Trick-a-Week 2024—#51 Circus Ring

Send a video attempt if you can

Hmm… yeah, need a vid if you can. I tend to think of it as an “unwinding” motion…

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Ok this is a pretty accurate representation of what happens…

Also realizing I’m wearing the same shirt as the last time you helped me out with a video and it’s not the best background for white string. Tried to move out of the way enough though to see the string.

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Yep i see the problem and it should be an easy fix i think! you did all the hard work already. You skipped the pinch where you should let the slack fall down and under the yoyo part, right after the chopsticks. Without the pinch, the string is going over the top of the yoyo and it’s not going to resolve right. I tried to capture a screenshot that shows what i mean but double back to the vids and check out how we pinch before releasing the string and then how it falls in front and under.


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Ohhhh in that POV shot you filmed for me, are you doing the pinch using the middle finger on your NTH?

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Here’s a dodgy video, hopefully this helps…

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That video is super helpful, thank you! The last hurdle I’m grappling with at the moment is once I pop into a GT, I keep getting this extra wrap that halts me from getting out.

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I can’t tell if that’s a twist or part of the red triangle… here’s a screen grab:


I have a little twist looking thing going on, but when you drop all the strings you don’t end up with knots… are you getting axel knots when dropping the strings?

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Yeah just echoing what was said before but it looks good i think. Im fairly certain but I’m not 100% sure. It isn’t a green triangle but a red triangle, so yeah just drop it and it’ll end with no knots or anything. You can get into a rt to check and see if it seems the same super easily by throwing a trapeze, and then reach nth through and grab the string by th.

Ok ya looking back at that photo I can see how my string would unwind and not knot up if I drop it. Time to crank the Spotify and lock this one in.

There’s been a few times I thought it was safe to drop, and for some reason it dropped into your typical GT bearing knot even though I had the twist. I didn’t examine it too closely though, it’s possible the twist was the wrong way.

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@GTDropKnot @Ironical_Monocle1 Alright gentlemen! I’ve now successfully done it 3 times. It’s not purrrty, but it’s honest work! Thank you guys so much for taking the time to hold my hand through that one.

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Glad to help!

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Week 46 — Meta Quick Slack

Saw @theendofcake use this in a trick circle video and thought it would be a fun one for folks to learn since it can slot in really nicely to a lot of combos (for example… you can do the Mir Kim trick from week 30 coming out of this).

Biggest tips I have are about that first move to get into the keychain. I was struggling with it a bunch, but after watching it in slow motion a few times, here are some notes and tips to get it smooth:

  1. The string setup for the whip is for it to go around your thumb then index finger.
  2. Your goal hopping it up is really to get the string under the yoyo. You’re using the right amount of force if it winds up basically horizontal on your throw hand side.
  3. When you whip the string over, focus on aiming your finger at the string coming off of the yoyo just to the throw hand side. See the screenshot.

For the tension hook part, really focus on pulling your throw hand down and away when you do it. You need a lot of tension/force.

Good luck!

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Here’s my take

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This is right on time, I’ve been avoiding tension slacks so this is the perfect motivator for me. Thanks for a great choice!

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Tossed in an extra hook bc it slots in so well.

Edit: also if you find yourself snagging with the final hook (this was happening to me for a little), make sure to really push out with th and hop the yoyo straight up.

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Since apparently I’m obsessed with that first whip, just doing a little comparison of the ways you can get into it and breakdowns for anyone who was like me and could hit it from stationary without using your NTH, but struggled with popping it up.

Part of why Henry is easily able to aim for the throw hand side string of the yoyo is because he’s pulling the yoyo from across his body (that’s what I do in the first one below). When you do it stationary, you often wind up doing something a little different and pulling it under from the NTH side (the second thing I do below). What you’re doing when you pop the string up with your NTH is functionally similar to doing a full extra whip from stationary (the third thing I do / miss the first time I do it), but you’re using your NTH to start that first whip.

If you’re having trouble but consistently able to land the slightly different way from stationary (which was me anytime I looked at the trick before this week), try giving it some momentum how Henry does / how I do in the first one above, because then you can practice aiming for the TH side of the yoyo/get used to it. Then give it a shot popping it up.

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I’m super used to this from 3a like this is a basic inside gunslinger whip in 3a and I do these like every day lol. I just prefer doing it off the throw and pulling it across like a lazy whip to 1.5 bc it keeps more motion and helps the elements flow rather than having it settled at the bottom of the string hanging but have no problems with just hopping it up and whipping and catching the yoyo. Imo the most important thing is that you are whipping straight so that you hit the gap and that you’re not moving the yoyo out of plane when you hop it up/across. Also important to either pull the yoyo finger back or grip with middle ring and pinky to create separation so that when you whip, there is a nice U shape that goes and catches the back of the yoyo.

Also I think maybe what was going on with nth like yoyojoe1 does in the tut was that it can be a bit easier to hop it out of plane like that. I like using nth for some elements like this though bc it does set up the slack different. shoutout reverse brent stole. I think ppl should just try both ways if they want and see what they prefer.

No wonder this just showed up on my YouTube recommended.

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awright, i feel confident enough to start working on these consistently with yall :muscle:

I’m just starting from trapeze and inserting my finger for the moment. first little whip from keychain is ok and im working on the hook element now. @digitalcharlie i see you saying pull with good force and i also see in the tut he pops it up. i think i might be pulling TOO hard because i dont get a big (or sometimes any) slack loop. is it more of a quick pull to impart the force then stop? any tips on getting the slack to form would be appreciated

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