This week Bob teaches the fundamentals of balancing objects. Whether it’s a juggling club, broom or a spoon the principles are the same so let’s take a look.
The first thing you will want to do is grab a long(ish) straight object. Juggling clubs are good but a broom, or wooden spoon also work well. The longer the object (to a certain extent) the easier it will be balance so a broom can be a good starting point.A top tip for younger balancers is peacock feathers. Their light weight and size makes them ideal for smaller hands.
You’ll find it easiest starting to balance objects on the palm of your hand. Place your chosen thing in your palm, fix your eyes on the top of the object and then…let go. You may find you instantly lose control and drop the object or you might find you are able to move your hand, adjusting continually and keep the object straight up. The key is to keep your focus on the top of the object and move your hand to counteract the imbalance. Some things you can practice to start mastering this is to try and move the object around while keeping it balanced. You can also try and move your hand around while aiming to keep the object in the same place.
If you find yourself getting to grips with this and able to maintain the balance for a good amount of time then let’s level up the difficulty. You can try balancing objects on different parts of your body; feet, knee, elbow, chin. Wherever you are trying to balance things the technique will remain the same but the part of your body you have to move to maintain the balance will change. The chin or forehead can be a fun place to rey after your hand.
Okay, okay. You’ve got the club balance on your head down, too easy! What’s next? Well try shrinking the size of the object down, how about a wooden spoon, a teaspoon or a pen. The smaller the size of the thing the harder it will be to keep it balanced. The movements you need to make will be smaller and it becomes hard not to overcompensate and lose it. With practice though you’ll be balancing spoons and the kitchen will be take on a lot more interesting dimension!
Other fun things you can try and balancing one object on another or throwing into a balance on your body or other object.
As with eveything keep practising and show us how you’re getting on!
