European Close-Up Symposium DVD su VanishLive

3 Gennaio 2015 Andrea Clemente Pancotti

This is a 3 DVD set on the 2012 European Close-Up Symposium. Just by looking at the names of performers you will get an understanding of how incredible this set is. It features such artists as Dani Daortiz, Bebel, Flip, David Roth, Toni Cachadina, Axel Hecklau, Francis Tabary and Roberto Giobbi to name only a few.

The material is performed in front of a live audience with explanations of each trick. Some of the explanations aren’t in English but it’s still easy to follow along and how to construct the trick.

There are also performances of the competition winners at the Symposium making this a fantastic DVD to sit back and enjoy. I loved watching the winner from France Yuri Kaine’s act as he combines theatre with cards and creates some great magical moments.

With so much material it is hard to choose which ones are best, but here are some of my favourites.

There is a lot of card magic on here including some wonderful work by Dani DaOrtiz on forcing cards. Francesco Addeo has a routine with a signed card where he uses the premise of a tattoo for a design on a card which is very commercial and great for walk-about magic.

Flip has a variety of effects on the DVD and includes a great reappearing light bulb routine using regular bulbs with a surprise vanish at the end. In a kids show or themed show to do with the environment this would be perfect. I never get tired of watching Flip with a wand and making it visually appear and vanish. If you don’t know about this then he teaches it on here.

Christian Engblom has an extremely novel rubber band routine which is based around the three-card monte effect. Again it would be perfect for walk-about magic. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before and the structure is very well put together. If you love rubber band magic I would buy this DVD just for this one routine.

Bebel has a routine called Amition Colore, and although he performs it in French it is very easy to follow along. It’s a wonderful ambitious style routine using A, 2, 3 , 4 of clubs which keep jumping to the top of the deck then changing in to hearts.

Henry Evans has a prediction routine using some money and two cards that I will be using myself in walk-about work. It’s a real fooler and is fun because it gives the spectator a chance to win some money. I had to immediately watch the explanation after seeing the performance to find out how it worked. The method is so easy and well worth making up. This would not only fool lay people but certainly fool magicians. This is just a great example of Henry’s very clever thinking.

Eric Roumestan has the most amazing variation on a Toppit I’ve seen without a jacket. He vanishes a deck of cards in full view, no jacket with sleeves rolled up. This technique is very natural and for those who don’t wear jackets you might want to consider this version. I can see this being used for a lot of other vanishes and applications.

Toni Cachadina has the most wonderful card through bill routine. It’s easy to make up and looks absolutely impossible. There are other versions out there but this one really looks amazing, and it’s easy to do.

The master of rope magic Francis Tabary performs and shares some more amazing rope magic. The man is without a doubt the best rope magician in the world and has certainly changed the way we use ropes in our act.

After watching this set of DVDs I felt I should make a trip to Europe for the next convention. The Europeans have a way with magic that is different from other parts of the world and it’s very refreshing to see the performances and learn new techniques. This DVD set is filled with amazing moments and a great learning experience. If you didn’t attend the convention then this is the next best thing because you get all the highlights.

AVAILABLE direct from http://www.closeupmagicsymposium.com
Visit the media page to see a list of effects.
PRICE: 60 €