Hi. Here's a vid of my first stage performace. Did Candles, canes n linking rings. made quite a fair bit of mistakes tho but decided not to omit from the vids so i could see where i could improve. Candles had abit of unforseen screw ups n fumbled abit on my linking rings esp the last part. ok. words less. vid now. heeheh.
Ken
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAzgXARInM4 Well...since nobody has made any comments yet, let me share a few personal observations and maybe someone else can share their thoughts too.
Looks like you have made quite a few purchases the past few months Ken :D Marcus told me you have been practising very much and indeed you have. :)
1st off, I like your outfit, appropriate, not too flashy, and you look good in a jacket. It's one of those things that you are basically pretty much born with it, so you are lucky in that sense. B)
There is a little fumbling with some of the handlings but I think you already know it so I guess there's nothing much to say about that. Just a little more practise.
For the candles act, I'm not sure is it because of the angle, but the steals and the ditches seems a little too obvious. Is there any way else you could have done them more subtlely? Or else, could you have structured it to have more motivation for reaching into your pocket or maybe stronger misdirection? Also, from your intented routine, there seem no need for that in the 1st place. I'm really confused about why you did that but maybe there's something in the routine I don't understand.
You lit and blew out the candles a few times. Once at 00:44, then again at 01:17. Was it really necessary to repeat it like that? I understand the point is to show that they are all real candles but could be be done just once towards the end to show that they are all real? Again, I am thinking what is the motivation for lighting the candles and blowing them out?
For the part where you have 3 candles. Instead of lighting 1, making the 3rd one appear, and then using it to like the other one, could it be better to light both the candles FIRST, and then make the 3rd one appear in a flash? So that you have a reason to light the 1st 2 candles (to pull a candle out of the flame of 1 of them), and you don't have it situation where you light the candles and seemingly not doing anything with them to blow it out again. Hope you understand what i mean. B)
Still on the lit candles, maybe if the flame goes out before you are supposed to blow it out, there is no need to try to light it again if you are going to blow it out next. Guess this kinda thing just happens sometimes. I like the way you shrug it off thou, to lighten the moment.
For the linking ring part, the technical handling parts you already know so there's nothing much to it.
A comment i have is there are a few times when you have the rings around your neck. Could you use the elbow "holdout" instead for that, that is to have them hang off your arm at the elbow.
The reason i suggest this is because you are looking pretty slick and sharp in your outfit, but having the rings around your neck like that is kinda....well....comical? It is a standard move for linking rings but it kinda don't fit your image. Using the elbow hold might be more consistant with your appearance.
The structure of a linking ring routine has been the source of a great amount of discussions and debates.
How many times can a lay audience appreciate metal rings linking and unlinking? Should it be simple and minimalistic or should it be fancy with a lot of pattern formations? Is it more of a magical act or more of a display routine?
I suppose nobody can really say what is right and what is wrong to these questions. It's all a matter of personal preferences. As long as you have given some thoughts and decided what it is you want to do. :)
Overall, a pretty good job. Can tell that you have been practising hard.
And that, is my 2 bit comments from a spectator point of view. Hope at least some of that makes sense. B)
Cheers
Thank you bro for ur good insights. will take serious note of them. THanks again! i've been waiting so long for some good comments. ahha.