I am addressing the subtlety which I refer to as the pinkie disease. This is commonly seen with in the circles of more advance practitioners on close up magic. As they perform and weave their miracles through hand choreography or improvisation (do seldom seen).
I make reference to something that I am guilty off in my past as a practitioner. Allow me to paint the a scene.
An adept practitioner is earning his ill gotten gains by performing for the beautifully naive and the sophisticated elite, which appreciate our art so well. As the performance ensues and the audience is taken up and down, left and right by the movements and gestures of the artist. Then the point of crescendo manifested in the forms applause and adulation of the practitioner for his or her skill. But alas something is not right, something does not quite sit well after the experience for the audience.
What is described here is an aberration in hand posturing in such artistic endeavour. In retrospection what dislocated my centered peace was that the performer seemed to have something wrong with one of his fingers (the pinkie finger to be exact). The last flange from the thumb. As memory serves me right I began to notice in multiple instances during the performance the said extremity to be rigid as if damaged by unforeseen circumstance, or curled inward while the curl protruded past the natural line of the back of the hand as if deformed by terrible arthritis.
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The execution of slights, patter and timing were impeccable and yet this bothered me to no end...
Well after the performance I asked casually to spectator what their opinion of the performance was (layman's opinion bear in mind). The response was mixed but over all favorable, with some particular patterns evolving from the responses.
1. "The performer was very flamboyant".
2. "I don't know what he was doing, but he was doing something!".
3. "Very elegant movements "when he did his moves...”
Looking back upon this given consensus in audience opinion it is clear that the pinkie deformity had registered in their memory of the performance. Yet it played no deliberate specific role with in it.
"The performer was very flamboyant"
This is most likely derived from the populous frame of reference regarding perceptions of the kind.
The more I thought about it the more I began to narrow down were the hand gesture would arise naturally in "natural reality" vs. "fabricated reality". The only instance of correlation in western understanding I could arrive at was "High Tea".
"High Tea" is commonly perceived as an elitist gastronomical custom popular in Brittan. The origin of the pinkie use is not proper during High Tea yet the association is there. The practice of the "pinkie up" is believed to derive from ancient Rome. A cultured individual ate with 3 fingers, a commoner with five. Thus the birth of the raised pinkie as a sign of elitism. This 3 fingers etiquette rule is still correct when picking up food with the fingers and handling various pieces of flatware. Since ancient Rome, "up” descended from a misinterpretation of the 3 fingers vs. 5 fingers dining etiquette in the 11th century.
Even so 99% of audiences do not know this fact the subconscious association of elitism, sophistication, and flamboyancy is very much present.
If this subconscious association is not intended and placed in the construction of the presentation, it becomes a disturbance with in the performance flow for the audience. A point of misconception, a "why?" that has no answer in the spectators mind. And so it becomes a form on nonsensical patter.
"I don't know what he was doing, but he was doing something!".
This comment is by far one of the worst reflections of this erroneous subtlety.
The audience perceived the sleight. It registered as a sleight at some point during the performance.
This is obviously something that can not be covered up by patter, prop, or shade.
The pinkie disease at this point becomes a subconscious neon sign to the audience that a slight has been used or is in use. Something very similar occurs in poker players, they "tip their hand", "telegraph their hand", this is also known as a "tell". A subconscious non verbal communication that occurs from the performer to the audience.
Think of this as a form of reversed cold reading. Reverse cold reading that becomes automated in the audience. They perceive the sleight even so they do not posses the technical know how to understand what the sleight is or how it is employed.
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"Very elegant movements "when he did his moves"...".
Again it is obvious by this statement that the sight has registered in the mind of the spectator.
So in conclusion be aware of all your gestures, conscious and unconscious, as they communicate to your audience and register with in their memories of your performance. Don't let the "Pinky Disease" limit you and your abilities to be a great practitioner of sleight of hand.
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Rolando Medina is a Sleight of hand entertainer, side show performer, author, consultant. fabricator/maker/designer of gaffed coins, cups, fine props etc.
Rolando performs for the layman world mostly, however he does perform, lecture and teach to other magicians, sideshow performers, as well as artisans, maker, and artists.
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Rolando Medina is a Sleight of hand entertainer, side show performer, author, consultant. fabricator/maker/designer of gaffed coins, cups, fine props etc.Rolando performs for the layman world mostly, however he does perform, lecture and teach to other magicians, sideshow performers, as well as artisans, maker, and artists.
