The point of flourishes?

[Simon_Magic]

What really is the point of flourishes? to magicians they look brilliant and they all probably think that you must have taken ages to learn it, but show it to a layperson and i have found in my experience that their reaction isn't 'oh my god how did he do that? he's so clever', it's more like a pause that someone would love to fill with a 'So?' or 'And?'.

i don't know whether ths in the initial reaction in all countries but here in Britain, home of the great Daniel Madison and Paul Daniels to name a few, they just don't get it.

does anyone else feel this?

Simon_Magic

 

[tsarothpaco]

Well whats the point of magic?

 

[ace o clubs]

the point of flourishing / magic

the point of magic is to make someone think that you can do something that no one else can, like you have powers. flourishes are for the magician. like the magicians hobby. we do magic for entertaining purposes. flourishes are for fun. i sometimes use flourishes as transitions when i am performing. kinda gives the audience a preparation to be amazed. but going up to someone and saying "hey watch this" and doing a jackson5. is not that impressive. as magicians we find it amusing to do flourishes. so we don't get bored practicing/doing the same trick over and over again.

hope this helped

-Sam

 

[tsarothpaco]

Yes, as the above said magic is for entertainment purposes...as is flourishing, but magic is easier to present. You can literally go up to someone on the street and do magic, while flourishing you can't. Flourishing needs a certain setting, like comedians as comedians don't go around saying, "Wanna hear a joke?" If you're a magician, you (we) use flourishes within our performance, whether it be a false sybil during a trick or just a lapse during the time we throw out some eye candy filled cut.

~PaCo

 

[JoeCarr]

its called a hobby, like rollerblading...

 

[Rmana]

I've never seen anyone base an entire act around flourishing, though I would really love to, for me flourishing is a way to attract a crowd and so much within my routines... I'd like to incorporate it into my routines a bit more, but have been unsuccessful thus far...

But yea, I think the point of flourishing is to catch people's eye. We as magicians take flourishing a lot more seriously than spectators and don't really care about the craft of it... I find that most laymen I've come across are intrigued by things flying through the air - deck toss, hot shot, card spring - over things like sybils and cobra cuts.

 

[Deleted member 2755]

Flourishing is something that I do on the side. It is just something that looks amazing and shows some skill. It is not like you HAVE to do flourishing. It looks awesome. It takes some skill. It's fun. That's pretty much why I do it.

-Doug

 

[Sam Hardy]

i don't know whether ths in the initial reaction in all countries but here in Britain, home of the great Daniel Madison and Paul Daniels to name a few, they just don't get it.

You can't say a whole country doesn't react to flourishing. I'm from Britain and have got countless remarks like you described - "Wow!", "Oh my God", "Holy sh*t". You get my drift.

I've never seen anyone base an entire act around flourishing, though I would really love to

Unless I'm mistaken, Dan and Dave did once. Not sure if you can watch it anywhere though.

Flourishing is something that I do on the side. It is just something that looks amazing and shows some skill. It is not like you HAVE to do flourishing. It looks awesome. It takes some skill. It's fun. That's pretty much why I do it.

And me. I enjoy flourishing. It's not compulsory in an act and, when you're starting to get good, looks fantastic.

~The Emogician~

 

[IIAnnexII]

I disagree. When I'm just sitting around doing flourishes in public places I get some reactions. Things like "Whoa, do that again!", or "Holy sh**", or they call the people they are with over to watch. Those are some of the common things I hear/see. I also noticed that a lot of people are suckers for aerials or chin extensions. I'm not sure why but they seem to love it.

 

[NickSkye]

how bout you go ask the other thousand posts about this. why do you even care? its a hobby, for fun.

 

[Zeedub81]

how bout you go ask the other thousand posts about this. why do you even care? its a hobby, for fun.

True that.

 

[BrianationX]

Old School Magicians need to realize that flourishes are taking over
A magican should be able to manipulate cards beter than any other person
Flourishes are a way to ShowOff your card manipulation skill
They also allow you to take credit for the magic
I rather take credit than the deck

 

[EugeneSoh]

I flourish because i like to... It's not for showing off to lay people, its about having fun...
I hate when douche bags like you ask this question...

