I was wondering because of the location of this forum in the Café. Should rope work be done at a distance?

I think it depends on the trick.
There are some things that the closer they get the more amazed they get. Most rope stuff is reasonably angle-proof - it's not too hard to hide a knot or a fold of rope in your hand. Things like Professors Nightmare, or a do-as-I-do version of G.W.Hunters puzzle knot are great!

The only things I would be wary of doing too close would be grabbable gimmicked props. I've proudly held up my linked ropes only to have the gimmick come apart - but you can look just as stupid in front of a couple of people as in front of a hundred doing that! (It was, I think over a hundred - serves me right, I've found another way to do that one!)

Cheers,

Bill

Bill's right; it depends on the trick.
I've done the Professor's Nightmare in my table-hopping routine for the past 10-plus years -- more than 6,000 times!
The great thing about rope tricks is that they can play close-up OR stage, given the right handling.
cheers,
Peter Marucci
showtimecol@aol.com

I use them in my close-up as well as my
stage work.

Both places IMHO it is important to have rope that looks good. This is especially important in close up situation.

I buy it in spools, so I have plenty on hand.

At times I have used colored ropes purchased at hardware stores (they had a great red and white thick rope perfect for X-mas shows) or from dealers like Bob Klamm (Klamm Magic) who sells great soft rope in many colors.

Harris

I agree with everyone when they say: It all depends on the trick. I think you could do The Professor's Nightmare close-up with smaller ropes and on stage with bigger ropes.

But there are some tricks I don't think are meant for close-up, such as Pavel's walking knot. I pretty much think most tricks can be done very well in both close-up and stage.
Best Regards,

Cole

I do A selection of moves that include a lot of moves from the Tabary routine these are really a stage presentation but you would be surprised how with a bit of adaption they can work close up

Stephen

I do lots of rope magic, and all of it is done close up. The beauty of rope is that it packs small and plays big. So, I could do the routine for a large group and it would still play great.

The only reason that I can think that you would have to be careful doing rope magic closeup is if you were using magnets/snaps and were afraid that the joins would show [eg, Pavel's Travelling Knot] OR if angles were a problem [eg, concealing a knot over your shoulder as per one point of the Tabary routine]. However, I think as Stephen mentions, with very little alterations, any rope routine can be done closeup.

Bye for now

Harold

Hmm. I know Daryl himself performs Jumping Knot of Pakistan as a table-hopping routine but, although I've been performing it for many, many years, I don't think I'd "hop" it. I do it very close when I perform it for older children, though. I suppose I think of it as 'parlour' rather than 'close up'.

Peter,
When performing PN for tables, don't you get what I call "fallout" - i.e. other tables as well as the one you're performing for seeing the trick? Surely, the problem with that is when you come to them - they've already seen the trick.

When you see the Daryl's videos "Expert Rope magic... made easy!" you find a lot of close up rope magic tricks. As a lot of card tricks, you can adapt this for stand up show... and conversely... often is just a question of material's size...