Ball bounce juggling has been around for well over a hundred years. Many jugglers think that the trend of bounce juggling off of not only the floor, but off of angled surfaces, is fairly new. This isn’t really the case. Former Russian dancer L. A. Street is generally considered the inventor of ball bounce juggling. Street began performing in 1898. He could bounce up to 7 balls off the raised platform on which he performed and up to 8 balls off of a wall and the platform. The wall that was attached to the end of the platform could be arranged at various angles depending on the trick he was performing.
L.A. Street
Ball bounce jugglers that copied and followed Street also did wall bouncing. This included Robertus and Wilfredo. This father and son team hailed from Lowell, Massachusetts (USA) and were performing in Europe by 1900.
Robertus and Wilfredo
Robertus and Wilfredo
Robertus and Wilfredo
Robertus and Wilfredo
C.O. Pillnay did wall bouncing as well. The following illustration shows this wall bouncing and appears to show him also bouncing off of a 45 degree surface (the white rectangle near the bottom left of the image).
C. O. Pillnay
Rudy Horn (1933-2018) famously bounced 7 balls off of an angled drum head, as you can see if the following photos and videos.
Rudy Horn
Rudy Horn
Many consider Michael Moschen’s creation of his Triangle routine as the start of modern explorations with angled ball bounce juggling. Take a look at his incredible routine below.
Much to his chagrin, others have copied Moschen’s act, or at least used his apparatus to create their own routines. Below is a video of John Blanchard exploring triangle bounce juggling.
Jacapo Michieli has also recreated Mocshen’s triangle prop, as you can see if the next two videos.
Rejean St. Jules includes his version of Moschen’s Triangle (as well as Dan Menendez’s bounce piano) in his act, as you can see below.
Rejean’s son Sebastian has also done the triangle act, as you can see below.
In Part 2, we’ll examine Greg Kennedy’s Orthogonal / V creation and other modern takes on angled ball bounce juggling.
David Cain
David Cain is a professional juggler, juggling historian, and the owner of the world's only juggling museum, the Museum of Juggling History. He is a Guinness world record holder and 16 time IJA gold medalist. In addition to his juggling pursuits, David is a successful composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and singer as well as the author of twenty-six books. He and his children live in Middletown, OH (USA).