Good article that contains some great points about the place of flourishing in magic. The author himself dislikes flourishing in magic, but still manages to offer an extremely balanced view.

http://erlandish.blogspot.com/2008/05/luci...flourishes.html

Thanks for that Matt!

I agree with him 100%.

Flourishing is not magic, and I cannot stress this enough.

It is pure skill.

Appreciating a flourish and appreciating magic are two very different types of appreciation. And if you mix both of them together when you perform, you're sending out the wrong signals to your audience - at which point, no matter what you do, your audience will more or less disregard it because "you're fast with your hands" or "you're good with a pack of cards".

That sweeping statement will negate and cut off any magic you may perform after showing them you're 5-way sybil.

I have to admit, there is a place for flourishing - but it shouldn't be next to magic.

A key example would be to watch Lennert Green work. He fumbles, bends & drops cards and yet we all know that he is probably one of the most proficient card magicians around...why does he do this?

Because it adds to the impossibility of the card magic he does - how could he possibly get all those cards to be in order? He can barely shuffle properly!

It adds the contrast necessary to make his magic impact harder.

Would the audience be as impressed if he had come out doing all sorts of fancy cuts and such?

I doubt it.

If magic were a black dot - your job would be to keep the area around the black dot as white as possible; increasing the contrast and making the black dot (the magic) stand out as much as possible.

When you flourish during a magic performance - you're darkening or greying that surrounding area - making the black dot harder to see.

Again, flourishing is not bad or evil - it just should not be performed when you are presenting card magic to an audience.

Please don't confuse this with manipulative magic (like what McBride or Cardini) does - that is a totally different ball game altogether. :P

WARNING: This is long.

Actually he does flourish in his act. If you have seen his FISM routine, he's got a section where he does a very complicated 7 packet cut called the 'calculator cut'.

Also on his DVD he teaches some of the flourishes he has created. (Z cut, crab cut etc.)

His famous move, the top shot is counted by some magicians as a flourish.

I saw him live when he came to SG to lecture, and spoke briefly with him about this very subject. I have observed that when he flourishes it is always to add humor.

For those of you who can view a clip of him performing his FISM routine, observe how he introduces the top shot ('Now I will find your card very quickly, but in slow motion so you can follow.') The first time I saw it, I laughed so hard I cried. Also check out his routine where he presents the 'calculator cut'.

He never 'flourishes in isolation' - there is always a reason.

When it comes to Mr Green's fumbling and dropping cards, heres another observation: I feel that his aim in fumbling is to 'pretend to screw up'.

In addition to the reasons Logan pointed out, Mr. Green always manages to mislead everyone, layman and magician alike to think that he has made a 'mistake'. For those who attended his lecture, observe how he got rid of the excess cards in the 'chessboard trick' (I honestly can't remember what the actual name was). Everyone, including me thought he had fumbled something. So when the kicker came it was like a punch in the face.

--

Since we're on the subject, here are my views.

First things first, I can flourish. Not very well, but I have actually spent the time learning to perform a sybil at a decent speed. I have also spent quite a lot of time thinking about how to combine flourishing and magic. My inspiration for this comes actually from Lennart Green, who IMO combines the 2 quite well. With that said, my conclusions:

I'm probably going to receive quite an amount of flack for this, but I feel that flourishing cannot stand alone.

Put it simply, even the venerable Kevin Ho will have problems keeping a room of people entertained for half an hour just doing flourishes. There's only so many times a layperson can watch 'Twisted wings of the mockingbird'.

Furthermore, in terms of reactions for: (1) a well executed flourish vs. (2) a well executed 'flourishless' ACR.. well. Let's just say the ACR always wins.

And yet.. I love flourishes. Some are graceful, some are simply beautiful. Some give the impression of impossible dexterity (Birdie fan, One-handed riffle shuffle). Some are even elegant solutions to achieve common tasks. (Thumb, pressure fan, charlier cut) I love watching them - and I know I'm not alone in that.

Maybe I'm being biased, but my gut feeling tells me that it is possible to successfully combine both together. After all, aren't we as magicians supposed to let out personality be expressed in our magic? I love watching and doing flourishes. Shouldn't that show in my magic?

With that said, here are some results of my attempts to combine flourishing and magic:

1. A flourishy straight Ace cutting sequence is BORING. Don't do it. Please.

2. Don't flourish unless you can perform it very very VERY well. You will look like an idiot if you drop the cards during your 5-packet sybil.

3. Don't flourish if it does not add much to the routine you are doing. There really is no point flourishing during an ACR.

4. Flourishing can serve as excellent misdirection. Case-in-point: Card to mouth. Left hand does the dirty work as right hand snaps open a one-handed fan.

