After travelling round Europe seeing street performers and starting to learn to juggle with my friend Rodrigo, I joined the university juggling club and decided to specialise in the diabolo. These harlequin diabolo’s have kept me occupied for hundreds of hours.
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Diabolo of choice: Two Heavy duty Mister Babache Harlequins. Robust rubber cups, 335 grams for a good spin duration, two-colour for easy speed calculation. |
Learning the Diabolo taught me the importance of practice and not giving up before you start. Many people see something and say to themselves “wow, I wish I was good enough to do that” and the truth is, it’s really something that can be done if you’re prepared to practice.
I developed my diabolo skills at the university circus skills club and started going to other clubs such as “the circus space” in Old Street and then some rave venues in derelict niches of London Bridge where elite diaboloists hung out. I found it inspiring until my rate of improvement started to drop and I plateaued at a level way off from what I’d seen was technically possible by some of the diabolo-masters I had met. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realise enthusiasm and practice could take me quite far but I lacked the natural skill and co-ordination to be brilliant. Learning more tricks using two diabolos at the same time is my ongoing challenge. Check out www.Diarhythm.com (amazing videos) and www.diabolotricks.com (good diagrams).
