MiniEd
MiniEd is an ambidextrous 4-person manipulator pattern with four manipulation actions.
It is based on the idea of MinuEd, a three-person manipulation pattern based on Pass Pass Self, which was invented by Ed Clark back in 2015.
Christian K. from Pittsburgh had the idea of keeping the main part of the MinuEd manipulation and put it into a feed. Christian and friends juggled it in the US in 2017, as you can see here. As the pattern had his name in it, Ed also wanted to throw it, of course. So we gave it a try at CoastlessCon 2018 in Göttingen. We took the notation from the video from the US, and failed. It seemed incredibly hard and not beautiful at all. So we studied the video again and realized, that they were doing something else than what they said in the notation. With the now corrected notation, it worked much better. I juggled it again with Anett, Jerome, and Ronja, but we didn’t get a full round.
Two years later, there happened to be another workshop on MiniEd at CoastlessCon 2020, where we figured out the walkways again. At first, nobody wanted to give this workshop. But in the end, we had the most fun ever during practice and teaching.
And lately, we finally managed to get two rounds on video. Thanks to Anett, Kathi and Tanja.
The manipulation:
Like in MinuEd the manipulation (“Macarena”) goes like described in the following:
Firstly, bring the carry straight from right hand to left hand.
Secondly, reach across and take the next self from the juggler’s right hand early.
Thirdly, substitute this self with the club in your left hand (crossing to the juggler’s left hand).
Then, catch a pass from the right hand at the handle with your now free left hand.
After that, substitute it on the other side of the pattern with the club in your right hand.
Lastly, receive a crossing pop with this hand to intercept C, who will be the next manipulator.
The walking:
- The juggler at position C is walking in 3-count on beat 3 and 4 to the other side of the pattern as if B was going to be the new feeder.
- Then, on beats 5 and 6, the former feeder A is also walking to the other side as if C was going to be the new feeder.
- But in the end, the manipulator M is going to be the next feeder, and C will be the next manipulator.
Tips for the base patterns:
- Uli from Nürnberg practiced the base pattern without manipulator a lot. She found a nice way to help you remember when to throw a pass and when to throw a self: It is like the rhyme scheme in some poems: ABBACC (sonnet)
AB pass pass self pass self self
BA pass self self pass pass self
CC self pass self self pass self
That’s the sequence you are juggling and the mantra to help you remember.
In the full pattern, the very last self is the crossing pop to the manipulator, before you start walking with the carry. - Don’t walk too far, just two steps and a turn is enough.
Conclusion
MiniEd is a not too hard ambidextrous 4-person manipulator pattern. We had very much fun while practicing for the video. After all, I can very much recommend you, trying to learn the pattern.