Diabolo

History and etymology

Diabolos evolved from the Chinese yo-yo, which was originally standardized in the 12th century. Chinese yo-yos have a longer axle with discs on either end, while the diabolo has a very short axle and larger, round cups on either end. Diabolos are made of different materials and come in different sizes and weights.

There are many names in the Chinese language for the Chinese yo-yo:

simplified Chinese: 扯铃; traditional Chinese: 扯鈴; pinyin: chě líng; literally: "pull bell sound"

simplified Chinese: 响簧; traditional Chinese: 響簧; pinyin: xiǎng huáng; literally: "a name given as if it's a sound instrument"

Chinese: （抖）空竹; pinyin: dǒu kōng zhú; literally: "(shaking) Sky Bamboo"

simplified Chinese: 空钟; traditional Chinese: 空鐘; pinyin: kōngzhōng; literally: "sky bell"

The first mention of a diabolo in the West was made by a missionary, Father Amiot, in Beijing in 1792 during Lord Macartney's ambassadorship, after which examples where brought to Europe, as was the sheng (eventually adapted to the harmonica and accordion).

This noisy rattle consists of two hollow cylinders of metal, wood, or bamboo, joined together in the middle by a cross-piece. Each of the cylinders is pierced by a hole in opposite directions. The rope loops around the crossbeam. By holding this rattle in the air, and moving it with speed, a rapid current of air is established in each of the portions of the cylinder, and a snoring is heard, similar to that produced by the German spinning top.

The diabolo was as part of a presentation of Chinese culture edited by stenographer Jean-Baptiste Joseph Breton in 1811-2 (La Chine en miniature), and the toy's popularity waxed and waned throughout the 19th century. In 1812 the diabolo, "was all the rage," and then, "enjoyed an ephemeral vogue," until it, "finally fell into discredit," some time before 1861. Some consider the toy dangerous, injuries and deaths players and bystanders have been claimed, and Préfet de Police Louis Lépine once outlawed the game in the streets of Paris.

The term "diabolo" was coined by French engineer Gustave Phillippart, who developed the modern diabolo in the early twentieth century, although credit has also been given to Charles Burgess Fry (The Outdoor Magazine in 1906) or Fry and Phillippart. The term is derived the name from the Greek dia bolo, roughly meaning "across throw". "In Greek, the term 'diaballo' means to throw across. It comes from a combination of 'dia' meaning across or through (as in the diameter of a circle, a line that crosses circle), and 'bolla' or originally 'ballo' which means to throw..." The Greek word "diabolos" (the devil, originally "the liar" or "the one that commits perjury", from the verb "diaballo", which means "to throw in", "to generate confusion", "to divide", or "to make someone fall", later used by Christian writers as "the liar that speaks against God"), from which many modern languages' words for "devil" (French: jeu de diable, diable, Italian: diavolo, Spanish: diablo, Portuguese: diabo, German: Teufel, Polish: diabeł) derive, is unrelated. The term "loriot" was used in England, as well as "rocket-ball".

Confusion about the provenance of the name may have arisen from the earlier name "the devil on two sticks", although nowadays this often also refers to another circus-based skill toy, the devil stick. "In time 'diabolo' was retained for the spinning version of the Chinese stick toy while the hitting version of the stick toy was rendered into English as the Devil Stick."

"Phillipart claimed Diabolo to be his invention. In reality, he had improved a Napoleonic toy, which in turn had originated long ago in China." However, Charles Parker gained the U.S. license for the term diabolo in 1906, and the excessive fad for the toy lasted until 1910 (caricatures of public figures with the toy made it to newspapers), hurt greatly by a glut of unsold poor quality off-brand versions (costs ranged from one to eight dollars), and the toy was even removed from the Parker Brothers catalogue, a rare occurrence (its two-year return in 1929 also failed). Another estimate for the fad is 1910 to 1915, while the big fad in Paris is mentioned in Nature in 1893. The Wright brothers became enamored with the toy during a lull in a trip to France they had taken to market their Wright Flyer III airplane.

Design

A diabolo is described as, "a double-coned bobbin that [is] twirled, tossed, and caught on a string secured by two wands, one held in each hand," and, more generally, as "an object that can be suspended on a string made taut by two held sticks." The Chinese yo-yo, often considered a type of diabolo, has been described as, "a short round wooden stick with two round disks, 1.5 cm thick with a space between them, attached on either end of the stick...It will rotate on a string, each end tied to a thin stick," and as, "two hollow discs of light wood, with openings in the sides, united by a peg tapering to its center."

