Sleight of hand

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Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain ( Loudspeaker.svg listen )) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card flourishing and stealing. Because of its heavy use and practice by magicians, sleight of hand is often confused as a branch of magic; however, it is a separate genre of entertainment and many artists practice sleight of hand as an independent skill. Sleight of hand pioneers with worldwide acclaim include Dan and Dave, Ricky Jay, Derek DelGaudio, David Copperfield, Yann Frisch, Norbert Ferré, Dai Vernon, Cardini, Tony Slydini, Helder Guimarães and Tom Mullica.

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Etymology and history

The word sleight, meaning "the use of dexterity or cunning, especially so as to deceive", comes from the Old Norse. [1] The phrase sleight of hand means "quick fingers" or "trickster fingers". [1] Common synonyms of Latin and French include prestidigitation and legerdemain respectively. [1] Seneca the Younger, philosopher of the Silver Age of Latin literature, famously compared rhetorical techniques and illusionist techniques. [2]

Association with close-up magic

Sleight of hand is often used in close-up magic, where the sleights are performed with the audience close to the magician, usually in physical contact or within 3 to 4 m (10 to 13 ft). [3] This close contact eliminates theories of fake audience members and the use of gimmicks. [3] It makes use of everyday items as props, such as cards, coins, rubber bands, paper, phones and even saltshakers. [3] A well-performed sleight looks like an ordinary, natural and completely innocent gesture, change in hand position or body posture. [4] In addition to manual dexterity, sleight of hand in close-up magic depends on the use of psychology, timing, misdirection, and natural choreography in accomplishing a magical effect. [4]

Association with stage magic

Sleight of hand during stage magic performances is not common, as most magic events and stunts are performed with objects visible to a much larger audience, but is nevertheless done occasionally by many stage performers. [5] The most common magic tricks performed with sleight of hand on stage are rope manipulations and card tricks, with the first typically being done with a member of the audience to rule out the possibility of stooges and the latter primarily being done on a table while a camera is live-recording, allowing the rest of audience to see the performance on a big screen. [6] [7] Worldwide acclaimed stage magician David Copperfield often includes illusions featuring sleight of hand in his stage shows. [7]

Association with card cheating

Although being mostly used for entertainment and comedy purposes, sleight of hand is also notoriously used to cheat at casinos and gambling facilities throughout the world. [8] Common ways to professionally cheat at card games using sleight of hand include palming, switching, ditching, and stealing cards from the table. [8] Such techniques involve extreme misdirection and years of practice. [8] For these reasons, the term sleight of hand frequently carries negative associations of dishonesty and deceit at many gambling halls, and many magicians known around the world are publicly banned from casinos, such as British mentalist and close-up magician Derren Brown, who is banned from every casino in Britain. [9]

Association with cardistry

Cardistry is closely related to sleight of hand Display Card Flourish.jpg
Cardistry is closely related to sleight of hand

Unlike card tricks done on the streets or on stage and card cheating, cardistry is solely about impressing without illusions, deceit, misdirection and other elements commonly used in card tricks and card cheating. [10] Cardistry is the art of card flourishing, and is intended to be visually impressive and to give the appearance of being difficult to perform. [10] Card flourishing is often associated with card tricks, but many sleight of hand artists perform flourishing without considering themselves magicians or having any real interest in card tricks. [10]

Association with card throwing

The art of card throwing generally consists of throwing standard playing cards with excessively high speed and accuracy, powerful enough to slice fruits like carrots and even melons. [11] [12] Like flourishing, throwing cards is meant to be visibly impressive and does not include magic elements. [12] Magician Ricky Jay popularized throwing cards within the sleight of hand industry with the release of his 1977 book Cards as Weapons , which was met with large sales and critical acclaim. [13] Some magic tricks, both close-up and on stage, are heavily connected to throwing cards. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Card manipulation</span> Branch of magical illusion that deals with sleight of hand involving playing cards

Card manipulation is the branch of magic that deals with creating effects using sleight of hand techniques involving playing cards. Card manipulation is often used in magical performances, especially in close-up, parlor, and street magic. Some of the most recognized names in this field include Dai Vernon, Tony Slydini, Ed Marlo, S.W. Erdnase, Richard Turner, John Scarne, and Ricky Jay. Before becoming world-famous for his escapes, Houdini billed himself as "The King of Cards". Among the more well-known card tricks relying on card manipulation are Ambitious Card, and Three-card Monte, a common street hustle also known as Find the Lady.

A trick deck is a deck of playing cards that has been altered in some way to allow magicians to perform certain card tricks where sleight of hand would be too difficult or impractical.

