Hi, I'm looking to add some new bits to my act and I'd like to include a dancing cane effect. I've found 2 canes so far. One by Losander and the Creekmore cane. I've been told that the Creekmore is a little on the heavy side, and I've not heard of anyone using the Losander cane.

What Canes do you guys use? And what are there plus and negative points?

I'm also interested in the Losander floating wand. Is this big enough for parlour?

Any thoughts on these props would be great.

Thanks

Ros

I've seen the Losander cane and, for the price, I was not impressed. Although the cane itself is very light and well balanced, the materials do not seem very durable. I did, however, like the idea of the retractable gimmick.

Right now, my preference for the canes would either be the creekmore dancing cane or David Mann's dancing cane. David's cane is a one piece construction with a retractable gimmick. The balance is very nice and the finish is beautiful. With either one of these canes, you just can't go wrong.

Now, for versatility in performance, you may want to take a look at Jeff McBride's illuminated cane (I'm sorry, I can't recall the exact name for the product). The illumination provides quite a bit of visual misdirection and allows you to perform the effect in dim lighting conditions, without the need of a special background. It is, however, on the pricey side.

Kent

Thanks Kent,

Do you have a url for the David Mann cane? I found his DVD, but not the cane itself.

Thanks again,

Ros

For anyone else who may be interested in what I've fund so far here's the link to Jeffs cane Vortex. http://www.yourmagic.com/catalog/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=1&products_id=86.

Also the Creekmore can be found here http://www.dennymagic.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cgi?client=88411118&action=detail&item=002874.

Any other reviews to different canes would be great.

Thanks,

Ros

For those doing the dancing cane, I am curious as to how long your act is with it and how you present it? I am always interested in how we magicians can take a standard magic prop and add in our own unique brand of creativity to create and give our audiences something more then what is so often being done over and over again.

The problem often found with the dancing cane is that the magician learns so many moves to do with it that they feel like they have to show every single one of them regardless of how long the routine becomes. In this case we end up performing the effect for ourselves and NOT the audience. It happens too often as I have seen it time and again.

I have also seen very great and clever abd creative uses for the cane and these are the magicians who invest time and effort into creating something unique to their character on stage and they never forget that the magic they do is for the audience.

So I ask you how do you make your routine creative and different?

Kyle

Kyle,

I'm trying something new with my dancing cane. I'm trying to combine the effect with the impossible hank, and co-ordinate all of the movements to music. Essentialy, the hank would watch the cane dance. Then, I would watch the hank dance. And then everything would be dancing together, at the same rhythm. I've just started working on this new routine, but I thought it might have some real potential.

kent



David's dancing cane is available from http://www.precisionmagic.com They also sell a combination with the DVD and the cane.

Kent

Thanks again Kent.

Kyle, my act is basically an escape act. But I wanted to add something that would change the pace a little.

The cane will form part of the overall look for my character. "Roslyn" has many levels to him. He is largely based on the elusive nature of Jack the Ripper (no one can catch him or really knows who he is, hence the escapes), but "Roslyn" is also the type of creature that if it were possible to float and move objects with the mind he could, if you were really able to read others thoughts or card count etc he'd be able to do that too.

The show will still contain mostly escapes, but the cane is carried with him and during the middle of the show "Roslyn" makes the cane dance in the air. Not for too long, maybe a minute max. Since I haven't learnt it yet I'm not too sure how long it will be.

I have another question. How do you guys decide what to put into your shows? Do you stick to just one type of thing like Losander does with levitations or Derren Brown does with mentalism, or do you 'feel' your character and learn what he'd be capable of doing, like Loki does?

Cheers,

Ros

Kent:
I like that idea. Now you have begun to do something different and new. Perhaps it could even be like a fred astaire and ginger rogers type of thing. Not sure as it has to be based upon your own character and style on stage. You could talk about your dancing partner and how you work together. That she works cheap etc. Just a thought. I like the concept. Nice going.

Ros:
I LOVE the sheer fact that you my friend have really given your character some thought. So much so that you know what your character WOULD do and HOW he would go about doing it. You also now know what he would not do and in the manner in shich it would be presented. This is a huge positive for you and I appluade you for it.

I think for your idea to come across well, you would need to have this cane the entire show and come out with it. Use it as an extension of your body and talk with it as you do your routines. Let them get accustomed to seeing you with it.

By doing so, the audience begins to see this as an extension of your character and is even more impressed when all of a sudden this object that they have seen the entire time, tends to have a mind of its own. I think that could play well.

The only problem is if the cane as you buy it, matches the look and feel of your personna and appearance. You will need to make sure that the cane matches and meshes well with you. I think it could easily.

I wonder also if there could be a reason or a purpose for Roslyn to even float the cane in the first place. Maybe there can be a logical reason placed within the show to allow you to float it and have a direct reason for doing so. I am not sure what this would be at the moment, but I could work with you on some ideas.

Hope this helps. I will try to answer your other question a bit later.

Kyle

Hi Kyle,

Glad you like the ideas. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned having the cane with me all the time. I too had this idea.

I actually came up with the idea of having the cane before I decided that I wanted to float it.

At first I wasn't sure if floating it would be the right thing to do. Considering the rest of the act is escape based. But then I sat down and re-thought who Roslyn is. And he would definately be able to do that. He's quite dark. Touching on an almost satanic quality to what he's able to do.

Why would Roslyn float a cane. Well, I saw it that he is always in control, capable of manipulating his surroundings. Floating the cane is just one example of his manipulative skills. The same as when he escapes a straitjacket or a pair of cuffs.