As with the yo-yo, the design of the diabolo has varied through history and across the world. Chinese diabolos have been made of bamboo. Wooden diabolos were common in Victorian times in Britain. Rubber diabolos were first patented by Gustave Phillippart in 1905. In the late twentieth century a rubberised plastic material was first used. Metal has also been used especially for fire diabolos. "Parker Brothers used steel for the bobbins [axles], with molded rubber ends, and also made some versions out of hollow Celluloid--which, because of its 'frictionless' properties, spun even faster than steel." Holes and metal strips alter the sound of the spinning diabolo, but create friction.

The size and weight of diabolos varies. Diabolos with more weight tend to retain their momentum for longer, whereas small, light diabolos can be thrown higher and are easier to accelerate to high speeds. Rubber diabolos are less prone to breakage but are more prone to deformations. More commonly used are plastic-rubber hybrids that allow flex but hold their shape. The size of the disc or cone varies, as do the presence and size of holes in the discs or cones which may alter the sound produced. In yo-yos a cone is known as the butterfly shape. Regardless of the presence, size, and shape, "once a diabolo is spinning, the friction of the spinning diabolo against the string creates a whining sound; this is called 'making the diabolo sing.'" "When played hard, the [Chinese] yoyo will give out a sharp shrill sound...The shrill sound would add an exciting atmosphere to the [Shanghai winter] festivals...A skillful player can use a pot cover [with a round handle] as a yoyo [without sound]." A fast whirling kouen-gen produces, "a shrill whistling sound...not unlike the note of the steam siren." Diabolos with only one cup ("monobolos") are also used.

Basic principles

The most basic act of diabolo manipulation is to spin it on the string. "The string is placed between the circles, but in order for the diabolo to balance, it must maintain a spinning motion, much like a yo-yo." However, "considerably more skill is needed to twirl a diabolo...than the Yo-yo it resembles," and, "the enthusiasts in the game assert that it takes much higher training of eye and muscle than lawn tennis." "Diabolo requires hard practice and highly developed skills, and deserves its independent status." Typically, the user pulls the stick in his or her dominant hand so that the string moves along the axle, turning it. "The player...swing[s] the string right and left." By doing this repeatedly and rapidly the diabolo rotates faster. The diabolo spin can be accelerated more quickly using various methods: the 'whip' rotates the diabolo faster by one hand stick moving in front of the users body and past the other handstick; the 'wrap' rotates the diabolo faster by the user wrapping a loop of the string around the axle. Both methods increase the amount of string contact with the axle in any given time.

To spin the top, you raise and lower the sticks alternately, with a quick backward shift of the string at the end of each rotating impulse. When the speed is great enough to stabilize the top in flight, just whip the sticks apart to toss it into the air. As the spool comes down you catch it on a sloping string and let it roll down into slack bunched near one end.

Once spin speed is increased to a sufficient level that the diabolo is stable, the user can then perform tricks. "Skillful players can set it whirling at a rate of 2,000 revolutions a minute, it is said." Depending on how long a trick takes to perform, the user will normally have to spend some time increasing the spin speed of the diabolo before performing other tricks. Skilled users can perform multiple tricks while maintaining the spin speed of the diabolo. "A skilled person [can] catch it, hurl it fifty or sixty feet into the air, then catch it again with little effort."

Advanced tricks

There are countless tricks and variations that fall outside the above categories; these are often more difficult and form the cutting edge of modern diabolo routines. Some examples are:

Multiple diabolos

Perhaps the most active area of development for diabolo performance involves tricks with more than one diabolo on a single string. When manipulating multiple diabolos "low", the diabolos orbit continuously on the string in a "shuffle." Shuffles are either synchronous (commonly referred to as "sync") or asynchronous ("async"), depending on whether the diaboloist's hands' movements occur simultaneously or not; shuffles may also be performed with only one hand.

Juggling multiple diabolos "high" involves continuously catching and throwing a number of diabolos, never with more than one diabolo on the string simultaneously. Diaboloists have pushed the number of diabolos juggled at once up to six "high" (although there is some controversy as to whether this counts as the number of catches achieved is so small) and five "low." Most diaboloists, however, stick to using only two or three diabolos at once. The introduction of multiple diabolos on a single string allows for many new moves. Many are applications of one-diabolo moves to multiple diabolos.