5. Flourishing always creates prestige. I honestly didn't believe this until I observed it for myself. The problem is that everyone has an irritating uncle that knows a clumsy version of the 'one ahead card trick'. Seeing a flourish mentally separates you from that without you having to say a word.

6. Like any other move in magic, flourishing requires motivation. It becomes a distraction otherwise. The mindless dribbling habit that some magicians are guilty of having (me included) comes to mind. This is everything. Currently, I use Lennart Green's model where it strictly adds humour.

7. When in doubt, don't flourish.

They are probably others, but thats all that comes to mind at the moment.

I guess what I really want to say is that if you wish to add flourishes to the magic you do, be prepared to think through very, very carefully what it is you wish to achieve. Be prepared to think exactly where in your routine, you wish to show you h4wt finger flinging skills, be prepared to accept that its not going to be possible in most cases.

And please come up with a good reason why you want to flourish in the first place. Don't do it mindlessly. Think through it or don't do it at all.

I flourish because I want my magic to be beautiful to watch.

What's your reason?

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Apologies for the long post, but some stuff here has been stewing inside my head for quite a while, and I need to let it out.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Well said Matt.

All the points you highlighted are very valid and I think everyone should read your post.

Twice.

I personally flourish as well - not as well as I would like to, but I do flourish.

The reason I said that flourishing should not be combined with magic in the first place was mostly because it ends up being more detrimental to the card magic you perform - if it is applied or used wrongly or excessively.

As you aptly put it:

I personally perform a flourish only in my triumph routine - it goes with the patter and adds humor.

I perform the cut and say "I'll just do a simple cut - nothing fancy" with a smirk B)

But that's about it.

Again, what you said is solid stuff;

It pretty much summed up my post! :P

There seems to be a common understanding (or should I say, misunderstanding) of "flourishing" as "6 packet Sybils".

In my opinion, 99.9% of any magician who does card tricks has added flourishes, big or small, to their card magic some time.

The idea of flourishes in card magic doesn't mean "armspread catch" or "6 packet Sybils". The word "flourish" simply means "to make something look beautiful". In other words, spreading the cards nicely between your hands for someone to take out a card is a flourish. Riffle shuffling the cards neatly is a flourish! It makes the audience subconciously know that the magician is professional, and is in full control of what he is doing.

Adding a flourishy touch to your card magic can prove to be very effective/effecient, provided you know WHEN and WHERE to use it.

When you add a flourish in a way that the flourish becomes the main thing... you're probably doing it wrong. Of course, this is speaking from my own point of view.

My opinion: Flourishing in magic is meant to be in the background, subconciously telling your audience that the magic they are watching, comes from a dedicated magician. Remember: SUBCONCIOUS.

One last thing: Is "Floorishing" a typo error, or a delibrate attack/demeaning of flourishing?

- harapan. magic!

Its a joke. A very old one too I might add.

Its funny to me (and as far as I know to most magicians), since almost any attempt at learning a new flourish ends up with cards on the FLOOR.

Darwin Ortiz has a very good essay on this topic. It is titled "Showing or Hiding Skill" and it can be found in his book "Scams and Fantasies with Cards".

To quote off him,

"Certainly, there are valid reasons why you might choose to avoid flourishes or other display of skill. I can think of 2 good ones. The first is that it might not suit your persona. Your performing character should be a touchstone for determining what and how you will and will not perform. There are certainly many performing styles and personas for which flourishes would be totally inappropriate. The second good reason is that you may not like flourishes. If you don't like doing something, there is no reason on earth to do it.

However, if you've decided to avoid skill displays for any reasons other than these two, there is a good chance that you might be basing your decision on a faulty understanding of how lay audiences perceive magic. That's a serious problem...

The reality is that many of the most effective close-up magicians use flourishes, gambling routines, and other skill displays to benefit their magic, not to its detriment. Understanding why and how can improve your magic regardless of whether you choose to perform skill displays yourself."

I agree with what he said. It is dependent on your style, or persona, and the particular trick you are doing in which any form of display of skill (in this case, flourishing) is needed.

There shouldn't be too much of a fight on this issue. In fact, I believe that there is no issue at all.

Flourishes itself can be a standalone, but it can be incorporated into magic too. Both can be mutually exclusive and inclusive at the same time. The problem always lies on personal preferences, prejudices or biasness.

2 cents in...

Cheers,
Kenneth

Hey mattlee:

Yep, I do know of the old joke of "floorishing", just wondering if its appropriate to use it in the title of a thread that is seriously discussing this issue.

- harapan. magic!