I have gazed into a crystal ball, and I have seen the future. It’s Billy Bellew’s face turned upside down on the streets of downtown Waikiki every Saturday night. His other-dimensional reflection on the transparent orb mesmerizes his audience. He is a student by day, mystical street performer by night. This Massachusetts transplant earns a living (a Hawaiian living) sharing his passion for “sphereplay” to entertain partying tourists.
The art is called “contact juggling”. It’s not juggling in the sense of throwing multiple objects in the air, repeatedly, without dropping them. It is a beautiful and mesmerizing art of rolling a sphere, in most cases a clear, acrylic ball (that looks like a crystal ball for all practical purposes) across one’s hands and body so that it appears to be hovering in the air.
It wasn’t until the reference of David Bowie in the 80′s movie “Labyrinth” was mentioned that everything clicked. The dance of a crystal ball rolling around the hands had seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Yes, Labyrinth! The scene was fascinating when I first saw it as a child. As I watched Billy in action I was equally impressed. Here is the scene from the movie with David Bowie (appearing to) contact juggle. Let it jog your memory!
When he manipulates the “crystal ball” in front of his face you can see the upside down image of his face in the ball as it appears to float in the air. I think that was my hook.
Billy was awesome enough to sit down and explain what contact juggling is all about including a brief explanation of its history and some of its basic techniques.
Check out the video. We wish Billy the best and appreciate him enlightening us on this creative art form. You can see more of his videos at www.youtube.com/billybellewcj
Here’s a the Flight of the Conchords episode with the Labyrinth/David Bowie spoof–just for kicks. Jemaine (ala David Bowie, the Goblin King) is holding the crystal sphere but alas, he is not attempting to contact juggle. I will use any excuse to tie in Flight of the Conchords.
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Flight of the Conchords + Bowie = comedy gold
I’m totally in awe of this amazing art form…it’s mesmerizing! Thanks for sharing.