Stephen Langley

5 days ago8 min read

Stephen Langley, a designer based in Brighton, England, is a reference in the yo-yo and diabolo communities. Having started with a yo-yo in 1998 and later picking up diabolo in 2003, Stephen has earned multiple European Yo-Yo Championship titles. A true pioneer, Stephen has merged his yo-yo expertise with diabolo, creating a unique style characterised by fast, intricate moves with loops and slacks, with a strong emphasis on the string—a blend that has set him apart in both disciplines.

Thaumaturgy // Diabolo Trickery

1. How did you start getting into yoyo and diabolo?

I picked up a yo-yo first in around 1998, during the craze in the UK. My first yo-yo was a glow in the dark Playmaxx Proyo 3. It wasn't until 2003 when I picked up a diabolo for the first time, several college friends were playing with them. The first one I bought was a green Henry's Circus with the ‘handy’ wooden hand sticks. I don't play many other yoyo styles than 3A and 1A these days but I have dabbled in 4A & Soloham.

2 How do you approach diabolo and yoyo artistically?

A very difficult question! I've never really given it that much thought, most of the time it's the need to finish an idea, I guess? Honestly I don't practice anyway near as much as I did due to injury but still dabble at the weekends. I spend a lot of time with yoyo players soon I think ideas materialise around that without forcing them, if that makes sense.

3. How are you practice sessions like?

Always at random haha, I don't find as much time to play as I like. Diabolo started as more of a ‘sunny in the park’ kind of thing but thats actually quite a rare situation in the UK so normally always inside. Yo-yo also always inside, yo-yo tricks are very sensitive to even a slight breeze. I try to keep everything under an hour, I've had two surgeries on my right wrist and overworking it causes issues unfortunately.

4. Do you have any mentors?

I don't really have any mentors, but the Finnish guys have always been super great to me and would definitely give them all a shout-out but especially Marko Akkanen, Aaro Kontio & Rauli Katajavuori, they're all great inspiration. Marko enjoys similar tricks to me I think as he's spent a lot of time with yoyos too, we're both partial to tricks considered 'bangers' which comes from yo-yo performances in contests, of which Marko has several up his sleeve. Also Nev Brooks from the UK an all round great diabolo player and solid chum.

5. Can you describe your creative process? What do you take inspiration from?

I don't take notes haha, diabolo wise I'd say I'm more of a thinker than a feeler. Several tricks in older videos I've only done that one time it was shot and never revisited it. I find it quite easy to map the whole trick in my head before attempting it. Yo-yo, quite a lot different, I don't think my tricks are as ‘clever’ in that regard but always take a significant grind to get to a comfortable point. I've always taken inspiration from yo-yo players and yo-yo videos. Most notably for diabolo inspiration? Michail Talibut, Kentaro Kimura. I've listed some timeless classics below.

6. How does both yoyo and diabolo scenes compare?

It seems to be that the yoyo scene has more recognition than diabolo worldwide, with a few people living from sponsoring (Gentry Stein with Redbull for example). From feeling, would you say that yoyo or diabolo has the biggest scene? I haven't really taken part in diabolo events in the UK for many years, but I am partial to the Finnish events as I find them much friendlier and more welcoming. Yo-yo has a much different feel and is a lot more accomplished as a scene worldwide, almost every country has a yo-yo association and national events so wherever you are there's almost certainly something yo-yo to attend.

7. What do you think about competition events?

You won the 3A division at EYYC in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and at UKNYYC in 2024. What was it like?

I attend a lot in the UK but that’s mainly due to being organiser for the BYYA, I haven't attended European contests in some time but I am looking to change that. I enjoy the yo-yo contest scene a lot mainly because of the people, but also the level we're at now is uttelry ludicrous. It's always an amazing watch and genuinely gripping. I'll still watch livestreams start to finish for all major yo-yo contest. When it comes to competing in yo-yo events it's crazy high pressure, at a European level it's a 3 minutes performance. You've practiced almost everyday for 6 months, 2 hours a day, all for that one 3 minute performance, do or die.

8. What do you think about the diabolo community in Europe? How can it grow?

I have absolutely no idea! I'm very used to a contest model but I'm not sure that would be

workable with diabolo.

9. Which diabolo and yoyo model do you like most?

Currently for single diabolo I use a mod, old Spinabolo cups with a Sundia Magforce axle. I've used a similar mod since around 2008. The smaller size helps a lot with my style I think, comes in quite light at 226g. Yo-yo wise I'm using the Reykjavik Return Tops Mjolnir, designed by European yo-yo legend, Palli. It's a bi-metal model and I've been using it for around a year and a half. Honourable mentions to Mowl and Werrd as I've used their stuff for many years.

