/dvd/learning material to get to learn Contact Juggling. I'm a beginner and am not very good so a wide variety of material might be good.

What size Ball is recommended to start out with for someone for someone with comparatively small hands? I started with a lacrosse ball and you can't make the isolations look good with it so another recommendation is appreciated. (Don't even think about putting that in bingo)




It's not strictly magic so I put it in the Dove's Head.


Thanks!

Shall i field this one?
I always use a 100mm stage ball but if you have smaller hands for for something like 70/80mm. If you're still a beginner then I suggest you do not buy an acrylic and just practise with stage balls, if you want a "crystal" looking ball to learn with (or to learn multiball) then buy polycarbs, they are cheaper and while they do not look as good, after a few weeks they will look just the same as had you bought an acrylic after you've dropped them a load of times.
as for DVDs you can't go far wrong with getting on www.contactjuggling.org and buy their instructionals, don't get In Isolation thinking you're buying learning material, do buy it later though
also check out Matt Olsens DVDs on CJ, they're quite nice
Although, as i always say, the best way to learn is to get along to a juggling convention and get some interactive learning going on, I watch various juggling tutorials on the net but one day at a convention will teach me more than a few months of watching videos.

anymore questions just post them here or drop me a PM

I found $15 acrylics is that worth it to buy? I don't mean to sound like I'm not taking your advice, I just saw the polycarbonates were about that price.

Ian the Mental-Ian wrote:I found $15 acrylics is that worth it to buy? I don't mean to sound like I'm not taking your advice, I just saw the polycarbonates were about that price.

If you want to put the link up i'll check it out but at that price i imagine they're either going to be very low quality (or polycarbs)
I, personally, wouldn't buy an acrylic off the net excepting from very reputable sites (oddballs, fire toys, beard, etc...); I'd prefere to be able to have a good look at them before i buy, as quality can be questionable sometimes and is a very important issue when it comes to acrylic performances (a scuffed acrylic will destroy your isolations no matter how smooth they are). It is also reasonably important to get the right size that's comfortable for you to use, you don't want to go forking out for something then realise it's not quite what you need. Get along to a juggling shop and handle a few and see what fits.

Back in my teens, I taught myself to juggle in a day using tissues. If you separate the tissue so it's only one layer thick, it ends up quite thin and light so gives you more time to catch it as it falls. Unconventional perhaps, but it worked for me. After the tissue thing, I moved onto tennis balls. It took the whole day but after that I was able to juggle three balls.

That probably doesn't help you but just thought I'd share my experiences in case anyone wants to learn to juggle.