Diabolo facts for kids
The diabolo (pronounced dee-AB-uh-loh) is a fun toy used for juggling and circus acts. It looks like an hourglass or two cups joined at the middle by an axle. You spin it using a string that's attached to two hand sticks, often called "batons" or "wands."
You can do many cool tricks with a diabolo. These include throwing it high in the air, making it interact with the sticks or string, and even using parts of your body. It's also possible to spin more than one diabolo on a single string!
Like the regular yo-yo, the diabolo keeps spinning because of something called conservation of angular momentum. This is a science principle that helps spinning objects stay stable. The diabolo actually comes from the Chinese yo-yo, which has been around for a very long time.
Contents
What is a Diabolo?
A diabolo is often described as a "double-coned bobbin" that you can twirl, toss, and catch on a string. This string is held tight by two sticks, one in each hand. Think of it as an object that hangs on a string, which you make tight with your hands.
The Chinese yo-yo, which is a type of diabolo, usually has two round wooden discs with a space between them. These discs are connected by a short wooden stick. It spins on a string, with each end of the string tied to a thin stick.
Diabolo Materials and Shapes
The way diabolos are designed has changed a lot over time and in different parts of the world. Early Chinese diabolos were made from bamboo. In Victorian Britain, wooden diabolos were common.
In 1905, Gustave Philippart created the first rubber diabolos. Later, in the late 1900s, a rubberized plastic material became popular. Metal is sometimes used, especially for diabolos that are set on fire for performances. Some old diabolos even used Celluloid, which spun very fast because it had little friction.
Some diabolos have holes or metal strips. These can change the sound the diabolo makes when it spins, but they can also create more friction.
Size and Weight of Diabolos
Diabolos come in different sizes and weights. Heavier diabolos tend to keep spinning for longer because they have more momentum. Lighter diabolos, on the other hand, can be thrown higher and are easier to speed up quickly.
Rubber diabolos are less likely to break, but they can sometimes change shape. Today, many diabolos are made from a mix of plastic and rubber. This material is flexible but still holds its shape well.
The size and shape of the cups can vary. Some diabolos have holes in their cups, which can change the sound they make. When a diabolo spins fast, the friction between it and the string creates a "whining" sound. This is often called "making the diabolo sing." A skilled player can make a Chinese yo-yo produce a sharp, loud sound, which adds excitement to festivals.
There are also "monobolos," which have only one cup instead of two.
Fixed vs. Bearing Axles
The middle part of the diabolo, called the axle, can be one of two types:
- Fixed axle: This type of axle does not spin on its own.
- Bearing axle: This type of axle spins in one direction.
These two types have different amounts of friction and can spin for different lengths of time. Some tricks can only be done with one type of axle.
How to Spin a Diabolo
The most basic thing you do with a diabolo is to spin it on the string. The string goes between the two cups. For the diabolo to stay balanced, it needs to keep spinning, much like a yo-yo.
To make it spin, you usually pull the stick in your main hand (the one you write with). This makes the string move along the axle, causing the diabolo to turn. You keep doing this quickly, swinging the string right and left, to make the diabolo spin faster and faster.
There are also special ways to speed up the diabolo:
- The 'whip': You move one hand stick in front of your body and past the other stick. This makes the diabolo spin faster.
- The 'wrap': You wrap a loop of the string around the axle. Both these methods increase how much the string touches the axle, making it spin quicker.
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 the diabolo is spinning fast enough to be stable, you can start doing tricks. Some say skilled players can make it spin at 2,000 rotations per minute! Depending on how long a trick takes, you might need to speed up the diabolo again before doing another trick. Very skilled players can do many tricks while keeping the diabolo spinning fast. They can even throw it high into the air and catch it again easily.
Diabolo Tricks and Styles
There are tons of tricks you can do with a diabolo, from simple ones to very advanced moves.
