The Mathematics of Juggling [video]

Great talk. He mentions how much more difficult (relatively) the circular-oriented shower pattern is than the standard cascade, even though both use three balls.

As an amateur juggler/magician, it's also an interesting point to consider from the perspective of your audience. The layman might not have a visible appreciation for the additional difficulty, as opposed to the keen eyes of professionals.

Claw pattern is another good one, since you don't have the luxury of allowing the ball to fall into your waiting hand but have to snatch them out of the air.

From a performative standpoint, I'm always trying to min-max—something that is trivial to learn but looks highly impressive.

TLDR: I hated learning faro shuffles.