Difficulty: 2 - Simple Trick
Siteswap: 51
Prerequisite Skills: Cascade, Half Shower
Watch Video - WMV - 0.5 MB
To quote the WJF, "A Shower pattern is where one hand does all the throwing and the other hand does all the catching." I've also heard it called "circle juggling" or "clown juggling", because it is the pattern you see cartoon clowns juggle (a bunch of balls going in a circle). The shower requires faster hand speed than the cascade pattern because of the quick hand-off pass (siteswap of 1) underneath the pattern.
Instructions:
Most people who pick up two balls and try to juggle, do a 2-ball shower. If they have no one to show them differently, they may try to teach themselves to juggle three using the shower pattern too. Although the shower pattern is easier to visualize for a beginner, but it is more difficult to perform than the basic cascade.
First, you may want to practice the simple 2-ball shower.
When you're ready for three, start with 2 balls in your dominate hand and 1 in the other hand. Throw the first ball up from your dominate hand to the other hand. When that ball is at its apex, throw the second ball from the same hand (dominate hand again). At that point, you have two balls in the air heading for your non-dominate hand. You still have a ball sitting in that non-dominate hand, so you have to quickly pass it over to your now empty dominate hand (siteswap of 1). This quick pass is like a hand-off. It goes straight into the empty hand, without any hang time.
You may have to practice this hand-off pass for a while. Get to where you can do it without looking down at it. Now, you just keep that pattern going by continuously throwing up from your dominate hand, and replacing it with the next ball. To truly master the shower, you must be able to juggle it both clockwise and counter-clockwise.
Variations:
You can also juggle the Shower using sync throws. (4x,2x)
