From Wikipedia :

Object manipulation is a form of dexterity play or performance, in which one or more performing artists physically interact with props including balls, hoops, rings, poi, staff and clubs. Object manipulation can be considered an advanced combinatorial form of sports, dance, and games.

A separate subculture exists around fire dancing, which is essentially object manipulation where specially designed props are soaked in fuel and lit on fire.

Types of object manipulation

Involves an orderly tossing, exchange of hands, and/or bounding of various objects:

- Juggling

- Toss juggling

- Contact juggling

- Club manipulation

- Hacky Sack

Spinning and twirling

Rotation of an object (or significant parts of) often as a component of dance:

- Contact Staff

- Glow sticking

- Hooping

- Hula Hooping

- Twirling

- Baton Twirling

- Color guard and Winter guard

- Poi Swinging

- Rhythmic Gymnastics

- Sphere play

- Freestyle nunchaku

Dexterity

Showcasing manual dexterity, sometimes with the use of small props, typically in illusionary ways:

- Dice stacking

- Hat manipulation

- Illusions

- Isolation

- Pen spinning

- Prestidigitation—”quick fingers”, a.k.a. Magic manipulation

- Shuffling

- Card-Throwing

- Knife Throwing

- Chip Tricks

Complex object

Highlighting the mechanics of an object, or interplay between a set of objects:

- Devil sticks

- Diablo

- Plate spinning

Other

- Multi-ball Contact

- Body Rolling

Juggling is a physical human skill involving the movement of objects, usually through the air, for entertainment (see object manipulation). The most recognizable form of juggling is toss juggling, where the juggler throws objects through the air. Jugglers often refer to the objects they juggle as props. The most common props are balls, bean bags, rings, clubs, and bouncing balls. Some performers use dramatic objects such as chainsaws, knives and fire torches. The term juggling can also refer to other prop-based circus skills such as diabolo, devil sticks, poi, cigar box manipulation, fire-dancing, contact juggling, hooping and hat manipulation.

The word juggling derives from the Middle English jogelen to entertain by performing tricks, in turn from the French jongleur and the Old French jogler. There is also the Late Latin form joculare of Latin joculari, meaning to jest.”Juggling” has come to mean, colloquially, any activity which requires a constant refocusing of one’s attention from an overall goal to multiple subsidiary tasks, for example “Juggling Work and Family”, the title of a PBS documentary.

Rotation

A rotation is a movement of an object in a circular motion. A two-dimensional object rotates around a center (or point) of rotation. A three-dimensional object rotates around a line called an axis. If the axis of rotation is within the body, the body is said to rotate upon itself or spin—which implies relative speed and perhaps free-movement with angular momentum. A circular motion about an external point, e.g. the Earth about the Sun, is called an orbit or more properly an orbital revolution.

Spin

In quantum mechanics, spin is a fundamental property of atomic nuclei, hadrons, and elementary particles. For particles with non-zero spin, spin direction (also called spin for short) is an important intrinsic degree of freedom.

As the name indicates, the spin has originally been thought of as a rotation of particles around their own axis. This picture is correct insofar as spins obey the same mathematical laws as do quantized angular momenta. On the other hand, spins have some peculiar properties that distinguish them from orbital angular momenta: spins may have half-integer quantum numbers, and the spin of charged particles is associated with a magnetic dipole moment in a way (g-factor different from 1) that is incompatible with classical physics.

Spins have important theoretical implications and practical applications. The electron spin is the key to the Pauli Exclusion Principle and to the understanding of the periodic system of chemical elements. Spin-orbit coupling leads to the fine structure of atomic spectra, which is used in atomic clocks and in the modern definition of the fundamental unit second. Precise measurements of the g-factor of the electron have played an important role in the development and verification of quantum electrodynamics. Electron spins play an important role in magnetism, with applications for instance in computer memories. Manipulation of spins in semiconductor devices is the subject of the developing field of spintronics. The manipulation of nuclear spins by radiofrequency waves (nuclear magnetic resonance) is important in chemical spectroscopy and medical imaging. The photon spin is associated with the polarization of light.

