The Art of Magic Series - Mitch Williams

Tools and Resources to Make Your Magic the Best it Can Be!

 

 

 

Balance in Magic

by Mitch Williams

I often think that many of us in magic, as well as in our society in general, are a bit out of balance. In the language of the Hopi Indians, Koyanisqattsi, life out of balance. If we hope to be effective, as performers or in life, we've got to find ways to become more well balanced.

For reasons beyond my conscious understanding, balance has consistently been a crucial principle in all my work, on a variety of different levels. I've written at length about the philosophical implications of balance, and the importance thereof. Eastern philosophies and religions are filled with references to this essential principle of nature. But there are quite practical applications of the principle as well. We can learn to bring balance into our performances of magic in a variety of ways.

In one way or another, I've found that this always seems to be the process of balancing the "inner and outer" influences and attributes. For example, when you're performing magic, if you're focussed only on what's coming from within, on your own artistic vision and expression, which is in our case the magic that we do and whatever else we express in the context of our performance, and if you do so to the exclusion of that which is outside of yourself, you may miss crucial opportunities to relate directly to the audience. On the other hand, if you focus only on the audience, your performance itself and the magic you create may become suffer as a result, possibly becoming weak and lacking purpose and direction. You've got to have a balance of both.

And there are simple physical techniques that can be used to express and create this balance. The Eastern martial art forms and movement disciplines, which are based upon deeper philosophical principles such as "yin and yang", offer a myriad of examples of how to pursue this. The yang is the active, expressive principle, and the "yin" is the passive, more receptive pole.

The way this works in application is that the impulse (active attribute) of a physical movement comes from the body's center of gravity (the "innermost" point on the body"). The movement then flows (receptive attribute) outward to the body's various extremities, the arms, legs, hands, and feet.

One movement also balances out another. In Karate, for example, when a punch is thrown with one fist, the other fist snaps back to the hip. It is this very balance that creates the enormous power that is generated in such techniques. (To see how this applies to magic, catch my lecture, or check out my Act Building Toolkit for Magicians.)

In magic, and in performance in general, the balance is often between the types of focus of attention; either active and specific, or passive and non-specific. We need to have a balance between those moments when the audience is intensely focussed on whatever we are doing, and those moments when they are not, when they are instead responding to what we've done. Unlike most other performing arts, magic also has the additional balance between that which is seen and obvious, and that which is hidden and not apparent. This is how we create the illusion that something impossible is taking place.

The technique, or cause, of the magic effect must remain hidden from the audience in order to create the perception that something supernormal is taking place. Conversely, the apparent effect must be carefully pointed up to the audience, otherwise they will fail to notice that anything unusual (magical) has happened. They "won't get it". I've seen this happen a lot in magic. You might call this the balance between focus and misdirection.

That's the theory, now let's look at the technique of actually creating balance in application. First, here's an important phrase to remember: "tension attracts attention". Whenever and wherever you hold tension in your body, it will attract the attention of the audience. Actually you could say that tension IS attention. Not only for the audience, but for the performer as well. Wherever you focus your attention, you will tend to create some tension (in that particular part of your body), and the audience will naturally and automatically direct their attention to that "area of tension". In order to create a believable magic effect, there needs to be an appropriate balance between the tension and relaxation that you exhibit in various parts of your body.

And by creating this balance, we can both point up the magic effect itself, and as a necessary side effect, also "misdirect" the audience's attention away from that which you wish to remain hidden. I've covered the technique of using consecutive moments of tension and relaxation to: point up a magic effect, create an applause cue, or to create an offbeat, at length in my lecture; in my book, A Coin Routine: a Study in Naturalness, Focus, & Self Expression in Magic; and in my Act Building Toolkit for Magicians. There is also a necessary balance between tension and relaxation that takes place simultaneously in different parts of your body that helps to create the balance between focus and misdirection.

To give a simple example, let's say you're going to do a false transfer of a coin from the right hand to the left, in order to do a vanish. At first, you display the coin in the right hand, and you want a bit of tension in that hand, as well as in the right arm and shoulder. You can also lean very slightly to the right, or if you're standing, put your weight mainly on your right foot. This bit of tension in your right hand, and in the right side of your body in general, if done properly, helps to focus the attention on the coin in your hand. That is, IF the entire left side of your body is RELAXED. Otherwise there will be no contrast to point up the tension in your right hand.

Then when you do the false transfer, the tension must shift to your left hand, arm, shoulder, and the weight shifts subtly to the left foot. This points up the "coin" which is apparently now in your left hand. Conversely, the right hand, which still secretly contains the coin, and in fact the entire right side of the body, must simultaneously be completely relaxed. This is where many magicians who don't understand this principle run into trouble. Many people are so uncomfortable with palming the coin, and with trying to "get away" with keeping it hidden, that they hold an undue amount of tension in the hand concealing the coin. THIS HAND MUST BE RELAXED!

I've seen this mistake made in so many different applications, I couldn't even begin to list them all. Channing Pollock once pointed out to me that this awkward tension held in the hand palming an object is guilt! Awkward tension in the body is in fact quite often a manifestation of negative emotions of one kind or another. In this case, the would be magician feels "guilty" of trying to be deceptive and fearful of being caught. So all of their (insincere) attention goes to the offending part of the body, in this case, the supposedly empty hand which conceals the coin.

This is why my intent and my attitude in performing magic is NEVER to be deceptive. This is a form of dishonesty and insincerity. And I don't want to be either. I want to be convincing. I want to have conviction in what I'm doing, and I want to create a convincing experience of something extraordinary happening. And in my performances, I sincerely believe that something extraordinary IS taking place. An experience of wonder and mystery is being created and shared. Created not only by me, but by the perceptual choices of the various members of the audience. And not only do I share this with them, but they also share it (their reactions and responses) with me. And therein lies the real magic! So I'm not at all concerned about being dishonest in any way, because I'm not, and therefore I exhibit no guilt, no fear, and no awkward tension.

Obviously, it helps that I've practiced the technical skills thoroughly enough so that I'm confident and comfortable with them. But the main thing is, I have complete conviction in what I'm communicating to the audience, and I'm CLEAR about how to do it. And because I understand how this principle of balancing the tension and relaxation applies, I know how to create this clarity in application.

I've heard many magicians claim that it's impossible to misdirect small children, and even more impossible to misdirect an animal, such as a dog. (For example, doing sleight of hand with an object like a dog's play toy.) This is news to me, because I can consistently do both! (My sincere thanks to Johnny Ace Palmer for showing me just how possible this is with children.) And the reason I can do this, is that I understand how to properly apply this principle of the proper balance of tension and relaxation in the body. You can too!

If you haven't applied this before, or if you've only done so unconsciously, as a result of trial and error, (that's how most of us learn it at first) you'll be amazed at how powerful this simple principle can be in creating convincing magic effects. And please don't assume that this applies only to sleight of hand magic. It really applies to any situation where it's necessary to point up an effect while simultaneously hiding the method. Play around with this and see where it leads you. And please feel free to share your results with me. I love hearing about other people who use these ideas.

Mitch Williams