Hi guys. I actually posted a message in the flourishing forum asking for flourishers to help me in a school assignment (I'm from NTU, School of Communication and Information). Things have been going well, and you guys are so helpful. But I need a counter-example for my report.
Anybody out here who don't flourish, or oppose to flourishing? Like you feel flourishing is a waste of time, or you want to concentrate on magic alone etc. I just need to interview you on the reason why, so it won't take much time. ^^ Will be grateful if someone can help me, coz I can't seem to find anyone.
Just PM/email me. Oh yes, if I am not supposed to post this here, please inform me. Thanks!

I'm not opposing flourish,but i dun do flourish.Maybe I can only do basics like fan and cuts,counted?Just don't have the time for flourishes,but would like to try someday.

I personally feel that a few simple cuts and fans would be good enough for magic purposes. Flourishing is like something extra and flashy. Perhaps a sense of achievement or just a means of showoff.

For me I love to view flourishes but doing them is not my cup of tea :( I guess the best analogy is like someone who just blades for interest and someone who does extreme blading.

HI Akari,

We have had quite a few posts on this subject in the MMF with very strong feelings from both sides.

There's this very interesting article by a pro-fluorish guy, Michael Matson on the On-Line Visons.com website which should be quite interesting to you.

PM me if u can't find the website and you need the link.


Hope this helps.

I'm not into flourishing too. Just picking up a few to brush up my magic performance. And yea, if i spend too much time in flourishing, then i'll have no time for my magic :P

difficult to find a magician who don't do flouishes, don't you think?? Flourishing as part of the performance is a great presentation to the effect altogether..

Just thinking... is fanning a type of flourish?? :P

Actually when i first started in magic... i had no idea wad a flourish was. Thats probably because i started when i was 10 and the cards i use were like Tiger Beer cards?!

But now that i am 15, somehow i slowly learn about flourishing. Probably because i got a little influenced by my friend, who is a flourisher. I do not oppose to flourishing, but that is just not my forte. I only use it as a means to warm up my hands or for showing off between card routines. :D

Reasons to oppose flourshing? A lot... waste of time, cannot concentrate on magic properly, useless, only for showing off and impressing people, does not provoke the mind, not audience participatory... TONS of it.

But I still flourish. So there.

Me Magician, but non-flourisher.

Can do some simple cuts and can try to force a fan out of my cards (takes 2 hands) so yeah, non-flourisher here. But i'm thinking of picking it up tho...

Can't really agreee with ppl who oppose it. So yeah.

Well.. I do only simple flourishes like fans & cuts.. Too much concentration on flourishes will not do much good to magic.. That's what I feel.. It's more like a showoff.. An extra activity.. SImple flourishes still enhances magic.. But too much of it will have a negative effect.. So.. Ya.. Flourishes are good.. But not really my cup of tea..

Flourishing and Performing magic is 2 different categories for me. i guess performing is entertaining the people around you. Whereas flourishing is a self challenge to push your speed, skill and smoothness to another height.

u can perform magic without flourishes. And flourishes alone all by itself too!

However i stil feel a minimal amount of flourish in a magic trick can catch e audience's attention if the routine is too long =)

Hello it is impossible to have any magicians who DON'T DO FLOURISHING. A charlier cut, any shuffle, springs, dribbles, any cuts are all considered flourishes. If this is a school assignment, I suggest you change your topic of study otherwise it would really be a strain to your grades. In any case, flourishes are added beauty to your magic. So if you don't like it, you just have a girl without earrings or smth. Look for Huron Low to see what I mean. Have fun anyhow. ;)

D.

I've met Lennart Green in person. I've never seen him flourish. I've met Max Maven too, I've never seen him flourish too.

I don't do flourishing too, am I considered a magician?

I am a mentalist, I would never do card flourish
I read mind
I control mind
I dont control cards

Magical Pam

It depends on your performing style. Some people like to give the impression that they're supermen with cards. Some don't. The latter feels that it makes it more magical when it's an apparently ordinary person doing weird and wonderful things with a typical object.

Why is flourishing considered showing off while magic isn't?
Showing of skill does not always equate to showing off. It can also entertain people too. Magic and flourish both gives the same effect to audiences, it just amazes them.

I agree with TayYH89 that flourishing is just the display of skills, just like any other manipulations, and not really considered showing off. However, magic is a little different isn't it?

I feel that Flourishes give people a "Wow" and "Cool!" effect like this B) or :o ...
while Magic gives people a "Shocking" and "Amazed" effect like this :blink: or :!!: ...
They do give different effects to audiences?

Of course it is possible for magicians not to do flourishing, eg. coin magicians or mentalist, but for card magicians, they usually do flourishes as well.

Well, i personally feels that flourishes are a 'value-added' to know how to do it but not a 'must'.