The concept of a spin, though not the name, was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli in 1924. In 1925, Ralph Kronig, George Uhlenbeck, and Samuel Goudsmit suggested a physical interpretation of particles spinning around their own axis. The mathematical theory was worked out in depth by Pauli in 1927. In 1928, Paul Dirac showed that the electron spin arises naturally within relativistic quantum mechanics.

Flow

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.

Components of flow

Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following as accompanying an experience of flow:

Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one’s skill set and abilities).

Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.

Distorted sense of time, one’s subjective experience of time is altered.

Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).

Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).

A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.

The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.

Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

Etymology

Flow is so named because during Csíkszentmihályi’s 1975 interviews several people described their ‘flow’ experiences using the metaphor of a water current carrying them along. The psychological concept of flow as becoming absorbed in an activity is thus unrelated to the older phrase “to go with the flow” which means “to conform”.

Group flow

Csíkszentmihályi suggests several ways in which a group could work together so that each individual member could achieve flow. The characteristics of such a group include:

- Creative spatial arrangements: Chairs, pin walls, charts, but no tables; thus work primarily standing and moving.

- Playground design: Charts for information inputs, flow graphs, project summary, craziness (here also craziness has a place), safe place (here all may say what is otherwise only thought), result wall, open topics

- Parallel, organized working

- Target group focus

- Advancement of existing one (prototyping)

- Increase in efficiency through visualization

- Existence of differences among participants represents an opportunity, rather than an obstacle.

Rhythm (from Greek – rhythmos, “any measured flow or movement, symmetry”) is the variation of the length and accentuation of a series of sounds or other events.

Balance

Balance is an ability to maintain the center of gravity of a body within the base of support with minimal postural sway. Keeping balance requires integration of inputs from multiple senses (equilibrioception (from the vestibular system), vision, and perception of pressure and proprioception from the somatosensory system) with the motor system responsible for muscle actions. The senses must detect the change of the body position with respect to the base (whether the body moves or the base moves). The limit of stability of an individual standing quietly upright is defined as the amount of postural sway at which the balance is lost and the corrective actions are required. The limit of stability may be described by an irregular cone above the support base. In the metaphysical or conceptual sense, balance is used to mean a point between two opposite forces that is desirable over purely one state or the other, such as a balance between the metaphysical Law and Chaos — law by itself being overly controlling, chaos being overly unmanageable, balance being the point that minimizes the negatives of both.

Equilibristic

Equilibristic refers to a number of ‘circus arts’ and juggling skills characterized by balancing or maintaining a moving equilibrium or balance of opposing forces. The term applies equally to an act in which the performer’s body is balanced on a prop or an act in which the performer balances a prop, or spins it.

Many different tricks and stunts fit into this category.

Technically, balancing a cane on the tip of a finger is an equilibristic stunt, but generally equilibristic is flashier:

Perhaps the most well-known of the equilibristic arts is the twirling of batons, and the use of the juggling prop known as Devil Sticks.

Contact juggling

Contact juggling is a form of object manipulation that focuses on the movement of objects such as balls in permanent contact with the body. Having little in common with “toss” juggling, it most typically involves the rolling of one or more completely transparent balls on the hands and arms to create visual illusions, such as that of a ball fixed in space. It is divided into three main schools of technique:

1. Body rolling is the manipulation of one or more props (usually balls) around the hands, arms, and body, usually without the prop(s) ever being thrown into the air. This includes tricks such as head rolling, isolations, and the butterfly.

2. Palm spinning is the manipulation of two or more balls in each hand wherein at least one ball is always in continual motion. Balls may be transferred from one hand to another to form graceful and fluid patterns, but rarely are they ever released into the air.

3. Isolationism is categorized by manipulation of usually one prop (again, a ball of some sort or other toy such as fire staff) such that the prop appears to be suspended in time and place while the performer dances around it, usually in the Popping and locking styles.