Hi Guys.

Years ago my favorite stage effect was my "miracle ball" Zombie. I did a whole routine with it and built myself a catcher for the gimic on the back of a table with a well so I could vanish the ball and end clean.

I'm getting back into the market now and I notice there are quite a few variants and alternate techniques for floating a ball these days.

What are *your* favorites and what would you recommend/ not recommend ?

Thanks

CQ

The Thing - Bill Abbotts

Yes, I'd have to say that Bill Abbott's "The Thing" solves a lot of the problems of the traditional "zombie" type of floating effect . The floating moves are reduced down to the essentials and it can be done surrounded .

For traditional zombie look at the ideas on floating theory contributed by Tommy Wonder and Losander .

(Losander's "Bubble Zombie" is another variation which is quite beautiful) .

Losander's "Floating Table" is probably the best application of these principles , but is quite expensive.


If you've been away from it for a while check out these clips for some ideas on floating:


The Thing by Bill Abbott

Tommy Wonder's Floating Birdcage (wait for it)

Losander's Floating Table

Another performance of Losander's Floating Table


And some classic Zombie moves to study:

Losander's Zombie routine

Neil Foster's Zombie routine

Timothy Drake Zombie routine

that's VERY cute and clever. Im pretty sure I know what two illusions hes crossed here but it is very nice, thanks! (Ironically, my own ball vanish is similar but not identical... I use my left hand curled over as the form when I carry it out into the audience and the foulard itself is naturally stiff enough to hold some of the shape during the toss/catch. This only really works with the old miracle ball of course as its small enough to be convincingly doubled with my hand.)

I do miss having the actual visible ball, though. I could see doing this as a sort of follow-on perhapse. Now for the invisible one... although Id be nervous that two illusions with a zombie like gimmick one after the other might give it away...



Thanks I'll look at them all!

This one is very much like mine, although I did the "behind the arm" move as a peek up over my left shoulder, and the side-roll is a new one on me.

And as mentioned I did a vanish at the end and got clean. But his handling is otherwise very much like my own. Its nice to see, thanks

Wow.

Foster's routine is really remarkable. I assume hes handing the gimmick off from hand to hand there at least once but his variety and fluidity with it all is just amazing!

A question just ocurred to me...

How big is the "ball" in Abbott's the Thing?

I just had a wild idea. Since I have traditionally ended my Zombie routine with a mid air vanish.... it would be way cool to "catch" the now invisible ball and continue the routine Maybe I'd even start with my Zombie ball in a case and then use The Thing to make it "return there" after the vanish.

I need a new zombie anyway to replace the styrofoam 5" "miracle ball' I've been using since I was about 11. It would be good to get one that would approximately match "the thing".

Also, I;ve seen a number of reviews of the Dream Gimmick that soudn very positive but I am VERY used to puppeting with an over-the finger gimmick I hand made from a coat hanger. I use the bit of bounce in the hanger and asomehwat loose fit on my finger to give the zombie a "floaty" feel.

Would the Dream Gimmick make me have to learn my zombie handling all over again? is it worth that? I don't do an "on the arm" move although I do do a "over-the shoulder peek" currently.

Neil Foster's Zombie routine was pure poetry in motion.There was a 'romance' between the performer and the routine - thankfully it has been preserved on film....I would come to Colon as a kid to see him...I didn't care who else was on the bill as long Neil was on....I idolized his zombie routine and to date it has never been duplicated although there have been some very good performers with their versions.

I don’t feel it’s a matter of the “best” floating ball (or object)
it’s which is best for “you”!

There is a wealth of material, DVD’s, props, etc.
that were not available just a few years ago,
so your choice of methods and styles just keeps expanding.

There are the fantastic DVD set of “Zombie Reanimated”,
there is the Crowe “Naked Zombie” DVD ideas,
Bill’s “The Thing” is great for intimate and angle conditions,
and Al Schneider’s e-book on “Zombie” is still pure gold!
The “Okito” style ball is great for stage, and
“Voyager” now makes that more practical and flexible.

It’s possible to mix-and-match props and methods,
and come up with something very new and exciting as well.

Explore what’s out there (search the Café for starts)
and make it your very own in flavor and style.

Magically,
Walt

Thnaks.

The Okito is beautiful but I understand it takes significant rigging and I don't usually perform places where I have that luxury. The traveling rig (is that Voyager?) looks marvelous... but most of what I do these days is hobby or charity, not professional so while I might look at it with lust its a bit out of my budget.

The Kinetic ball sort of interested me. In general I'm not a thread worker but being able to do a bit of "impossible" zombie work by switching to thread is kind of intriguing. Do people have experiences with it? Does it compromise the zombie side to get the astroball functionality? Honestly, the demo video I saw wasn't all that impressive but I'm wondering iof that was mostly handling.

Also I'd still love some advice on whether the Dream Gimmick is worth it for someone who loves the Zombie and does serious puppeting with it but is very used to a classic gimmick.

Hi Cyberqat,

PM Jeb about his Dream Gimmick, it is impressive, but not for the beginner or faint of heart, I'd purchase his DVD Set instead of the Dream myself unless you're really hard-core and hard-work oriented.

The Kinetic is limited, it is not made of high quality materials (I guess to keep the price down) and though the thinking behind it is impressive, the products seems more a prototype to me.

Armed with Jeb's videos and the Schneider book you'll be dangerous.

If you work close-up and parlor, look into The Thing, see me many posts (and routine) here on the Café about those details.

Magically,
Walt

Thanks walt.

I appreciate your advice on the Kinetic.

I'm certainly not a beginner (at either parlor magic in general or Zombie in particular) but I do have to be realistic about how much time I have to study new things. I'm not a kid anymore who can spend all afternoon in front of his mirror playing with his Zombie. (Why does that sound faintly obscene?) And at the moment I'm doing pretty intense handling study on my Dream Coin Set. I also want to start trying to teach my macaw to be part of the act which I suspect will be a real time consumer.

All in all its probably best that I wait I guess on trying to learn the Dream Gimmick. Give it a few months at least.

I read in another thread that you felt that tehre are no good Zombie balls on the market now but that the RNTII will be excellent when its released. Would you recommend I wait then on replacing my 30 yr old Miracle Ball? (The foulard is starting to get a bit tattered but ist otherwise perfectly serviceable still.)

I'd either wait out for the RNT or get the Viking version imported from Italy.
The miracle ball looks tacky and rubs against the silk, but if fine for practice.
Walt

I concur with all of Walt's assessments. The only thing I would add is that you might want to check out Tim Wright's Zombie DVD as well. He teaches more of the "classic" moves, including a terrific ditch of the gimmick that I hadn't seen before.

Some of the older booklets ("Further Tips on Zombie" by Neil Foster and "A la Zombie Plus" by Ian Adair" also have some great tips and moves that aren't in the videos.

Thanks.

I actually came up with my own gimmick ditch in highschool and will likely just recreate that setup. (It wasnt hard, two cloth loops attached to the skirt of the back of a tabletop.

Some emailed me with specific Floating Ball questions,
so I thought I’d summarize what is out there once again.

See “Overview of Floating Ball Styles” in the
“The Banquet Room”: “Secret sessions” section.

Magically, Walt

I'd have to agree with the mention of Losander. His table is such a brilliant application of the principles.