The Ambitious Card, or Elevator Card, is a magic effect in which a playing card seems to return to the top of the deck after being placed elsewhere in the middle of the deck. This is a classic effect in card magic and serves as a study subject for students of magic. Most performing card magicians will have developed their own personal Ambitious Card routine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardistry</span> Performance art

Cardistry is the performance art of card flourishing. Unlike card magic, cardistry is meant to be visually impressive and appear very hard to execute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dai Vernon</span> Canadian magician (1894–1992)

David Frederick Wingfield Verner, better known by his stage names Dai Vernon or The Professor, was a Canadian magician.

A double lift is a sleight of hand maneuver used by magicians in card magic. It is a method by which the identity of the top card may be kept secret by lifting the top two cards as one, making it seem as if only the top card is picked up. Similar techniques may be applied to more than two cards to perform a triple or even quadruple lift. The term was coined by Theo Annemann.

This is a glossary of conjuring terms used by magicians.

Spelling Bee may refer to one of several card tricks that revolve around the spelling of card types, audience member names, or words suggested by the audience. Many make use of decks prepared in advance in order to provide the illusion of spelling card names in a particular sequence. Jean Hugard's Encyclopedia of Card Tricks lists a number of such spelling-based tricks, many of which are considered to be self-working.

The Circus Card Trick is a self-working card trick where the performer uses verbal misdirection to prompt the participant into betting that the performer has failed to execute the trick correctly. The performer exploits the ambiguous wording of their patter to win the bet in a manner unexpected by the audience. It is often recommended for beginning magicians due to its entertaining and self-working nature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hat-trick (magic trick)</span>

The hat-trick is a classic magic trick where a performer will produce an object out of an apparently empty top hat.

<i>The Expert at the Card Table</i> Book by S. W. Erdnase

The Expert at the Card Table, is an extensive book on the art of sleight of hand published in 1902 by S. W. Erdnase, a pseudonymous author whose identity has remained a mystery for over a century. As a detailed manual of card sharps, the book is considered to be one of the most influential works on magic or conjuring with cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Close-up magic</span> Magic performed in an intimate setting

Close-up magic is magic performed in an intimate setting usually no more than 3 meters from one's audience and is usually performed while sitting at a table.

Platform magic is magic that is done for larger audiences than close-up magic and for smaller audiences than stage magic. It is more intimate than stage magic because it does not require expensive, large-scale stage equipment and can thus be performed closer to the audience and without a stage. Many of the tricks performed by platform magicians are sufficiently angle-sensitive as to make them impossible to perform as micromagic. Most working magicians are parlor/platform magicians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chink-a-chink</span> Magic trick involving coins

Chink-a-chink is a simple close-up magic coin trick in which a variety of small objects, usually four, appear to magically transport themselves from location to location when covered by the performer's hands, until the items end up gathered together in the same place. Variations, especially the Sympathetic Coins also known as Coins-n-Cards, have been performed since the 1800s. Popular modern variations are Shadow Coins and Matrix. A variation using playing cards as the objects is known as Sympathetic Aces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Hugard</span> Australian magician

Jean Hugard was an Australian professional magician.

Frederick Braue[pronounced BROW-ee] was an American journalist notable for his contribution to the field of card magic. He was a semi-professional magician, specializing in card magic, of which he was a master.

Francis Carlyle was a professional magician who was a regular and popular performer at Hollywood's Magic Castle.

Daniel and David Buck are American sleight of hand practitioners known for their contributions to the art of cardistry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of cardistry</span> Aspect of history surrounding cardistry

The art form of card flourishing, commonly referred to as cardistry, grew out of simple flourishes used in close-up magic by magicians in the 1990s to early 2000s. Chris Kenner's notable two-handed Sybil cut from his 1992 publication Totally Out of Control has carried great influence and gave birth to a series of advanced flourishes which today represents the foundation of the performance art. Sleight of hand pioneers Dan and Dave Buck popularized cardistry on the world stage with their instructional DVD releases from 2004 and 2007. Journalist Kevin Pang of Vanity Fair characterized the art of card flourishing as, "It's yo-yo tricks performed by cardsharps with the street cred of a Parkour video. There's a name for it: cardistry."

References

  1. 1 2 3 Oxford Dictionary 2015.
  2. ↑ Whaley & Bell 1991, p. 314.
  3. 1 2 3 Longe 2003, p. 9.
  4. 1 2 Henry 1975, pp. 495–498.
  5. ↑ Ostovich & Hopkins 2014, pp. 114–116.
  6. ↑ Scarne 2003, p. 236.
  7. 1 2 Forbes 2008.
  8. 1 2 3 Jones 2007, pp. 54–55.
  9. ↑ The Times 2008.
  10. 1 2 3 Tarr 1976, pp. 59, 89.
  11. ↑ Jay 2008, pp. 91–92.
  12. 1 2 Jay 2008, p. 90.
  13. ↑ The New Yorker 1993.
  14. ↑ Hugard & Braué 2012, pp. 43, 49.

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