Basic Diabolo Tricks
| Trick Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Toss | You throw the diabolo into the air and then catch it. You can even turn around or jump over the string while it's in the air! |
| Trapeze/stopover | The diabolo goes under one stick, and the stick touches the string. This makes the diabolo swing around the stick and land back on the string. |
| Cats cradle/spiderweb | This trick starts with a trapeze. You put the other stick between the strings. When you toss the diabolo, the strings form an "X." You catch the diabolo on the "X" and can toss it again. |
| Suicide/stick release | Any trick where you let go of one stick and then catch it again. The stick might swing around the diabolo. |
| Grind | You balance the spinning diabolo on one of your sticks. |
| Sun | You swing the diabolo in a big circle around both sticks. It ends with two twists of the string above the diabolo. Doing a "sun" in the opposite direction untwists the string. There are many types of "suns." |
| Orbits/satellites | The diabolo spins around a part of your body, like your leg or waist. |
| Knot/magic knot | The string gets tangled to make it look like the diabolo is knotted. You can usually untangle it with an upward toss. |
| Elevator/ladybug | The diabolo climbs up the string. You do this by wrapping the string around the axle and pulling it tight. |
| Coffee grinder | You catch the diabolo on the underside of the string, then loop the string over one stick. From there, you toss the diabolo many times over the stick. |
| Umbrella | You swing and jerk the diabolo side to side over both sticks, making it look like the outline of an umbrella. |
| Files | You hold both sticks in one hand, swing the diabolo over a finger and back onto the string, creating a trapeze-like tangle. Then you throw the sticks under the finger and catch them again. |
| Steam engine | You pull the string down the side of the left stick and hold it with your left hand. Then you bring the right stick over the left and inside the loop you made. Moving the right stick in a small circle pushes the loop, making the diabolo jump. |
Advanced Diabolo Tricks
There are countless more difficult tricks and variations. These are often at the cutting edge of modern diabolo performances.
| Trick Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Genocide | Any trick where you let go of a stick and the diabolo leaves the string. You then catch the diabolo on the string again, and catch the stick too. |
| Whip catch | You toss the diabolo into the air and catch it by whipping the string towards the diabolo. |
| Finger grind | You balance the spinning diabolo on one of your fingers. This works best with a bearing or triple bearing diabolo. |
| Infinite suicides | The diabolo seems to float while one stick repeatedly spins around it, and the other stick moves in circles around the diabolo. |
| Slack whips | You flick one or both sticks to create a loop of loose string. This loop then goes around the diabolo or sticks to create different string setups. |
| Excalibur/vertical | A series of tricks where the diabolo is turned to spin vertically. Many tricks usually done horizontally can also be done vertically. |
| Integral | Any trick where you let go of both sticks while still holding the string. |
| Star Cradle | The strings are twisted into a pattern that looks like a star. |
Multiple Diabolos
One exciting area in diabolo performance is doing tricks with more than one diabolo on a single string. When you juggle multiple diabolos "low," they continuously spin on the string in a "shuffle." These shuffles can be "sync" (your hands move at the same time) or "async" (your hands move at different times). You can even do shuffles with just one hand!
Juggling multiple diabolos "high" means you continuously catch and throw several diabolos, but only one is on the string at a time. Some diaboloists have managed to juggle up to six diabolos "high" and five "low." However, most players usually stick to using two or three diabolos at once. Using multiple diabolos opens up many new and exciting moves.
Vertax Style
Another advanced diabolo style is vertax, also known as "Excalibur." In this style, the diabolo is turned to spin vertically using a "whipping" motion. You keep it spinning upright by constantly whipping it. The person spinning it often has to rotate their body to keep up with the diabolo's fast spinning and circular motion.
Even though there seem to be fewer tricks in this style, people are always inventing new ones. These include vertax genocides, infinite suicides, and many suns, orbits, and satellites. It's even possible to spin two diabolos on one string in vertax! This has been achieved by a small number of very skilled diaboloists.
Contact Diabolo
This is a newer style of diabolo that is becoming very popular. In contact diabolo, the diabolo spins very little or not at all. This allows you to catch, pass, and move the diabolo using different parts of your body, not just the sticks and string. This style creates many new possibilities. For example, you might catch the diabolo between your arm and the stick before throwing it back. Tricks with multiple diabolos have also been developed in this style.
Loop Diabolo
Instead of using two sticks connected by a string, in loop diabolo, the diabolo is controlled on a loop of string held around your hands. This opens up many new tricks. You can also do yo-yo-like "slack" tricks with a loop.
Monobolo Style
A monobolo is a type of diabolo that has only one cup and a weight on the other side. You can use a monobolo in the same way as a regular diabolo. However, if you turn a monobolo vertically (like in Excalibur style), you can make it spin like a spinning top. To start a monobolo, you twist the string around the axle and then let it gain speed.
Diabolo in Performances
The famous Cirque du Soleil has featured diabolos combined with acrobatics in several of their shows, including Quidam, La Nouba, Dralion, Ovo, and Viva Elvis.
In 2006, Circus Smirkus had a duo diabolo act with Jacob and Nate Sharpe. They performed advanced tricks, including the first "double sprinkler pass" in a show, and even some five-diabolo passing.
Many Chinese schools have diabolo programs. Students often perform during the Chinese New Year celebrations or at the end of the school year.
Images for kids
-
1812 illustration of a woman with a diabolo
See also
In Spanish: Diábolo para niños