10. Do you have diabolo ambitions or goals going forward?

I'm more than happy as I am currently. Perhaps attend more events and maybe relearn some of the tricks I've forgotten over the years.

11. What advice can you give to someone starting out with yoyo or diabolo?

Don't practice for the sake of it, enjoying what you are doing leads to a better finished product.

Marko Akkanen

Marko Akkanen is a performer and diabolo expert from Tampere, Finland with over 25 years of experience. Marko’s journey began in 1996 with magic and he soon added diabolo and yoyo to his repertoire, becoming a known figure in the diabolo scene worldwide. He invited Stephen at the Finnish Diabolo Convention and has been a key figure for the development of diabolo in Finland.

1. Can you introduce yourself and tell us how you started diabolo?

I am Marko Akkanen, magician and juggler from Tampere, Finland. I’ve been playing diabolo since the year 2000. Back then there weren't really any videos to learn from or see new things. I had been doing magic for four years already and could do some ball juggling and basic yoyo tricks (yoyo craze in Finland was in early 90s).

We have these street performing / art events once a year. At one of these me and my friend saw Aaro Kontio, making a street performance with diabolo and we both got inspired and ordered our first diabolos by mail order the next day and that’s pretty much how it all started.

I would say that currently I do more shows than what I practice. Magic shows sell way more than juggling shows. However I’ve had no-one to question why a magician has a 5-7 minute diabolo routine in his show. I love skill based tricks in both magic and juggling.

2. Can you describe your creative process? What do you take inspiration from?

I would describe my creative process as being a sponge. Sounds a bit weird but I’ll explain. I basically take my inspiration from things I see and like. Suddenly I'm a full happy mash of everything inspiring and then end up practicing funny and interesting tricks and building on top of my existing skills. I could say that my diabolo routine is basically a set of my favourite tricks and techniques that I’ve seen through the years. Oh and I love having bangers -exceptional and impressive looking tricks.

3. How do you approach diabolo and yoyo? How do both scenes compare?

For me diabolo and yoyo are two really closely related skills. Pretty much the only difference between these two are that for diabolo you can add speed while having it spinning whereas yo-yo has to be re-thrown. I’ve played diabolos smaller than some yo-yos and with yo-yos bigger than many diabolos

Culturally these however are very different things. Yo-yo has a tighter community, has collectibles and is very much built around contests. Diabolo players are more separate and have more individual styles. When was the last time you were in the same venue with 50-100 diabolo players buzzing over some new talent or collectible design?

Downside of yo-yo’s being highly competition oriented means that the rules dictate the direction of how people develop their routines and tricks. You get more points if you do more tricks -> faster combos in a set time frame. But then again, there are always exceptions.

4. How can the diabolo community grow in the future?

Oh this is a good question! I think we need to get together more and share more openly. Diabolo grew faster than many other circus disciplines since people were sharing their tricks online and learning from one another. I think social media has taken us little apart from each other. I see more individuals thriving but there is also less of doing things together.

5. What's your reaction about Stephen's new video?

First reaction: WHAT!? A new video from Langley? I NEED to see this!

Then: Oh I’m loving the edit so much! Langley has always put more and more effort on editing videos and it only gets better! Brighton with its murals is a perfect place to film these.

And man this video is packed up with stuff! So good! Tech wise there are a few things I always look forward to see, such as the slack speedup and loop catch on stick. There’s also one of my favourites, the one where he is moving the slack around the diabolo with incredible speed. The new ones on the video? To be honest, it will take me time to understand what really happens there. Luckily one does not need to understand everything to appreciate.

6. When did Langley and you met?

He put his first videos online, and he is super fast and has a very distinctive style. We were arguing about if the videos are sped up or not. We thought they obviously were. But to end the argument once and for all, we booked him to perform at the Finnish Diabolo Convention. He flew over and oh boy were we wrong! All his videos WERE at normal speed. But what you don’t directly realise from the videos is that he is amazing company and great fun to hang out with! Epic level skills and personality. What a wizard!

7. How did he influence you?

Langley was one that brought me back to yo-yoing. He gave me a yoyo as a gift and ever since I’ve been having yo-yos as part of my repertoire. He has brought his ”yo-yo” -style play style to diabolo and I literally still do some of his old combos in shows. There are many things that I would not know about diabolo if it wasn’t for him, for example: slacks, transfers, rejections.