Mills Mess

What is mills mess, and why do I need to know it ?

Well I know that it is named after a guy named Steve Mills, but that maybe he doesn't exactly take credit for it. This is covered in the juggling news group ( news:rec.juggling ) FAQ or at JIS and that is not my point here. I did read about it, but didn't understand it until I went to California one week and visited a juggling club that meets at Cal. Tech. So it helps to have someone show you how. Maybe some of the juggling software at the JIS will help you to visualize this. You need to know the Mills Mess so that people will think you are a real juggler.

NOTE: There seems to be more right handed people in the world than left handed ones so I'm counting starting with 2 in the right hand. I happen to be left handed. We all know that both hands have to be good in juggling.

First, a little practice choreography...

When you get this going it looks like you are continually crossing and uncrossing your arms while juggling three things.

Try this practice step to get the feel of the arm movement before you start to really juggle it.

	Two bags in your right hand, one in the left.
	Cross your right arm over your left arm.
	Toss one of the bags in your right hand toward your right side and let it fall on the floor to your right side.
	Uncross your arms and throw the bag in your left hand up and to your right side, it will fall to the floor next to the first bag.
	Cross your right arm under your left and throw the last bag up and to your right side, the bag should hit the floor next to the other two.
	Let me restate that, right over left; right hand toss to the right, arms parallel; left hand toss to the right, right arm under left arm; right hand toss to the right side.Three bags on the floor near your right side.

Try this a few times until you get comfortable or until you feel silly.

Next, reverse it. Throw with your left hand over your right, to the left, uncross right hand toss to left, etc...

Do this a few times.

Try once one way and once the other.

Feel silly yet ? If not keep practicing, if so, move on.

You might have noticed that the only thing you are not doing is any catching.

The catch is just like the 3 bag cascade. Grab the bag out of the air and throw it.

You already know that there is only one bag in the air and one in each hand, so it isn't that hard to make up your mind about which one to catch.

If you can do the throws, the catches will follow.

Catch and throw, cross and uncross, relax a little, go with the rhythm.

It helps me to do a little side to side sway of the hips as I merrily juggle along.

At first, this may seem difficult.

If this text is not clear, perhaps you would like to see a movie of me doing mills mess (145KB). This is a Windows Media Video file and should be viewable with windows media player.

It's easier than it looks!

What is mills mess, and why do I need to know it ?

First, a little practice choreography...