Hello friends,

It's been sometime since I posted here. Tried stage manipulation for the first time in my life. It was fun, here's the link
https://youtu.be/aVRvgSl2z60
Pls let me know your thoughts on this.
cheers
azrealmagic

Definitely a way of presenting a silent ball routine, that I have never seen before.

I can't tell if Bill's comment is a compliment or an insult. Lol!

I like your presentation a lot. Beautifully done, and very creative. I'm not sure the routine hangs together as composed, though. It seems choppy, and doesn't flow from one thing to the next logically. For instance, the repeating ball is really nice, but the way into it doesn't flow, doesn't make sense. And then as they multiply and change hands, you perform it very well, but the routine isn't logical, and it's kind of hard to follow. Your color change is nice, but you need to be able to do it without changing hands. The middle-ring finger roll and vanish is excellent, but then for no reason I can figure you put your right hand behind your body, looking suspicious, though I don't see any dirty work to justify it. And then the streamers at the end come out of nowhere and are a jarring change.

So, I'd say your performance is great, you show off some fine skills and a flare for presentation, but the routine itself and how it is composed needs work. You'd look a lot better if you had a routine that flowed from beginning to end. I see in his signature line that Bill Hegbli is a Chavez graduate (I'm a Chavez student too, but probably at a much different time than Bill was). The Chavez school teaches a lovely ball routine that you might like. I'm sure someone does it on YouTube somewhere. You might want to check that out for a routine at your skill level that really flows logically and well.

My conclusion is that you're doing great, but your routine isn't helping you. A better routine would make you look a thousand times better.

And maybe that's what Bill was trying to say.

I could not comment any further because I could not put my finger on why it did not look like an effective routine/act.

I think it may be his stage movement and control of his body, the swinging arms and stooping over is not flattering.

He may have had some funky music playing, that caused him to move like he was.

He needs some stage movement help, it detracts from the balls totally.

He had a number of original moves, but it was not possible to see the full effect of his creation.

ASIF, your music fits the act well. I think you did a nice job being it was your first time presenting the act. You need to work a bit on your moves. Remember, multiplying balls are not awe inspiring and the constant bending down when producing a ball or vanishing it is a little counter productive.

I would work on my palming a bit. When producing the silk for the first time and several times throughout the act, your hand looks unnatural and it's obvious you have something in it. One thing I did notice was the vanishing knot. You need to make sure the knot dissolves in your hand. Your presentation showed the know above your hand and disappearing from there. You want to make it look like the knot changes into a ball. I like the color change by wrapping the ball in a small silk.

Overall, I thought the act was nice, just needs a little presentation work.

First of all I thank everyone who has taken their valuable time in reviewing my act.
It's really nice to hear from greatminds like you guys.
@bill yup, I sincerely believe some stage workshop will help me, as many a times I got confused in between as to where to stand , what to do etc. and can you please clarify that whether you felt it like some collection of tricks, that'll surely help me. And I sincerely liked your criticism, it'll surely help me a lot.
@danaruns thank you ma'am for reviewing it. So just for clarification, is it that my act is lacking a story that you are saying. I would really love to hear it from a Chavez Graduate .Also what are the points that should be kept in mind while creating a silent act.Is it the music or the act that comes first.
@dave, thanks for your compliments Dave. Can you please elaborate as to where should I work upon, or is it like Bill said the point about stage movement. Yeah I have to work on my naturalness and thanks for pointing that out. Can you point me to some works where I can study upon.

A work in progress with potential. Here are my suggestions:
1. Can you make the bubbles larger? The balls look twice as large as the bubbles.
2. The arc/trajectory of the streamers goes down. Can you make them arc upwards?

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Re asif's question, "Is it the music or the act that comes first?"
Both approaches have their merits.
It's kind of like asking about a song: "Which is written first: the music or the words?"
Most songwriters will tell you that both approaches have produced great songs.

When David Copperfield performed the dancing cane/levitation, he chose Gershwin's "American in Paris"--which was written five decades before he choreographed the act.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkUNYdplejU

When I performed at the Raleigh (NC) Little Theater once, the director and I sat in the sound booth and listened to several instrumental tunes and I chose three that matched my performing style for my card/billiard ball act.

If you can't afford to pay ASCAP royalties or hire a composer to create an original piece of music for your act, you're pretty much forced to use royalty-free music. Some royalty-free music compositions are offered at varying clip lengths for each song--which makes it somewhat easier to match the music to the length of your act/routine.

----- Amado"Sonny" Narvaez

@Anatole, thank you for your suggestions sir. Can you help me with the arc thing. Is there any video I can look upto?
Cheers
Asif

Maybe studying the hand/arm movements of other magicians who use throw streamers will help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNiTkj_WB6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9TlpvIy0QA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2lPpRxX6Y4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eklV8jBJtpU

Study the follow-through.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez