Ringdama is a new skill toy invented by well-known juggler Daniel Holzman. Dan’s previous skill toy, Volcano Ball, was a new take on the old tube and balls routine and tennis can and balls. The Ringdama is based on the skill toys kendama and cup and ball.
The Ringdama consists of a wooden cup with four cut outs and a velcro ring attached to a ball by a string.
It can be used to do kendama and cup and ball style tricks, yo-yo type moves, poi-inspired manipulation, astrojax moves, and much more. I was one of the first people to try the Ringdama, testing Daniel’s prototype at the 2016 IJA Festival. Now I’m not particularly talented at kendama, cup and ball, yo-yo, or poi, but I could tell right away that it would be a fairly easy toy to learn the basics with and yet would have many possibilities to play with. This was confirmed when my 13 year old daughter tried it and was doing tricks in a matter of minutes. Check out the Kuma Films video starring Jonathan Alvarez to see the Ringdama in action.
Ringdama is a brand new skill toy, but as you can see from the video, there are already numerous tricks that can be performed with the prop. Jugglers and flow artists will find the basics easy to master and can start creating their own tricks quite soon. The Ringdama is well-made and can be carried anywhere, which allows for easy practice. Check out the following video showing some of the basic and intermediate moves, narrated and demonstrated by creator Daniel Holzman.
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).