Accelerations

The diabolos are accelerated while they wrap and the diaboloist's dominant hand is pulled up in order to gain speed. Doing a Chinese acceleration or shuffling the diabolos very quickly are two other methods of accelerating diabolos.

Hyperloop/sprinkler

The diabolos orbit each other inside a closed loop of string.

Columns/mini-columns

Two diabolos are bounced up and down on the string.

Cascade and reverse cascade (also possible with juggling)

Three diabolos are bounced/thrown around in a cascade or reverse cascade pattern.

Siteswap

This is a notation borrowed from toss juggling in which the diabolos are thrown in different rhythms based on a numeric description. However, it uses a different system of numeric rhythms compared to toss juggling as diabolos uses one "hand" as string when toss juggling uses two hands to throw the object juggled.

Fan

Two diabolos are spun between the arms in a way which mimics the blades of a fan. While the diabolos rotate they do not switch positions on the string.

Sun

The diabolos are swung in a circle.

Suicide

Multiple-diabolo suicides are similar to one-diabolo suicides, but some tricks are not possible.

Knots

Multiple-diabolo knots are similar to one-diabolo knots, but both diabolos are wrapped up.

Stalls

This is where both diabolos are still spinning but not in shuffle. This allows the diaboloist to do a trick with the other.

Vertax

Another advanced diabolo style is vertax (vertical axis; also known as "Excalibur"). This is where the diabolo is "turned vertically" by means of "whipping" and is continually spun in this upright state. The person spinning it needs to rotate their body to keep up with the constant whipping action due to the momentum and centripetal motion at which the diabolo spins. Although the number of tricks seems limited, people are finding more ways to perform with this style, including vertax genocides, infinite suicides, and many suns, orbits, and satellites. It is also possible to have two diabolos in one string in vertax, this feat has been achieved by diabolo duo Tr'espace and a small number of other diaboloists. It has also been done in the form of a fan. Most of these tricks are accomplished by street performers in competitions, notably the GEDC and the Taipei PEC. Some cutting-edge skilled vertax jugglers include William (Wei-Liang) Lin (in 2006, ranked #1 in the world), Ryo Yabe (multiple diabolos), Higami (a Japanese juggling group, noted for inventing the first 'infinite suicide vertax'), and Jonathan P. Chen (noted for inventing the vertax genocide); these jugglers are former and multiple winners of the above-mentioned cups. Eric and Antonin (France) and Nate and Jacob Sharpe (USA) have contributed greatly to the development of vertax passing techniques. Finally, Alexis Levillon invented many vertax tricks including vertax integrals, furthered multidiabolo vertax, and has also invented the "Galexis" style, where one diabolo is horizontal, while the other is in vertax.

Contact diabolo

This is a relatively recent style of diabolo that is gaining popularity. It utilizes the diabolo so that it has little or no spin at all. Then it can be caught and passed and manipulated with different parts of the body instead of just the sticks and string. It has new possibilities and new ideas are arising from this. Examples include catching the diabolo between one's arm and the stick before throwing it back. Tricks with multiple diabolos have also been developed.

Loop diabolo

Instead of having two sticks connected by a string, the diabolo is manipulated on a loop of string held around the hands. This opens up a variety of new tricks such as suicides, suns, whips, stopovers, trapezes, two diabolos and vertax. Yo-yo type slack tricks can also be performed in a loop.

Monobolo

Monobolo is a variation of the diabolo where instead of having two diabolo cups, there is only one and a weight on the other side. The monobolo can be used in the same fashion as normal diabolos. However, if a monobolo is put into excalibur, or horizontally, monobolos can be manipulated to be like a spinning top. To start a monobolo, twist the string around the axle and then let it gain some speed.

Performances

Cirque du Soleil combines diabolos with acrobatics during feature acts in five shows: Quidam, La Nouba, Dralion, Ovo and Viva Elvis.

In 2012 the Viva Elvis Casino show in Las Vegas, added a Diabolo Duet act, which includes Trevor Nassler & Maria Wolf.

In 2006 Circus Smirkus presented a duo diabolo act starring Jacob and Nate Sharpe, with advanced tricks including the first double sprinkler pass in a performance as well as some five-diabolo passing.

The diabolo programs of many Chinese schools provide performances during the Chinese New Year or near the end of the school year.