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sturge New user 2 Posts |
Hello there! Sorry to barge into your Café like this but I'm afraid to say I'm not actually a magician... I'm a writer, and I'm currently working on something about escapology - straitjacket escapes in general. I'm doing research on the topic at the moment, and I've decided that I'd quite like to experience it for myself and see what it's actually like to escape.
So basically I was wondering if there's any escapologists in London (or the UK in general) who'd be willing to give me some face-to-face lessons on escaping - I think this would be better than trying to go solo since I'm not an actual escape artist. I'd obviously be happy to pay you for your time. Thanks! |
jay leslie V.I.P. Southern California 9498 Posts |
Probably a bad idea because of all the risk involved. Also, many people who try never get out and become extremely agitated at failing.
If you want to experience the sensation and understand the emotions then just start by understanding that all escapes begin with a few dinamics. The first is that escape artists are stubborn and hate being told they can not do things. They (we) then prove people wrong by doing the impossible, in our own way. The second is there are two elements to escaping, one is physical and one is mental. You will gain the experience vicariously ( which will work just fine) by watching movies an TV shows where the plot involves an escape. I believe what you're after is the ability to convey the anticipation, doubt and achievement, by emulating a movie escape as opposed to actually getting bruised and beaten yourself. Part of actually performing an escape or any other phisical accomplishment is to visualize the experience. This is done in sports, escapes and many other fields. I went to college, initially to be a shrink, in one of our psych classes in the 70s we convinced a basketball team to split into two groups. One group practiced throwing free-throws for three solid days before a game while the other half visualized their free-throws while they did other things. There was actually a slight improvement in the half that visualized sucsess. So my point is that you can feel and experience what it's like to escape something just like an understudy can visualize being in the lead role. Hope that helps. It would be interesting to know what your angle is also, considering that everything that the jacket escape is a fairly old game and there are so many other newer and more compelling things you might write about. There are escapes from bags, rope, chains, handcuffs and more. A few members here may invite you to come and watch them but I wouldn't think that they would share the secrets with you because it's a fairly closed society. You would find it easier to get people to teach you fire eating which can be just as dangerous as done escapes but leaves a bad after taste.
Jay Leslie
www.TheHouseOfEnchantment.com |
sturge New user 2 Posts |
Thanks for your reply, VIP. I should say I meant no disrespect by asking this, and of course I completely understand if magicians don't want to reveal their secrets to an outsider. That's very reasonable.
Your insights into the mind of an escape artist are useful too - I can see that it must take a certain stubbornness to fight against things like chains and cages! My angle is that, if I'm honest, it's not just about writing - it's also a certain amount of curiosity. Your visualisation advice is very good, but I'm interested in the physical experience too - I wrote something a while back about distance runners and ended up running 10ks myself as a kind of research. (Bear in mind that most writers are sedentary types, so this wasn't a small thing for me!) I'm very interested in the anticipation, doubt and achievement, but I'm equally interested in the agitation and the getting bruised and beaten too. But thanks for the interesting, insightful post, and please let me make it clear that I meant no disrespect in asking. Cheers, and happy new year! |
Harley Newman Inner circle 5117 Posts |
You may be contacted by one of my friends. I let him know about this post.
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus” -Mark Twain
www.bladewalker.com |
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