Accelerating
Getting the diabolo fast and keeping it there. It is not a trick, it is the thing every trick runs on, and it is the reason most tricks fail.
Almost every problem a new diabolist has is a speed problem wearing a costume. The diabolo tilts, it falls off the string, it will not hold a shape. The answer is nearly always the same: it was not spinning fast enough, and no amount of hand technique will substitute for that.
So this is the first thing to learn, and the thing to come back to whenever something stops working.
The basic acceleration
- Set the diabolo rolling on the string, sitting in the middle, level.
- Pull the right stick up sharply, then let it fall back down while the left hand stays low and still.
- Repeat, rhythmically. Up sharp, down loose. The sharpness of the up-stroke is what adds speed; the down-stroke is only a reset.
The common instinct is to saw both arms up and down. That feeds the diabolo nothing, because the string moves the same distance in both directions and the net drag cancels out. One hand works, the other holds a reference.
Why it works
The diabolo speeds up because the string drags across its axle in one direction faster than the other. Anything that reduces that difference reduces the acceleration: two moving hands, a slack string, a soft pull.
Keeping it fast
A diabolo bleeds speed constantly, and every trick costs some. So acceleration is not a phase you finish, it is something you return to between tricks. Get into the habit of adding a few pulls whenever your hands are otherwise idle.
What goes wrong
It will not speed up at all. Both hands are moving. Pin the left one.
It speeds up then slows straight back down. The down-stroke is too tense and is braking what the up-stroke added. Let the hand fall.
It drifts along the string toward one stick. The string is not level. Lift the low hand slightly rather than chasing the diabolo.
It gets fast and then starts to tilt. That is a separate problem, and the whip is the answer to it.
When it is working
You can take a diabolo from a standing start to a hum in about ten pulls, and it stays level while you do it. From there everything else becomes possible, and when a trick later stops working you will have somewhere honest to look first.
