Diabolo Passing

Diabolo passing is the practice of sharing one or more diabolos between several jugglers, using planned throws that move from person to person in a repeating rhythm and pattern.

The notation uses brackets like , where each letter shows the throw of one juggler on the same beat. With two jugglers, A is the person on the left and B is the person on the right, with more jugglers you simply add positions, for example for three people. A number like 3F or 5 is a self that stays with the same juggler, a number with p like 5p or 7p is a pass that travels to another juggler inside the pattern.

This notation gives a precise map of how the diabolos move and how the timing is organised between all players.

2 Jugglers classic diabolo passing

Here you can see 3 diabolo passing patterns for 2 jugglers, written with the notation from the introduction. Each group of brackets shows one beat of the pattern, with the throw of juggler A on the left and the throw of juggler B on the right.

The sequences combine local selfs, like 3F, with passes such as 5p and 7p, so you can follow exactly how the 3 diabolos move between both players in each figure.