Is it possible to do that thing with the ball like in The Labyrinth? (David Bowie/Goblin King)?

Question

That thing in The Labyrinth when he swishes the ball along his arm...how does he do that? Is it possible to do? If so, how?

Or was it computer edited? I thought I read somewhere that he could do it on his own without computer editing.

Answer 1

They had an expert there, he was behind him with a hand through the sleeve of the coat he was wearing, making it look like David Bowies hand. So yeah, it's possible.  

Answer 2

From IMDb:

For the shots where Jareth is seen face-on manipulating the crystal balls, juggler/choreographer Michael Moschen was actually crouched behind David Bowie with his arm(s) replacing Bowie's. Unlike a typical Muppet performance, however, he had no video screen to view his performance. In other words, his manipulations were performed completely blind.

Also from IMDb:

Mini Biography

Michael Moschen grew up in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller, as a next-door-neighbor. Thus is comes as no surprise that he learned to juggle at age 12. Michael got his first professional jobs with Penn, and the duo worked for a summer at an amusement park. Soon after, his self-discipline manifested itself, and he dropped out of high school. His reasoning was that he was not learning how to teach himself, so he essentially home-schooled himself. He became a street performer, and a founding member of the Big Apple Circus from 1977-1980. Michael has gone on to develop entirely new forms of juggling, taking the art to completely new heights. While most jugglers use three balls, he created a ten-foot triangle in which he stands to bounce the balls all around his body. He studied the fragility of crystal balls and through hours of exploration and practice, developed a method of rolling them over his hands so that they seem to float before him. He minimizes his own presence through blank expressions and dark clothing so as to highlight the unique motions of his props. He constantly finds new means of manipulations of his props, which has lead him into the study of architecture, to serve as a carpenter's assistant, and challenged him to learn dance, martial arts, and acrobatics. He has traveled all over the world in his 24-year career, but prefers to spend time at home with his wife, Danielle Mailer, and their daughter, Isabella.

He was a high school classmate of Penn Jillette!

If you'd like to see when and where CGI work in films and on television developed, here's a timeline for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of...

Many people take for granted that computer work has been used much more extensively and further back than it was. "Labyrinth" is supposed to have a CGI animal; I'm trying to find out which it was but suspect that it is the owl Jareth turns into.