This article is about Denis Paumier's topological notation system for throws that go around parts of the juggler's body.
Notating throws with numbers
Your body divides the space you're standing in when you're juggling into the space in front of you and the space behind you. A throw normally starts with a prop held in one of your hands in front of your body. If you just do a basic throw, the prop stays in front of you, but if you throw it so it goes around any part of your body, it will go behind you and then come back in front of you. Whenever a prop goes from being in front of you to being behind you or vice versa, it has to go through one of these five spaces:
- "0": The space between your legs
- "1": The space below the arm making the throw (between an arm and a leg)
- "2": The space above the arm making the throw (between an arm and the head)
- "3": The space above the arm that is not making the throw
- "4": The space below the arm that is not making the throw
A throw is notated as one or more pairs of numbers that indicate which spaces the prop goes through. Any pair of numbers can actually be interpreted as six different kinds of throws, because the prop can still be thrown and caught in different positions:
- Throw and catch in front, then carry the prop around the body.
- Throw in front, catch in back, and bring the prop back to the front.
- Throw in front, let the prop go behind you and back come in front of you while it's in the air, and catch in front.
- Bring the prop behind you, throw and catch it behind you, and bring it back to the front.
- Bring the prop behind you, throw from the back, and catch in front.
- Carry the prop around the body, then throw and catch in front.
Notating throws with letters
To avoid confusion when working with siteswaps, body moves can be notated using letters instead of numbers:
- "BOL" is the space between the legs (BOth Legs).
- "AL" is the space between an arm and a leg (Arm-Leg).
- "AC" is the space between an arm and the head (Arm-Cranium).
- "OP" means the prop is brought to the opposite side of the body (OPposite the throwing hand or the last space the prop went through) before it's thrown.
These can be put together to make words like "albol" and "alopac" that represent different kinds of throws. When combining this notation with siteswap, a word is written in angle brackets after the siteswap number representing the same throw. 423 with the 4s done as shoulder throws is written as 4<alac>23.