On 2008-10-20 07:11, Dynamike wrote:
Try Jeff McBride's DVD on card manipulation on stage. He has a 3 volume set. He teaches everything from A-Z. I am sure you will like it.

On 2008-10-20 14:09, Dynamike wrote:
If you set the closed up like a closed parasol, the DVD will give you a lot of methods for appearances.

On 2008-10-20 11:57, Drew Manning wrote:
Try looking around for performance videos of Kikuchi. They can be hard to find, and don't give any instructions, but he did several really pretty proudctions with fans and parasols. You might at least get some ideas from his work.

On 2008-10-20 14:00, Nerdini wrote:
I posted the same question today before reading this thread. Obviously Dynamike did not read the post correctly since we are both asking about Chinese or Japanese style decorative hand fans (silk, paper, and/or wood) and not card fans.

I know that Jeff Sheridan performs a single ladies' hand fan vanish and reproduction on one his of his L & L DVD's but it really doesn't go anywhere and is certainly not a routine.




I remember seeing a very pretty little routine performed by a Geisha in an old movie about Japan. I think it may be a flick called "The Barbarian and the Geisha" which was set in the mid 19th century when the US was first trying to set up diplomatic relations with Japan. It oddly starred John Wayne as the diplomat, but the movie never has been released on DVD, so it might be difficult to verify.

Thinking that this might have been a traditional Geisha performance art, I did some searches on the net, but really came up blank.

On 2008-10-20 14:09, Dynamike wrote:
Oh my bad. I thought you were looking for card fanning in chinese or japanese style. When James put "bamboo" it got my attention.

I do have a parsol DVD. If you set the closed up like a closed parasol, the DVD will give you a lot of methods for appearances. The DVD is titled "Joker's Parasol Anywhere".

On 2008-10-21 00:02, danielguo wrote:
I have this DVD and yea but fan ,parasol is different. parasol can auto open
but fan...

On 2008-10-21 10:21, Nerdini wrote:
There are also two distinct types of fan construction can affect opening and closing.

The first are the typical Asian fans that are constructed with wood or bamboo ribs and either paper, silk, or cloth for the fan part. These are the most common and are the most decorative, but at least the common paper varieties require more effort to open and close due to the stiffness of the paper. I don't know about the silk or cloth varieties, but it would seem they might work better and certainly might be more durable.


The second type, which is like the one Jeff Sheridan uses in the video I mentioned, is made entirely of sandalwood. These fans have intricate patterns cut into the thin blades of the fan and they are also sometimes painted although never as colorful as the paper or silk types. I have only seen Chinese versions of these and not Japanese.

Because the blades are threaded together much like an electric deck of cards they literally fall open and close making them ideal for manipulation.

Here is a link to one site that has a fairly extensive collection of hand fans for sale so you can get an idea of the differences I am talking about.

http://asianideas.com/handfans.html

There are also quite a few on EBay from various Asian importers