(This is not an attempt to impose my views on others, merely my opinion on what has been happeneing around T11 lately)
I'll be the first to admit that it is almost impossible to be the type of magician of the past, where you sit at a table all night and relay stories to your spectator while dressed in a tuxedo. With that said though, I do believe that we should take the performance skills of past masters and apply them to our new breed of up close and personal magic.
"Old magic"= Little technical skill (to the point where it was almost dull at times), All presentation
"New Magic"= Ima create a new control, sell it to Dan and Dave, make millions, make Youtube videos, and then occassionally perform for a spectator and the punchline of my patter will be "your card changes places with this one and thats it."
Magic shouldnt always be "ubER-viZul" and use the latest controls and clipshift finger flicking impractical color changes, but it shouldn't be that stereotypical guy who pulls coins from your ears while hes dressed all purdy. Magic should be interactive and personal, but the magician shouldnt focus so much on the technical aspects of magic that he forgets to present.
The fine line is this: A magician should have great technical skill, but in performance he should use about 10-20% of it, and infuse his finger skills with intricate presentation to create up close and personal experiences that come off as nothing less than a miracle.
Back on topic (for the 1st time) as most of you probably know, Theory 11 is usually regarded as the "laughing stock" of online magic communities. People on most other forums have a sort of stereotype about T11 where they think the members here are just a bunch of butt-kissing Youtube magicians. I used to think that as well and I wasn't very active here for a period of about 3 months, as I got fed up with all the "what deck should I buy?" "Tivo 2.10201892923billion92383247 variations" and all that.
But then...
Around mid-August I started visiting here more frequently again and what I've seen since then is astonishing. I think that members of this community are starting to get farther and farther away from the mentality of always trying to create a new control, or doing Dan and Dave tricks on cameras, but instead members are really starting to focus important aspects of magic, like the classic texts (Erdnase<3) and improving their performing skills. I see more and more threads everyday about "Oh i was performing the other day and such and such happened, how can I fix this?" or something like "What book should I buy if I want to work on my fundamentals?" And I personally believe that if we keep moving foward like this and focus on the important aspects of magic (Again, my personal opinion of "whats important to magic", no disrespect to others) we are going to create a whole new generation of magicians that can really produce quality magic and keep the art thriving for years to come.
I'll be the first to admit that it is almost impossible to be the type of magician of the past, where you sit at a table all night and relay stories to your spectator while dressed in a tuxedo. With that said though, I do believe that we should take the performance skills of past masters and apply them to our new breed of up close and personal magic.
"Old magic"= Little technical skill (to the point where it was almost dull at times), All presentation
"New Magic"= Ima create a new control, sell it to Dan and Dave, make millions, make Youtube videos, and then occassionally perform for a spectator and the punchline of my patter will be "your card changes places with this one and thats it."
Magic shouldnt always be "ubER-viZul" and use the latest controls and clipshift finger flicking impractical color changes, but it shouldn't be that stereotypical guy who pulls coins from your ears while hes dressed all purdy. Magic should be interactive and personal, but the magician shouldnt focus so much on the technical aspects of magic that he forgets to present.
The fine line is this: A magician should have great technical skill, but in performance he should use about 10-20% of it, and infuse his finger skills with intricate presentation to create up close and personal experiences that come off as nothing less than a miracle.
Back on topic (for the 1st time) as most of you probably know, Theory 11 is usually regarded as the "laughing stock" of online magic communities. People on most other forums have a sort of stereotype about T11 where they think the members here are just a bunch of butt-kissing Youtube magicians. I used to think that as well and I wasn't very active here for a period of about 3 months, as I got fed up with all the "what deck should I buy?" "Tivo 2.10201892923billion92383247 variations" and all that.
But then...
Around mid-August I started visiting here more frequently again and what I've seen since then is astonishing. I think that members of this community are starting to get farther and farther away from the mentality of always trying to create a new control, or doing Dan and Dave tricks on cameras, but instead members are really starting to focus important aspects of magic, like the classic texts (Erdnase<3) and improving their performing skills. I see more and more threads everyday about "Oh i was performing the other day and such and such happened, how can I fix this?" or something like "What book should I buy if I want to work on my fundamentals?" And I personally believe that if we keep moving foward like this and focus on the important aspects of magic (Again, my personal opinion of "whats important to magic", no disrespect to others) we are going to create a whole new generation of magicians that can really produce quality magic and keep the art thriving for years to come.