SMOKE AND MIRROWS - THE ART OF MIS-DIRECTION (From Callerlink 165 August 2004)
By: Jeff Garbutt, Western Australia

Magic is really the art of misdirection. This is a technique where the entertainer cons people into looking at anything but where the real action is. Those lovely assistants working with the magician are only there for their looks - and their ability to distract the audience. And the Sydney Harbour Bridge doesn't really disappear - a simple trick called "black lighting" causes our eyes to not see it. These are all tricks of misdirection or using "smoke and mirrors" to hide the real action.

We can also use some misdirection on our dancers to make them think we are doing something a little tricky that really is not tricky at all.

SAWING THE ASSISTANT IN HALF

To star off - let's have a look at one of the routines that David (Copperfield) Cox presented in the last issue of Callerlink:

#1 Couple go down the middle - split the opposite - separate round three, hook on the end and make a line - #3 couple go across the square - separate round three, hook on the end and make a line - everyone Star Thru - California Twirl [zero box]

To the dancers it appears that we are doing something that is unsymmetrical. Not so! All that was done was to cut the action in half. In reality all we did was "Heads pass thru - separate go around 2 to a line". But by making couple 1 do their bit first, followed by couple 3 doing their bit - we have made it appear to be something else. This is classic misdirection.

MORE MIS-DIRECTION

Of course the magician uses mis-direction a lot to make us concentrate on anywhere but where the real action is happening. And we can achieve this by using "If you want to" routines such as:

Heads lead right - If you want to Box the gnat - swing thru - centres trade - boys run - California twirl - bend the line - star thru - swing partner

For more "IYWT" routines I suggest you refer to the excellent article done by Brian (Mandrake) Hotchkies in the December 2003 edition of Callerlink.

HIDING BEHIND SMOKE AND MIST

We can do more magic by using simple equivalents, for example:

Couples 1 and 2 go right and left thru - couples 3 and 4 flutterwheel and those same ladies chain - everyone pass the ocean - boys run and promenade.

Can you see here that couples 1 and 2 have achieved the same result as couples 3 and 4 even though they used different moves to get to where they're going? 


BLACK LIGHTING

If you aim powerful searchlights at your audience their eyes simply cannot see what is happening behind the lights. That is how magicians make Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Statue of Liberty disappear.

Likewise we can also dazzle our dancers with backlighting.

Start out by telling your dancers to think of their square as the 4 points of a compass, (North, East, South and West). In the case of my hall - I stand with my back to the West end of the hall, with North on my Left, South on my right, and of course I am facing East.

Once again, using nothing but equivalents, we then try something like this:
Heads lead right - South side swing thru, boys run and bend the line - North side right and left thru, then star thru and reverse the flutter - South side swing thru, boys run, bend the line and pass thru - North side spin the top, boys run, veer right - Everyone California twirl and circle left

TELEPORTATION (THE USE OF IDENTICAL TWINS) 

Have you ever seen that trick where the assistant gets locked in a special magical booth - then after a bit of hocus-pocus is teleported to a different booth. How do they do that? Easy - they use identical twins, and the original assistant really goes nowhere except into a secret panel in the booth.

We can use the same trick by moving our magical dancers between East-West and North-South. 

Heads square thru - South side star thru, dixie style, girls run and bend the line - North side swing thru, boys trade, boys run and bend the line - everyone pass thru, bend the line - West side pass the ocean, girls run, ½ tag, boys run - East side touch ¼ , box circulate, boys run and star thru - Everyone pass the ocean, recycle, dive thru, square thru 3 - allemande left


MOST OF THE MAGIC IS IN HOW YOU PRESENT IT

The most notable magicians don't simply do tricks and walk away. They add entertainment by involving the audience. Keith (Houdini) Lethbridge does this with asymmetric resolution. For those of you who don't know the secret of asymmetric resolution I suggest you read Keith's book "Calling up a storm". 

Anyway, the process is simple and goes like this:
Pick on one "magic" set to be your assistants.
Get everyone in every other set to note his or her corresponding dancer in the magical set.
Now get the magic set to muck up any way they like.
Tell everyone in the other sets to change their square to match the magic set.
Finally, concentrating only on your magic set, use your unsymmetrical set resolution skills to resolve your magic set. 

Theoretically, because all the sets started out mixed up in the same way, they will all resolve the same way. 

A SIMPLE CARD TRICK - SHUFFLE THE DECK

I think you all know this little trick, but it's worth remembering for those times when you need a quick little card trick.

Heads lead right - circle to a line - Touch ¼ - column circulate as many times as you like - boys run - Allemande Left.

I'm sure you can add your won special touch to make it more entertaining. For instance divide the floor in half and ask half your sets to circulate 2 times while the other half circulates 3 times. (Thanks to Richard "The Wiz" Muir for that idea).

WAVE THAT MAGIC WAND

So you never thought of yourself as a magician? Well it's really not that hard. You can do it!