theory11 — Magic Tricks & the World's Finest Playing Cards
First off, that one chick (the heckler) needs a dropkick to the forehead. lol just kidding
Your arms seemed to flail all over the place when you did the sleights, but they don't need to! It looks like you can do the sleights fairly well, I would just minimize arm flailage (new word? lol)
Also, I would recommend developing a routine that leads up to the ball vanishing and reappearing into their hands. It seemed like you just made it disappear/reappear in their hands over and over until the final load of all the sponge balls. I like to do the vanish in my left hand and then make the ball appear with the other in my right hand first (maybe a few times) When you do that, it is amazing but they can still be somewhat skeptical. THEN, when you make it appear in their hand - BIG reactions! You lead up to that big climax and give it that suspense and that alone can have a huge impact on your reactions.
There is one last thing I would like to point out - your vanish. You seemed to just pop your hand open and it is empty. There is no suspense or anything like that. Once both sponge balls are in their hands (they don't know that) and (they think) one sponge ball is in your hand, dude, you are SOOOOOOO far ahead it's unreal!!! Take advantage of that and milk that vanish for all it's worth. Squeeze your hand do whatever to really make it seem like that sponge is dematerializing and vanishing!
Overall, I think you got the sleights down! You got awesome reactions and everyone loves live magic videos like this! I think it was great but it could have been better! Keep practicing man! I look forward to possibly seeing more video's like this!
As far as the sleights are concerned they are fine. I do agree you really need to work on the finesse of the routine, watch Eric Jones work with coins and you will know what I mean. I do not recommend this now however in the future when you become a stronger performer you can throw a few jabs at the heckler. I recommend doing the Dai Vernon 10 Count trick. You could tell them that you will show them the actual method, and really lead them down the garden path. An other idea is to use a TT to vanish a sponge ball.
Thanks Asher! I agree, but the "Inspector" came out of nowhere, I would've slapped his hand away if I'd had time, haha.my question is, why do people let people touch them all the time? Yes, you're a magician, but that doesn't mean you don't have the same bubble of personal space as every other human in the world? If I had a nickel for everytime I saw someone have an issue with someone reaching up their shirt or pants or whatever for the gimmick. You shouldn't let people do that. whether or not your performing. it's your space... stand up for it. You handled the heckler pretty well. good job.