Hello friends,

My college is having a cultural fest coming up and they asked me to do a stage performance. It is around 5 mins of act, and am thinking of doing a linking ring routine. Can anyone suggest where I should start from. Also will one month be suffice to practice and perform a linking ring act. My past experience in stage was with billiard balls.
Cheers
Azreal

One month is really tight. I’m not sure whether that’s really time enough to learn and polish a good routine. I’ll leave advice in that area up to others. However, for the routine to learn, you would have a very hard time doing better that Whit Haydn’s Linking rings routine. It is a very well crafted routine and has some very good volunteer work. He has put several recordings on YouTube, so you will have a very good idea of what you are buying.

Patrick

Whit "Pop" Haydn's ring routine is fantastic. I doubt anyone could learn it from scratch well enough to perform in a month, though. Lots of stuff beyond the ring sleights going on in Pop's routine.

There's no shame in telling them you don't have a current stage act.

Instead of learning a whole new ring routine, what do you currently do that could transfer to stage? Silks, ropes? Torn and restored newspaper? There are card tricks that play well on stage. ID... cards across...

If you only need to fill 5 min and only have 1 month to prepare I would suggest performing things you already know and are familiar with. Sure, start learning the rings for the future, but 1 month is cutting it pretty close for performance excellence.

Just my 2 cents.

That's worth more than 2 cents!

I agree 100%.

The linking rings may be compared to a violin. [Dante once said to an audience (after performing a fine routine with the rings): "In Chicago, there is a shop where you can buy some rings, like these. Across the street there is a shop where you can buy a violin. --THEN, YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO PLAY!"]

Absolutely agree with all the comments above. I perform Pop Haydn's Linking Ring routine and can't imagine going from scratch with rings to performing in one month. Besides, that routine is much longer than 5 minutes.

Color changing Hank, rope routine, one cup routine or even 3-cup (cups and ball).

Good luck!

Hudson

Thank you guys, that was some great insights. And yes I don't want to bare the blame for ruining a classic in magic. Am thinking of doing something with silks, ropes with a storyline.

You are welcome!

Happy to hear that you listened to those who have offered suggestions, and, cautions!

The rings have "survived" for eons! I doubt that you would "ruin" them, even with a "less than great" presentation. You might, however, lower spectators' respect for magic, and, they might be disappointed.

It's important for a "new" magic enthusiast to realize that: MAGIC IS NOT INHERENTLY ENTERTAINING!

In a discussion on this topic, about 30+ years ago, the late Jay Marshall and I agreed on a "3 step" approach to adding a new trick to one's act:

1. Learn how the trick is DONE.

2. Learn how to DO it.

3. Learn how to DO it, so that it ENTERTAINS people!!!!!

Whether people are ENTERTAINED, depends not on the trick, itself, or on how "pretty" the prop is. ENTERTAINMENT depends on the performer's personality, and, PRESENTATION. --My mentors, when I was beginning, in the 1940s, told me, repeatedly, that: "It's not WHAT you do, it's HOW you do it!"

As a teenager, I enjoyed watching the rings done by several magicians. Several other performers' presentations were absolutely boring. I found that numbers "1" and "2", were easy. In the '70s, I finally worked out a presentation that would entertain. I tried it out, and it played well. Within a month of doing it several times a day for "real" people, it became so strong that I could close the show with it! The only "hard" part was that it was a 5 ring routine, with 5 heavy Merv Taylor stainless steel 10" rings. Then, I saw my old friend, Karrell Fox's presentation! WOW! It was funny, involved a girl spectator, fooled 'em, and, needed only 3 rings! Karrell, said, "Feel free to use it! I did. I changed a few of his lines, to fit me, but, basically used his routine. I've now done it for about 40 years.

I'm telling this to help you realize that a month "aint" nearly enough time to get past "1" and "2"!

As several have said, do something that you have been doing, and, have developed a presentation that "satisfies" "3"! (You'll know by the laughs and applause!!!

For example, I do a 4 minute routine with ONE "GOLF" BALL. It plays for audiences of 1500, with LAUGHS, and APPLAUSE at the finish. I have a routine with a few pieces of ordinary rope, that took 11 years to polish so that "3" "happened". Ditto, a color changing 18" silk.

It aint WHAT ya do, it's HOW ya do it!!!

Get a set of 20th century silks. Make up a heartwarming story about someone/someting (the middle silk) getting lost. In the end it is found. People will love it.