but we can take that further, how many "moments" are there and how much space between actual "magic" or I should really say "moments"
Depends on the routine, depends on the show. I also do story telling performances, with no magic at all, so I can hold a room with just words.
I've been thinking about my first solo show a lot lately so a couple examples from that. I opened with a 2.5 minute long recital of classic piece of literature, using Tarot cards as visuals to go along with the story. At the end, I simply put the cards into my jacket pocket. No trick at all.
I performed a living dead test that opened with, "In some cultures it's believed that a photograph captures someone's soul. In western culture we think that's crazy or superstitious. But what if there's something to it? Try this ... from your seats, if you'd like, close your eyes and imagine you're in a big room with a table in front of you. Now imagine there's a picture of the person you care most about on that table. And now ... imagine taking a big pair of scissors and just ... stabbing" *slaps fist into other hand* "that photo .. over" *smack* "and over" *smack* "again. Now I can tell by the expressions I can see the audience that maybe some of you realize pictures may hold more than they seem to. Let's take it a step further, with these ..." That routine is about 5 minutes long and, depending on how they respond to the imagining, two magical moments about 4 minutes apart.
The finale for that show had me talking about an interesting thing from history for 5 minutes, followed by a 2 minute routine which had one moment of shock/astonishment.
My shows are written to be kind of dark, theatrical, and thought provoking. As one reviewer said, "It's like a magic show but for intelligent adults."
I wouldn't say there's no rules. I would say, instead, that it's important to learn the rules so one can understand how to break them effectively.