The
Diabolo (commonly misspelled as
diablo; formerly also known as "the devil on two sticks") is a
jugglingJuggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport . The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props. The most common props are balls or...
prop consisting of a spool which is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks held one in each hand. A huge variety of tricks are possible using the sticks, string, and various body parts. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string.
Diabolos come in different shapes and materials.
The
Diabolo (commonly misspelled as
diablo; formerly also known as "the devil on two sticks") is a
jugglingJuggling is a skill involving moving objects for entertainment or sport . The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, in which the juggler throws objects up to catch and toss up again. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props. The most common props are balls or...
prop consisting of a spool which is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks held one in each hand. A huge variety of tricks are possible using the sticks, string, and various body parts. Multiple diabolos can be spun on a single string.
Diabolos come in different shapes and materials. Diabolos with more weight tend to retain their
momentumIn classical mechanics, momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object . For more accurate measures of momentum, see the section "modern definitions of momentum" on this page...
for longer, whereas small/light diabolos can be thrown higher and are easier to accelerate to high speeds.
RubberNatural rubber is an elastomer that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically...
diabolos are less prone to breakage. One-sided diabolos are also available but are more difficult to use.
History
Diabolos evolved from the
Chinese yo-yoThe Chinese yo-yo is a toy from China consisting of two equally-sized discs connected with a long axle. The Chinese yo-yo is kept spinning on a string tied to two sticks at its ends. Each stick is held in one hand. In modern times, it is used as a children's toy and as a performance tool in...
, which was originally standardized in the 12th century. Chinese yo-yos have a long thin axle, with disc-shaped wheels, while the western diabolo is more cone-shaped. The diabolo also comes in different colors, sizes, and weights.
The diabolo was a favorite toy of physicist
James Clerk MaxwellJames Clerk Maxwell was a Scottish theoretical physicist and mathematician. His most significant achievement was the development of the classical electromagnetic theory, synthesizing all previous unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and even optics into a...
, who was said to be quite good at performing with it..
The term "diabolo" was not taken from the Italian word for "devil" — "diavolo" — but was coined by French engineer Gustave Phillipart, who developed the modern diabolo in the early twentieth century, and derived the name from the Greek
dia bolo, roughly meaning 'across throw'. Confusion about the provenance of the name may have arisen from the earlier name "the devil on two sticks", although nowadays this often also refers to another
circusA circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, animals, trapeze acts, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists. The word also describes the performance that they give, which is usually a series of acts that are...
-based skill toy, the devil stick.
Basic principles
The most basic act of diabolo manipulation is to cause the spool to spin whilst suspended from the string. This is commonly achieved by dragging the string across the axle in such a way that the friction causes the spool to roll. By repeatedly lifting one of the handsticks (for right-handed people, the driving hand is typically the right), the speed can be increased. This method is known as acceleration.
Further increases in speed are obtained by a variety of techniques, including power whips; accelerations, such as Chinese acceleration and loop acceleration; power burners, and orbit tricks.
Once speed is built up, the diaboloist then typically performs a routine based on the tricks outlined below. The best diaboloists can work these tricks smoothly into one another and keep the diabolo in a constant motion without having to pause to speed up the spin again. The diabolo will stay balanced as long there is speed.
Fundamental tricks
Tricks include:
- Toss - to throw the diabolo up and catch it.
- High Toss - throwing high in the air and catching it.
- Trapeze/Stopover - Swing diabolo around stick and catch on string.
- Backside - Catching the diabolo using the "bottom" of the string.
- Suicide/Stick release - To temporarily let go of either stick and then catch it again.
- Grind - To balance the diabolo on a stick
- Sun - The diabolo is swung round in a large circle, and will finish with a twist of string above the axle. An anti sun is done in the opposite direction to undo this twist. There are many different types of sun. This is the most basic kind.
- Around the leg
- Cradle - The line is tangled to form a shape and the diabolo itself is tossed on or in the shape.
- Orbit - Diabolo is tossed and caught repeatedly to make it go round,
- Over (bodypart) Orbits/Satellites- Advanced orbits to go around the neck, shoulders or body. Primary arm and leg orbits are considered the easiest.
- Magic knot/Knot - The line is tangled in a way it creates an illusion that the diabolo is jammed. It can be released usually with an upwards toss motion.
- Elevator/String climb - The diabolo "climbs" the string, this is done by wrapping the string around the spool and pulling tight so the friction allows the speed of the diabolo to roll it upwards.
- Coffee grinder - The diabolo is put on the "backside," then the string looped over the stick so the diabolo appears to be in open string. From there, the diabolo is tossed multiple times over the stick.
- Umbrella - The diabolo is swung and jerked side to side forming the outline of an umbrella.
- Spaghetti - A wrap of the string on the left side of the stick and under the diabolo and then a wrap of the string on the right side of the stick and under the diabolo. Essentially, a magic knot.
- Files - Putting both sticks in the left hand, swinging the diabolo over the finger and back on the string so there is a trapeze-like tangle, and throw the sticks under the finger and catch them again.
- Steam Engine - Pull the string down the side of the left stick and hold it with the left hand, then bring the right stick over the left and inside the loop created. Move the right stick in a small circle pushing at the loop, which will make the diabolo jump.
Advanced diabolo
There are hundreds of tricks with thousands of variations which fall outside these categories, these are often more difficult and form the "cutting edge" of modern diabolo routines. Some examples are:
- Genocide - This refers to tricks in which the diabolo leaves the string and is subsequently caught with the string in a suicide.
- Whip Catch - Diabolo is tossed into air and caught with a whipping motion of the line towards the diabolo.
- Finger Grind - The diabolo is caught on a finger rather than on a stick.