That's the road I was taking. Any further help would be great.

Thanks to you both for helping so much so far. It is much appreciated.

Ros

Ros,

You are most welcome. Glad to be of help. Perhaps I see this as a personality piece for you. By this I mean a piece in the show that allows your audience to get to really know and understand who your character is and what he is all about. It can touch on the emotional level but by placing a piece like this into your act, the audience gets to like your character for who he is and not just the magic he does. It is a connection piece.

Now if Roslyn is mystical and kind of dark about him, then it makes sense that he might carry this cane and use it as an extension of himself. It might even be said that this cane just possibly possesses some of the magic in which the character draws his strength from.

In the personality piece, perhaps you do this routine in this way. Keep in mind these are just ideas off the top of my head as I brain storm how I see your character and how this might work within your show and character. Just brainstorming freely here.

Perhaps you finish an escape sequence in your show and the stage gets darker as you here on a CD (voice over) a narrator start to hear wind blowing and you are seen sitting on a stool with a small table and a chest on top of it. You hear the noice again and it startles you. You reach for the chest and open it up and the sound gets louder and pronounced so you quickly shut it again. Curiosity gets the better of you so you open it again intrigued that even though opening the chest may cause you anguish, you have to know what is inside.

Suddenly a voice is heard over the wind, "Roslyn.. it is you...." You look puzzled as you stare into the audience. Bewildered you look around. You hear the voice again this time saying... "Roslyn... it is a part of you" as the voice drifts and fades away... Suddenly a single spot shines down on you from above. Puzzled you are but you show no fear. The voice speaks again..."Use what you have..... Use your gift...... it is with you always.. it is a part of who you are...." as the voice fades to nothing and the light shining over head goes out and is now seen to be coming from inside the chest. You quickly shut it as if saying that it was all bull that it tells you nothing.

The entire time you are holding onto the cane in your hand and resting on it. You start to drift off to sleep as if ignoring what you have heard. Suddenly the wind picks up and the music starts and stops. The audience sees a light coming from the tip of the cane, but you do not see it. The cane starts to float upwards in your hand but you still see nothing.

You finally look at it as the music comes to a loud climatic moment. You realize the cane you have been holding posseses the powers that the voice had been speaking of. You try and ignore it and push it down only to have it fight you and push itself back up.

The next sequences you do is your struggle with the cane. In a way you are saying to your audience that you are not ready to except that the magic you have comes from the cane and that the gift he speaks of is the gift of magic you can give to your audiences. You fight it until the end when you start realizing that the cane is a part of you.

You end with the cane spinning in your hand. You sit back down on the stool and the voice returns.... "My friend you have found it.... the magic has always been within yourself... share it with all." As you hear this the tip of the cane burst into a flash of sparks etc. and the lid of the chest closes on its own.

Now this is very very rough idea, but I was trying to develop a personality piece that fits how I THINK your character would be like. A way in which you can use the cane as a personality piece to share with your audience a part of who your character really is and get them to like this character and feel for this character while creating a magic moment that is unique and fits within your show.

Let me know your thoughts.

Kyle

I like the idea of the cane being apart of Roslyn. To use the dc routine as a defining moment in the show is great. Its exactly what I was looking for. Something to break up the show, add a little magical moment, yet let the audience see what makes Roslyn who he is rather than showing them what he does.

That "inner magic" is a beautiful touch that I'm going to experiment with. I think the audience will love it too.

Also, the dc will be a moment where the audience just watches what's going on, rather than being apart of it for a bit. After all, escape artists tend to need audience members to lock them in. I find that I have the opposite problem to most other performers in that I could easily over do the audience participation bit. Finding moments within the show that is just me on stage is difficult at best.

Plus the dc is a beautiful classic.

Thanks again for all the help. I've just got to find the right cane now.

Take care,

Ros

You are most welcome. I think you may be on to the right direction with this. Let me know if I can be of further help to you. It would be my pleasure to help in any way that I can.

Kyle

I start my chaplin act with the dancing cane and it runs 3 seconds tops just long enough to make the audience go "Hey did that cane just float" gee wiz info I do use a bamboo cane.
cheers chris

Chris. That is a perfect length and it also appears that the cane fits your character perfectly and makes sense to it. Nice idea. I would like to see your act at some time.

Kyle

I own the McBride Vortex cane and love it. You need the look of the cane to fit in with your own style of performing though, the vortex wont just fit into any act.



thanks

George

George, in what context do you perform the vortex cane? What is the "look" of your act? I'm just interested because although the cane looked nice, I couldn't think if a way to use it without it looking like a magic prop.

Whatever cane you use, a minute would be eons too long. the best way to exploit the beauty of this magical effect is to let be sudden and brief. If you have Losander's product line dvd, check out his use of the dancing cane. The best question to ask is why do you want a levitation effect?

Hi Kevin,

I perform manipulation of light using dlites and then I "throw" lights onto a stick and it lights up. Then I dance it---im still working on my act, though.



thanks

George

I belive that no cane can fit you better than a self-made one. It is easy to do and give nice results. Try this!

Roslyn,
Had you thought about Dancing "Chain"? You do an escape act, might be the ideal continuity for your show. (ie) a chain hung around your neck that becomes rigid and then "dances'.
Just some thoughts!
Regards,
Wizzard

Hey, a very nice idea! Perform a sort of "solid rope" with chain and dance it. This can look great.