After heavily engage in flourishing for the past few weeks, i would say that it helps magician improve with their handling. B)

me too, i feel that a few basic flourishing techniques is enough and my deck of cards is bent and rough from usage! hope that helps!!!

i cannot do flourishing.Old and hard hand but I do not oppose flourishing, it will be nice if i learn and master one or two of those. B)

Personally, I do flourish, but i do not chuck them all in my magic.

Flourish shld be introduced with the purposes of enhancing the magic.

Personally, i view magic as my main, and flourish as secondary, (to be exact, a support).

Having the cards fan out for selecting enhances the audience's experience.

Doing a spectacular turnover with the abitious card give it a quality that is absent without flourish.

Even dribbles serve to give the audience an idea of lack of control.

As such flourishes can enhances the magic, but only if added in the correct moment, context (which depends on your presentation, so be creative!).

So u see, wat i perceive is that the mechanics, anatomy of the effect............ (Physical), and the presentation, timing, misdirection.... (Theorectical) make up the 1st and 2nd dimension of the magic.

With two dimension the magic is real. (Like anime)

Flourishes on the other hand give magic a whole new dimension and feel, thus making it "3D" (real-life)

This is my current view of the flourish v.s magic conflic, but as time goes on i might have a whole new perspective. (who knows)

Sorry if u dun get wat i mean because i am very bad at expressing my thoughts. I am also very bad at using metaphors :D

Well said, Dark Law. I wholely agree on that concept of yours on flourishing to be used as a "support" to doing card magic.

I guess when it comes to prioritising or categorisation of flourish vs. magic, it's very much based on individual preferences.

I got into magic in the 1980s, and back then, there wasn't a category of magic called "XCM." Flourishes then weren't as visual or as furious as the displays you see now. Back then, card flourishes was just the ability to do fans, manipulations, and cuts (mostly involving the deck being split into 3 sections).

Personally, I really don't know how to answer the question. Technically, a card spring or a fan is considered a flourish...but the modern school of thought has somewhat altered this perception. Mention "flourish" now and the first thing that jumps in your mind are complex sybils executed at blinding speed, with little or no magic involved. Things have changed so much since the days flourishes blended in symmetry with magic. Well, in regard to this topic, I can do springs, fans, simple blind cuts but nah... I suck at the hardcore Tudor / Buck twins / De'vo stuff. Love watching the vids but I give up on mastering them. Lol.

Interestingly, there's another thing to ponder about on this issue. Mac (Illusionist) is someone who can do De'vo's Heaven's Display. And yet when it comes to performing card magic, he once told me that he would sometimes refrain from doing any flourishes, even to the extent where he can act as if he can't even shuffle cards skillfully. The reason behind this is that the less "skilled" you appear, the less you'll get eyes burning you and the magical moment becomes purer...and at times, stronger. This happens when the moment of magic is...well...magical, from seemingly innocent and hapless hands, rather than a display of outstanding skill from an experienced cardician.

Back to the drawing board...

Ermm..for me,i personally feel that flourishes plays a small part in your magic.It gives people a feeling that the magician is skillfull and also add a bonus to the presentation.But too much is no good because people will get bored as they are anticipating some magic to show to them.Its the magic that makes people feel the shock and amazement not the flourishes..Well,for me i do magic more than flourishes because i find that most people are more keen to see the effect on magic.

Jay Sankey did mentioned once that girls think flourishes are sexy.... :wub: Maybe that's why i do flourishes? :P

I do perform flourishes but that won't be the focus of my performance...
I usually do flourishes inbetween tricks.... Watch their reactions and at the same time doing some fancy cuts.... Just my way of keeping my hands busy in a performance....and it actually calm me down sometimes when i was nervous...

Yo, Seems that you are digging out old topics to talk about, but if its constructive, we still dun mind.

But this topic, the creator asking for interview of someone that is interested to be interviewed, and its way back last year, so i think by now he got his answer alreadi, and its not a review of what flourish mean to individual.

Thanks ho, Try not to dig out old things unless u have something to talk about the topic. :)

So this means my post is not constructive? I already stated my opinions on flourishes.. when you should do it and how it helps in your performances....
I think no one mentioned that flourishes can calm you down in the middle of a performance.... It really does......
And i did mention to just keep flourishes in between tricks... so that they are not the STAR of your perfomances.... Magic should still be the main focus.... Not constructive enough? Maybe... its up to the individual but i'm sure someone out there will find this useful.....

This is a forum....Its not just about answering the creator....Other people can still benefit from the late posts... Who knows maybe the creator will still find the post useful....

The whole tread basically is made up of people expressing their individual views of flourish if you noticed..... I'm simply adding on to the list....

What I'm trying to say here is i'm not digging up old topics just for the sake of digging it up..... Just trying to contribute to the forum.....


Mod's note: Did you read the rules of not using too many "dots" in your posts? 10% warning