-Eugene

 

[bicyclemagik]

Mabey that is because they are not meant for laymen. Flourishes are for your own enjoyment, I would actually be surprised if someone was impressed by them. They might think, that's coo, when you do a lepaul or a spring or something, but on the whole, don't expect to get reactions like that guy with black hair in Adam's CCC video.
-Sean

 

[HardcoreXcmer]

Mabey that is because they are not meant for laymen. Flourishes are for your own enjoyment, I would actually be surprised if someone was impressed by them. They might think, that's coo, when you do a lepaul or a spring or something, but on the whole, don't expect to get reactions like that guy with black hair in Adam's CCC video.
-Sean

EVERY person in this thread is pretty much stupid if you think flourishes don't amaze people!!! I ONLY do flourishes...NOT magic. The reason that you cannot get reactions from people with YOUR flourishes is because you do not know how to actually PERFORM them in an ENTERTAINING way. Jerry Cestkowski AND De'vo do ALL flourish routines and get paid alot more than the average magician. Why? Because they know what it takes to make flourishes amazing. I don't EVER wan't to hear that flourishes are not for entertaining people because it's bull****!
Just because YOU suck at performing them doesn't give you the right to say they aren't for laypeople.

Im sick of all you people who think this way.
You are close minded and shouldn't be stating your opinion if you are not willing to listen to anothers.

 

[Rmana]

Unless I'm mistaken, Dan and Dave did once. Not sure if you can watch it anywhere though.


~The Emogician~

Yea. I've heard about this and David Blaine gave them a Stand O... I've never seen it though. I'd really like to see how they presented it. I wonder if it was just sort of a flourishing to music type of thing or something along those lines.

 

[EugeneSoh]

EVERY person in this thread is pretty much stupid if you think flourishes don't amaze people!!! I ONLY do flourishes...NOT magic. The reason that you cannot get reactions from people with YOUR flourishes is because you do not know how to actually PERFORM them in an ENTERTAINING way. Jerry Cestkowski AND De'vo do ALL flourish routines and get paid alot more than the average magician. Why? Because they know what it takes to make flourishes amazing. I don't EVER wan't to hear that flourishes are not for entertaining people because it's bull****!
Just because YOU suck at performing them doesn't give you the right to say they aren't for laypeople.

Im sick of all you people who think this way.
You are close minded and shouldn't be stating your opinion if you are not willing to listen to anothers.

You took the words right out of my mouth =)

 

[copperfield 14]

its called a hobby, like rollerblading...

Hit the nail on that one.

I've never seen anyone base an entire act around flourishing, though I would really love to, for me flourishing is a way to attract a crowd and so much within my routines... I'd like to incorporate it into my routines a bit more, but have been unsuccessful thus far...

But yea, I think the point of flourishing is to catch people's eye. We as magicians take flourishing a lot more seriously than spectators and don't really care about the craft of it... I find that most laymen I've come across are intrigued by things flying through the air - deck toss, hot shot, card spring - over things like sybils and cobra cuts.

DEvo and jerry make a living with flourishes. What you see on these sites are people doing only 2 hand cuts and that is extremely boring to watch.

how bout you go ask the other thousand posts about this. why do you even care? its a hobby, for fun.

Hit the nail enen harder than the other guy.

EVERY person in this thread is pretty much stupid if you think flourishes don't amaze people!!! I ONLY do flourishes...NOT magic. The reason that you cannot get reactions from people with YOUR flourishes is because you do not know how to actually PERFORM them in an ENTERTAINING way. Jerry Cestkowski AND De'vo do ALL flourish routines and get paid alot more than the average magician. Why? Because they know what it takes to make flourishes amazing. I don't EVER wan't to hear that flourishes are not for entertaining people because it's bull****!
Just because YOU suck at performing them doesn't give you the right to say they aren't for laypeople.

Im sick of all you people who think this way.
You are close minded and shouldn't be stating your opinion if you are not willing to listen to anothers.

Hey let me tell you something... Just kidding. You broke the nail when you hit it harder then the other guys.

 

[JoeCarr]

100% bro ^^^

oh and it's
-Artistic
-Creative
-Unique
-Impressive
-Fast
-Visual
-Eye Candy
-Impromptu
-Unusual
-Abstract
-Hard
-Spontaneous
-Action
-Quick
-Dramatic
-And
-IN YOUR FACE!

 

[Simon_Magic]

I'm sorry if some of you cool people out there think this threads pointless but for me its interesting to get different views. i really set it up because when incorporating flourishes into into my magic i thought that people would react more than they have, and when my dad watched my flourishes and told me they were crap and pointless i thought 'well why not ask other magicians about what they think'.

i'm glad that you people out there have different views, and thanks for those people who have really answered the question, but to those who have asked why do i care i ask why do you post something on this thread then?

thanks again guys, and if you have any tips on flourishing i'll be glad to hear them.

Simon_Magic