Balancing

[Snakehipsvicky]

Hi everyone,

I am very curious about balancing urns, jars, trays etc on my head. Do I need to buy a specific type of urn/jar/tray? I appreciate your advice.

 

[Shanazel]

Welcome, Vicky. Happy to have you here.

Something non-breakable that is easy to balance would be my first choice. I saw a lovely Near Eastern dance one time where the dancer made a show of pouring water from the pitcher before putting it on her head to dance, then pouring more water at the end of the dance. The balancing act was impressive, but that very graceful, theatrical pouring of water from pitcher to glass was what made the dance.

 

[Snakehipsvicky]

Welcome, Vicky. Happy to have you here.

Something non-breakable that is easy to balance would be my first choice. I saw a lovely Near Eastern dance one time where the dancer made a show of pouring water from the pitcher before putting it on her head to dance, then pouring more water at the end of the dance. The balancing act was impressive, but that very graceful, theatrical pouring of water from pitcher to glass was what made the dance.

Thanks for replying. So I can just buy any pretty urn or Jug? It doesn't have to be balanced in a specific way or anything?

 

[Zorba]

For practice: 2 litre Coke bottle about 1/4 full of water.

For performance: weight at bottom. Look for a concave bottom and/or wear a turban/headpiece. A beanbag inside can work well. We made paper mache' jugs:

 

[Zorba]

Oh, another trick that works well on trays balanced bare headed: Smear a thin coat of RTV on the bottom center. REALLY helps keep the thing from sliding around.

 

[Shanazel]

One of my teachers swore by extra hairspray applied to the top of her head before balancing dances- said it gave enough her fine hair enough extra texture to provide some stability.

What's RTV?

 

[Zorba]

One of my teachers swore by extra hairspray applied to the top of her head before balancing dances- said it gave enough her fine hair enough extra texture to provide some stability.

What's RTV?

I do the hairspray trick too. RTV is silicon caulk - the "clear" stuff won't be noticeable on the bottom middle of most trays and similar. Gives it a rubberized and textured surface, smear it around with your finger and let it dry.