This EJC, I had a lot of fun exploring different walking siteswap feeds and this article tries to share some patterns and some general ideas behind them.
In 2015, I learned from Staffan how to add an extra club to Bruno’s Nightmare, where the feeder passes straight doubles to one feedee and crossing doubles to the other. While I juggled and taught this several times since, it wasn’t until I tried to write it down last year that I realized the obvious fact that this is a siteswap feed with walking (996 feeding two 966). Last year Maria suggested trying a walking Why Not vs Popcorn feed that used the same straight vs crossing passes trick. We couldn’t get very far back then, but when I tried to recreate this from memory, I accidentally found a different pattern and I learned that there are lots of variations and interesting ways to play with this.
A first pattern: Short Why-Not vs Popcorn walking feed
This Why Not (86277) vs 5-Count Popcorn (a6667 or 86867) walking feed pattern is a good starting point:
Three key ingredients to make this work:
- A passes straight single passes to B and crossing single passes C. B responds with crossing passes and C with straight passes. For every passer, the passes to one person are always straight and the passes to the other person are always crossing, even after walking and relabeling.
- B has a slow self during the walk, written as a 7 (highlighted). This is not a pass, but a self. The extra beat is needed to switch to the other side of the pattern (similar to the extra self in ambled patterns). The speed difference between a 6-self and a 7-self often washes out in practice.
- C starts with the opposite hand to A and B.
This and all other patterns with an even number of beats for A are fairly well behaved: Hands alternate and the pattern repeats with the same starting hand on the second iteration after relabeling (e.g. A’s last throw from a left hand is followed by a right-handed throw as B). It is hence fairly short.
A longer version
When the pattern has an odd number of beats for A, the pattern has a left side and a right side (like Bruno’s and north-wall takeout patterns). That is, hands alternate throughout, but in the second iteration everybody starts with the opposite hands. For example, A’s last throw is left-handed, so their next throw as B would be right-handed, opposite of how B starts in the first iteration.
This was also used for extra-club Bruno’s nightmare, an odd-length sequence for A with a 7 (slow self) for the walk for B. See that pattern and corresponding explanation at https://ckaestne.github.io/modernpassing/5d-moving.html
Maria’s Why-not vs Popcorn Walking Feed
Maria used a different trick in her pattern to avoid switching hands. It is odd-length for A so would repeat on the other side, but here a 7 is used to indicate a self to the same hand: C’s 7-self on the last beat is thrown from the right hand and followed with a right-handed throw as B. (In some of these patterns, this is technically a 7x rather than a 7, but which one it is depends on the specific hand order and position of the throw. Technically, this pattern has a 7 whereas the two above have a 7x. Unless using a siteswap validator that tracks hands, distinguishing this seems to add more confusion than it helps).
There are several ways to handle this 7 to the same hand: C could throw a heffling as the 7 (single spun, low heff; this is the equivalent of the 4x in ambled patterns), could juggle faster to squeeze in an extra self, or could juggle slower to skip the 7 entirely. Since there are already so many selfs in this pattern for walking, instead of walking on a 6-count with a heffling, walking on a slightly fast 7-count works well in this pattern, but also juggling on a very slow 5-count works (done by Ludivine in the video)
On another note, in this pattern C walks (clockwise) rather than B. This is not strictly necessary but works well here to have better throwing angles for the feeder while keeping a right-handed start for A and B. Here is an alternative version, where B walks as usual, but better passing angles are achieved by having A and B start left-handed:
Martin’s One-Count vs Why-Not Walking Feed
Here is another pattern that uses the same principles, combining Martin’s One Count (77772) with Why Not (86277):
Walking is done on a three-count (a slow three-count, to account for the extra half beat of the 7-self; also necessary to avoid a collision on the next throw as C). To make A’s passes easier (avoid a really wide angle) A and B start left-handed.
Takeouts
We have not yet spent much time with this yet, but takeouts are certainly possible in these patterns. Here is one that seems to work pretty well for Why Not vs Popcorn:
The manipulator starts between B and C, catches A’s pass and B’s heff, and B as the new manipulator then carries the other heff before backing up toward A.
Constructing more patterns
I do not find constructing these kind of patterns intuitive, but the following strategies seem to generally be helpful:
Start with a standard siteswap feed, possibly repeat it one or two more times if it is short. Have C start with the opposite hand than A and B. Have passes to B be straight and passes to C be crossing, and have B and C respond with the opposite. This is still a valid static feed and the starting point.
Look for an opportunity to walk in the existing pattern and move this to the end of B’s sequence. If there are no convenient selfs (or flips), apply siteswap transformations to create more selfs or extend the entire pattern by a beat or two. The more manipulations are needed here the less it will look and feel like the base pattern, but that does not necessarily need to be a bad thing.
Add another throw to A’s sequence (a pass to C or a self as a best guess will work), so that A has one more beat than B and C. Add relabeling, so A becomes B, B becomes C, and C becomes A.
Now make sure the pattern is valid and adjust throws if needed, usually at the end of the pattern where it wraps. The last throw for B should be a 7-self if it was a 6-self. All the extra throws we added may need to be fixed. Drawing the pattern as a causal diagram indicating alternating left and right throws will help to find all the problems and explore solutions.
Easy transformation example: Mild Madness vs Jim’s Three Count
The following example is a fairly easy transformation, but maybe helps to illustrate it step by step.
Let’s start with a base feed:
After switching hands for C and straight/crossing to C we’ll get this updated base pattern:
This one already has a good walking opportunity for B with a 4-6-6-6 sequence at the end of B’s sequence, so we can just turn the last 6 into a 7.
Now, we need to find a valid throw for the extra beat of A and the only thing that seems to work here is another self, resulting in the walking pattern:
I’d be happy to see more of these patterns, so see what’s fun or challenging. I suspect patterns that are very close to the base pattern would be interesting because they are familiar, but also completely different sequences might be a nice challenge. Of course also different walking paths like Bruno’s might be worth exploring further.