3 Questions for Every Effect You Perform

I could see the thread pushing into little Tobias’ face.

I was amazed, expecting it to snap any minute.

But it didn’t, proving just how strong the thread was.

Adding to my amazement, as Tobias ran across the stage, the hanky hopped out of the bag and began following him.

We eventually got Tobias under control for the trick, but the damage was done: no dancing hanky at this show.

I wasn’t even mad because I learned SO much that day.

I was near the end of my “Magical Mayhem” show. The performance was for a school full of special needs kids, ages 5 to 20.

The show had gone much better than I had expected.

I’d been working on Sean Bogunia’s Dream System, a fun way to perform a stage Dancing Hanky routine without special lighting or mylar backdrops.

In case you don’t know, in Sean’s setup, the hanky is secured between two lengths of invisible thread. Each thread goes to a wireless motor pod.

For my performance, I mounted the motor pods to the upright poles of my side banners. The hanky was resting inside a gift bag on a stand center stage in front of my backdrop.

To activate the program, I just had to press a button on the controller, tucked away inside my Lefler table.

Oh, and before anyone screams “EXPOSURE!” at me, Sean is completely transparent about this being a thread effect on his site. (R.I.P. Ultimate Magic Productions.)

I’ve loved this effect for years. Blackstone’s version, Lance Burton’s version, the list goes on.

Being able to do it with a pre-programmed unit and zero assistants was exciting.

But I had been too scared to use the unit since I bought it a few years ago.

I had so many questions, even after watching the instructional video.

How hard was this really going to be to set up at a gig? How easily would the thread break? How hard was it going to be to thread the spools? My eyesight isn’t that great.

So I dragged my feet.

A few weeks ago, I finally decided to start working on the effect. My wife had suggested a great idea for my Christmas show, so the Dancing Hanky was the perfect way to bring her idea to life.

To my surprise, threading was easy. And rethreading after I (of course) broke the thread during rehearsal was easy too.

When I got to my gig, I was running behind schedule. The building was hard to find, so my setup time was shortened considerably.

In fact, the audience was starting to file in as I was setting up my final effect…the Dancing Hanky.

To my surprise, I was able to set everything up in just a few minutes.

Tobias, the special needs child in question, was selected by my client, a teacher, as the most cooperative for my penultimate effect that day: The Up Up & Away Levitation.

And that’s when Tobias backed up near my backdrop and promptly got himself tangled in my invisible thread.

To untangle him, I had to turn my back to the audience and break the thread. So no Dancing Hanky. I ended the show after the very wiggly Tobias floated in the air.

As I said, I learned a lot from the experience, all of it good.

Here’s what I learned:

• It takes a lot to break the invisible thread in Sean’s unit.

I’m normally quite leery about using invisible thread. Seeing how strong it was during a live show bolstered my confidence moving forward.

• This thread really is invisible in nearly any lighting condition.

Before my show even started, my client had come to the stage to introduce me.

In my 22 years of full-time work, I’ve never had anyone back into my backdrop to introduce me.

But I turned my head and there stood my client, back right up against my backdrop.

I quickly turned my mic off and asked him to step forward before the introduction.

“I can feel some kind of thread on me,” he whispered.

Incredible, we quickly got him untangled and away from the thread….without breaking it.

And later on, when Tobias got tangled in the thread, it still didn’t break. Yet it was pretty much invisible, even while staring at it.

• The unit sets up fast.

I already mentioned how I was behind schedule. But I got the entire effect set up quickly, while under duress.

To me, that’s the hallmark of a good trick. Can I set it up fast when I’m rushed for time?

In our business, we don’t always get what we want from the client.

Space and setup time are usually the two things that need to be adjusted on the fly at a gig.

So your props and effects must set up quickly and easily, while you’re stressed out.

Even though I didn’t get to perform the effect, everything I learned that day showed me that in the future, it’s going to be a worker.

Here’s the big takeaways from this week’s newsletter:

• When breaking in a new effect, determine its durability. When things go wrong, can you recover quickly?

For my Daning Hanky, if I ever break the thread during setup, I know I can rethread the unit very quickly.

• How fast can you set up the effect?

If you need to speed up your setup, can you do it with the effect in question?

• Can you easily set up the effect when you’re stressed out?

To me, this is huge. I’m retreading old ground here, but live gigs are madness sometimes. I don’t care how much I’ve set up an effect.

Setting it up while pressed for time while that nervous energy is coursing through your veins changes everything.

It’s easy to make mistakes while you’re stressed out. A simple setup makes all the difference when you’re under pressure.

Sometimes, no matter how awesome an effect is, you’ll need to cut it simply to make your life easier at live gigs.

Want to discover more ways to make your performances run smoother? Check out this book.

Until next time, have a great week!

--Cris

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