I was out with my family today, doing some after christmas shopping and testing a new magic trick, Ring Leader, on the people we came across. I had worked with the moves enough to know that I could do the tricks without revealing the method, but I knew I wasn't going to be great. I did 2 different bits of the routine, the opening penetration, and the final vanish and reveal on the pinky. These went well, but I'm writing this because of another thing that happened while I was out performing.
I ran across this guy who really liked magic. He told me that he had recently been to a restaurant where one of the waiters would pull out a deck of cards when things were slow and do tricks for people. I had a deck of cards on me and I pulled it out, half joking, half hoping I'd get to show him a trick. He asked me to show him something, and of course, that's what I did. I did a simple effect. I asked him what his favorite card was, and then had him pick his favorite card from a face down deck. The man was completely floored.
The point of this story isn't to tell you about a good experience, though it's always fun to tell friends about cool things that happen. I'm writing to pose a question. Is there anyone on this forum, or does anyone know of someone who does improvisational magic? (Not necessarily impromptu magic, there's a difference.) And have they published anything? I know Fin Jon talked a little about it at EMC 2010, and so did Paul Daniels at EMC 2011, but there's nothing on Penguin that appears to relate.
The reason I ask the question is this, when I pulled out my deck of cards I had no clue what I was going to do, I improvised an effect based on something that had worked in the past. I realize that there are huge risks in improvising, but there are also huge rewards because it allows you to be completely free in your performance, and improvising is a great way to come up with new effects. I'd love to do more like this, but I'd like to learn from someone else's mistakes before strike out to make my own mistakes. Do you guys know of anyone who has published anything on improvisational magic?
I ran across this guy who really liked magic. He told me that he had recently been to a restaurant where one of the waiters would pull out a deck of cards when things were slow and do tricks for people. I had a deck of cards on me and I pulled it out, half joking, half hoping I'd get to show him a trick. He asked me to show him something, and of course, that's what I did. I did a simple effect. I asked him what his favorite card was, and then had him pick his favorite card from a face down deck. The man was completely floored.
The point of this story isn't to tell you about a good experience, though it's always fun to tell friends about cool things that happen. I'm writing to pose a question. Is there anyone on this forum, or does anyone know of someone who does improvisational magic? (Not necessarily impromptu magic, there's a difference.) And have they published anything? I know Fin Jon talked a little about it at EMC 2010, and so did Paul Daniels at EMC 2011, but there's nothing on Penguin that appears to relate.
The reason I ask the question is this, when I pulled out my deck of cards I had no clue what I was going to do, I improvised an effect based on something that had worked in the past. I realize that there are huge risks in improvising, but there are also huge rewards because it allows you to be completely free in your performance, and improvising is a great way to come up with new effects. I'd love to do more like this, but I'd like to learn from someone else's mistakes before strike out to make my own mistakes. Do you guys know of anyone who has published anything on improvisational magic?