- Infinite suicides - A popular trick in which the diabolo appears to be suspended whilst one handstick orbits it, the diabolo can be either wrapped or unwrapped.
- Slack Whips - The stick/sticks are flicked in such a way that a loop of slack in the string is made, this then passes around the diabolo and/or sticks to attain a range of different string mounts.
- Excalibur - The diabolo is turned so that it is vertical, being the cups of the diabolo are above each other.
Multiple diabolos
Perhaps the most active area of development for diabolo involves tricks with more than one diabolo on a single string. When manipulating multiple diabolos "low," the diabolos orbit continuously on the string in a "shuffle." Shuffles are either synchronous (commonly referred to as "sync"), asynchronous ("async"), or only using the diaboloist's dominant hand, depending on whether the diaboloists hands' movements occur simultaneously or not.
Juggling multiple diabolos "high" involves continuously catching and throwing a number of diabolos, with never more than one diabolo on the string at any one time. Diabolists have pushed the number of diabolos juggled at once up to six "high" (although there is some controversy as to whether this counts as the number of catches achieved is so small) and four "low." Most diabolists, however, stick to using only two or three diabolos at once. The introduction of multiple diabolos on a single string allows for many new moves. Many are applications of one diabolo moves to multiple diabolos.
Tricks include :
- Accelerations - The diabolos are accelerated while they wrapped and the diaboloist dominant hand is pulled up in order to gain speed. 2 other ways of accelerating diabolos are either doing Chinese acceleration or the diabolos are shuffled very fast.
- Hyperloop/Sprinkler - The diabolos orbit each other inside a closed loop of string.
- Columns/Mini-columns - Two diabolos are bounced up and down on the string.
- Siteswap
Siteswap is a notation used to describe juggling patterns. It encodes the number of beats of each throw, which is related to their height, and the hand to which the throw is to be made. It is an invaluable tool in determining which combinations of throws yield valid juggling patterns for a given...
- A notation borrowed from toss juggling in which the diabolos are thrown in different rhythms based on a numeric description.
- Fan - Two diabolos are spun between the arms in a way which mimics the blades of a fan.
- Sun - The diabolos are swung in a circle
- Suicide - Similar to the one diabolo suicides but some tricks are not possible
- Knots - Similar to one diabolo knots, but both diabolos are wrapped up
- Stalls - This is where both diabolos are still spinning but not in shuffle. This allows a diaboloist to do a trick with the other.
Vertax
Another advanced diabolo style is
Vertax (Vertical axis, also known as Excalibur). This is where the diabolo is "tipped vertical" by means of "whipping" and is continually spun in this upright state. The person spinning it needs to rotate his/her body to keep up with the constant whipping action due to the momentum and centrifugal motion at which the diabolo spins. Although the number of tricks seems limited, people are finding more ways to perform with this style, including Vertax genocides, infinite suicides, and many suns, orbits, and satellites. It is also possible to have two diabolos in one string in vertax, this feat has been achieved by diabolo duo Tr'espace, and has also been done in the form of a fan, which up to date, can only be seen on
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
. Most of these tricks are accomplished by street performers in competitions, notably the GEDC and the Taipei PEC. Some cut-edge skilled vertax jugglers include the prestigious William (Wei-Liang) Lin (as of 2006, #1 in the world), Ryo Yabe (multiple diabolos), Higami (a Japanese juggling group, noted for inventing the first 'infinite suicide vertax'), and Jonathan P. Chen; these jugglers being former (and multiple) winners of these cups. Eric and Antonin (France) as well as Nate and Jacob Sharpe (USA) have contributed greatly to the development of vertax passing techniques.
Contact Diabolo
A rather new style of diabolo that is on the rise lately which is gaining new popularity. It utilizes the diabolo so that it has little or no spin at all. Then it can be caught and passed and manipulated with different parts of the body instead of just the sticks and string. It has new possibilities and new ideas are arising from this.
Loop Diabolo
Instead of having 2 sticks connected by a string the diabolo is manipulated on a loop of string held around the hands, this opens up a variety of new tricks such as suicides, suns, whips, stopovers, trapezes, 2 diabolo's and vertax. Yo-Yo type slack tricks can also be performed in loop.
http://wikidiabolo.com/index.php5?title=Loop_diabolo_-_One_tricks
Performances
Cirque du SoleilCirque du Soleil , is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy...
combines diabolos with acrobatics during feature acts in three shows,
Quidam{| align="right"| |}Quidam means "a certain", "some", or "anonymous passerby" in Classical Latin, and is the ninth show produced and performed by Cirque du Soleil....
,
La NoubaLa Nouba is a Cirque du Soleil show, which, like most Cirque du Soleil shows, is a circus-like performance featuring acrobats, gymnasts, and other skilled performers. Its title derives from the French phrase faire la nouba, meaning "to party" or "to live it up"...
, and
OVOOVO is a soundtrack for the Millennium Dome Show in London that was composed by Peter Gabriel. It was released August 29, 2000 and features guest vocals by Neneh Cherry, Rosco, Richie Havens, Elizabeth Fraser and Paul Buchanan . Two versions were released, a "limited version" , and a "regular"...
.
Circus SmirkusCircus Smirkus is a non-profit, award-winning, international youth circus founded in 1987 by Rob Mermin. Based in Greensboro, Vermont, the mission of Circus Smirkus is to promote the skills, culture and traditions of the traveling circus and to inspire youth to engage in life-changing adventures in...
in 2006 presented a duo diabolo act starring Jacob and Nate Sharpe with many advanced tricks including the first double sprinkler pass in a performance as well as some fine 5-diabolo passing.
The diabolo programs of many Chinese schools also provide performances, during the Chinese New Year or towards the end of the school year.
External links