Dancey's Devilment

Other Tutorials:

Colin Eberhardt (demonstration)
Ola Löfberg (video clip)

     Dancey's Devilment is a four ball pattern "established" by Charlie Dancey. The trick was first mentioned in Dancey's The Encyclopædia of Ball Juggling, in which it was vaguely described as "a four- or a five-ball pattern with the looping features of Rubenstein's Revenge combined with Multiplex throws of varying kinds." The exact details of the trick weren't given, and Dancey later stated that he had no idea what the pattern really looked like. Other jugglers began trying to recreate the trick, and soon there were several variations of "Dancey's Devilment" floating about. For this tutorial I have chosen the only variation where I could find video documentation.


    To begin learning Dancey's Devilment, start with two balls in your non-dominant hand and one ball in your dominant. Cross your non-dominant hand underneath your dominant hand, and then make a stacked under-the-arm multiplex. The top ball should be thrown roughly twice as high as the bottom ball, relative to the palm of your hand. As that bottom ball reaches its peak, you are going to swing your dominant hand around and claw catch it, uncrossing your arms as you do so. As the top multiplexed ball descends, you are going to make a roughly vertical throw from the center of your body (ideally it should be angled slightly toward your dominant side). You will then catch the top multiplexed ball in your dominant hand and catch the other ball with your non-dominant hand.
    As shown, practice this on both sides. To add in the fourth ball, you are going to start with two balls in each hand. Cross your dominant hand over your non-dominant, but shift both hands toward the dominant side of your body. Make a vertical throw from your dominant hand and then, as the ball begins to descend, make the same stacked under-the-arm multiplex done in the previous step from your non-dominant hand. This will clear space for your non-dominant hand to catch the ball thrown from your dominant hand. As the bottom multiplexed ball reaches its peak, you are going to again swing your dominant hand around and claw catch it, uncrossing your arms in the process. However, unlike in the previous step, you are going to continue circling your non-dominant hand (which is holding a ball) up and around as your dominant hand makes its center vertical throw. Your non-dominant hand should cross back over your dominant hand just as your dominant hand is catching the top multiplexed ball. Your non-dominant hand will then circle underneath the center vertical ball, releasing the ball its holding and claw catching the center ball (as if juggling Rubenstein's Revenge). The ball it threw will then be caught by your dominant hand.
    Once again, practice this on both sides. This sequence represents one cycle of Dancey's Devilment. To connect both sides of the pattern, you are simply going to make another stacked under-the-arm multiplex, this time with your dominant hand (assuming you made the previous multiplex with your non-dominant hand). You will then repeat the cycle on the opposite side of your body. Assuming you are already fairly comfortable with multiplexes and Rubenstein's Revenge, Dancey's Devilment will not be that difficult to learn.