Cascade (juggling)
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| Minimum prop #: 3 | |
| Difficulty: Cascade: 2/10, 3 Reverse cascade: 4/10, Tennis: 2/10, Half-Shower: 3/10(note: difficulty ratings are arbitrary and subject to change) | |
| Siteswap: 3 | |
| Shannon: 12 | |
| Period: 1 | |
| Parity: odd | |
| Notes: symmetrical, asynchronous |
In toss juggling, a cascade is the simplest juggling pattern achievable with an odd number of props. The simplest juggling pattern is the three-ball cascade, This is therefore the first pattern that most jugglers learn. However, although the shower is more complicated, "some people find that the movement comes naturally to them," and it may be the pattern learned first. "Balls or other props follow a horizontal figure-eight [or hourglass figure] pattern above the hands." In siteswap, each throw in a cascade is notated using the number of balls; thus a three ball cascade is "3".
In the cascade, an object is always thrown from a position near the body's midline in an arc passing underneath the preceding throw and toward the other side of the body, where it is caught and transported again toward the body's midline for the next throw. As a result, the balls travel along the figure-eight path that is characteristic of the cascade.
"In the cascade...the crossing of the balls between the hands demands that one hand catches at the same rate that the other hand throws [synchronization]. The hands also take turns [coupled oscillation]..."
For the three-ball cascade the juggler starts with two balls in one hand and the third ball in the other hand. One ball is thrown from the first hand in an arc to the other hand. Before catching this ball the juggler must throw the ball in the receiving hand, in a similar arc, to the first hand. The pattern continues in this manner with each hand in turn throwing one ball and catching another.
All balls are caught on the outside of the pattern (on the far left and right) and thrown from closer to the middle of the pattern. The hand moves toward the middle to throw, and back towards the outside to catch the next object. Because the hands must move up and down when throwing and catching, putting this movement together causes the left hand to move in a counterclockwise motion, and the right hand to move in a clockwise motion.
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Wikipedia