Slow the fuck down
19 August, 2024
I see a lot of magicians, aged under 30, especially the younger generations of magicians, handle the cards in a very fidgety way. They do everything really fast. Effects take 20 seconds to be over. They have practiced all kinds moves that are developed just to please magicians, moves that are hard and flashy, something to bust your knuckles over. It's fine to practice these at home and enjoy the process, but many of these moves should never be shown to lay audiences. As they are what they seem, moves.
They keep riffling and dribbling the cards constanty. Doing weird and snappy things with them.
They tightly grip the deck, I don't know why, maybe to assert dominance over the it?
If you handle cards this way, every effect that you perform will be thought of as just sleight of hand by the audience. If the audience perceives that you're doing unnatural things with the cards, the game is over. Sleight of hand is not magic, unless it's invisible. When you do a gambling demonstration, audience is watching just that, a demonstration of technique. When you handle the cards in a way that seems to the outside as a display of skill. The audience will think that it's just that, a demonstration of skill. Your magic will not be seen as magical as it should be.
David Ben put it nicely in his Penguin Live lecture, you want to be as elegant and loose with the cards as possible. And do it as slow as possible.
Stop strangling the cards and making weird noises with them, slow the fuck down. If you want to perform real magic.
- Max Arcanie