For My Teacher, Slydini ...The Master of Misdirection

I have created this blog to supplement my website: www.magicincorporated.com
You'll find my e-books there.

One of my dreams was to have an online magic studio of my own one day, dedicated to Slydini's  Close Up Magic. 

This blog is my way of introducing myself and begin my search for Close Up Magicians that want to preserve the Magic of Slydini. 

Misconceptions

I have heard it said, many times, that one must ‘become Slydini’ to do his magic. This misconception comes from those who completely imitated him when they performed one of his routines. This imitation included the performer suddenly speaking with an ‘Italian accent’ when he began his performance. And so, in this respect, I can understand where this misconception comes from. I am Italian / American. My first language was Neapolitan, and so for me, there was a natural comfort with the ‘body language’, facial expressions, gestures, and attitudes of Slydini, because I, like Slydini, was raised ‘in the Italian way’. Slydini’s misdirection is based upon the things people have in common, the natural mechanics of the body, inclinations of the mind, universal forms of non verbal expression. The principle objective of the serious student is to learn the basic fundamentals of Slydini’s System of Misdirection, both physical and psychological, and then incorporate those fundamentals into his own unique personality. I’ve heard it said that Slydini challenged his audience and this ‘style’ is no longer acceptable. Slydini controlled the presentation in every aspect. Each word was carefully chosen. Slydini asked questions. Questions force the impromptu assistant to listen, consider, and then respond. Therefore, by asking a question instead of making a statement, Slydini was controlling the thought process of his impromptu assistant. When he did make statements to his impromptu assistant or to the audience at large, those statements were typically provocative or accusatory. Observations about the impromptu assistant were addressed to the audience at large. This was intentional, purposeful, and powerful. It is Mental Misdirection. He controlled every aspect of spectator perception, what they saw, what thought they saw, what they were caused to think; by his provocative statements and actions. However, and this is paramount, those statements were never derogatory or offensive.