SWE Shift: Dead Subject?

yyyyyyy

Elite Member
Apr 7, 2012
537
12
I've been playing around with the SWE Shift for almost the entire time I've been in magic. Everybody seems to think the move is a dead end or a waste of time. I'm not sure why though, I've come up with a few interesting applications for the move. I want to make a Wire project completely covering my work with the shift, but I want to know. Do you guys think it's a dead subject? Chris Kenner already made his download about the shift but I disagreed with alot of his tips. Do you think it would be a good use of time to film my ideas with the Shift?
 
Aug 2, 2008
496
0
Cincinnati
I'd be intrigued to see your applications. But honestly, yes, I think the move is somewhat pointless. It looks unnecessary and strange to me, and it might make a spectator think you are doing a move, which, in fact, you are. It might be that I hear the move is super hard and to me, it doesn't seem worth the time at all.
 

yyyyyyy

Elite Member
Apr 7, 2012
537
12
Well, there's only one person that I've seen do the SWE Shift similar to how I perform it, that would be Chris Orbit Brown, shown in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSn99PpjrIw

He seems to also understand that the Shift doesn't need to be fast, he and I both do it slowly. I've been playing around with the Shift as a table pass, doing it one handed, doing it as a normal pass in the traditional mechanics grip, doing it as a square up, doing it as a false cut, doing it as a color change, doing it as a rising card, doing the shift with an out-jogged card and a few other ideas as well. But these don't really mean anything to you until you've seen them on video, but that's where my train of thought is heading.
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,186
16
42
London
I think one of the things that people miss with this shift is that Erdnase specifically describes the grip as "open and natural". Therefore, it's a bit odd that the main criticism of it is its unnaturalness. Erdnase tends to know what he's talking about, so I think it's likely that we're missing something about it. My own suggestion comes from his description of the right-hand side of the deck as being "lower". I contend that Erdnase wants the move to be performed with the deck held slanting downwards to the right, which would mimic the hand positions he recommends in other parts of the book for squaring the deck on the table. If I'm right, the current trend for holding the deck parallel with the floor or table is a mistake, and we should be thinking about performing the move with the deck held more vertically, and we should be striving to replicate the action of squaring the deck on the table to cover the shift.

Anyway, just some thoughts.
 

yyyyyyy

Elite Member
Apr 7, 2012
537
12
I agree with you, I believe that the move is just misunderstood by most. Erdnase states that the move can be done rather quickly and it can. But I don't agree that it SHOULD be done quickly. In fact, I've had the best results with the move when I do it SLOWLY. It goes against what the book says, but it looks better. It leads me to believe that there is still more to discover with the move.
 
Sep 2, 2007
1,186
16
42
London
I agree with you, I believe that the move is just misunderstood by most. Erdnase states that the move can be done rather quickly and it can. But I don't agree that it SHOULD be done quickly. In fact, I've had the best results with the move when I do it SLOWLY. It goes against what the book says, but it looks better. It leads me to believe that there is still more to discover with the move.

Absolutely. It's the same with many of Erdnase's moves. I believe he didn't originally create them for publication, just for his own use and, in some cases, as technical exercises for himself. So, the descriptions are often tailored for his own idiosyncracies and subtleties of handling (good examples of this are the first and second transformations when you compare the descriptions to those in other texts). In other words, there is a fair bit of leeway within some of the techniques to adapt them to our own style.

By the way, I've been working on a one-hand version of the SWE Shift too. Do you have a video of your version? I'd be interested to see if it's similar to mine.
 

yyyyyyy

Elite Member
Apr 7, 2012
537
12
I plan on filming a short video displaying all of my applications fairly soon, I'll have to put it on my to-do list.
 
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