Routining

An important part of performing is having a perfected routine. To accomplish this, it takes hours of practice, but not just practice, perfect practice. So how does one go about achieving perfect practice?

Routining.

That's right kiddos, your show starts at the concept phase. When you start planning a show, you typically start off with a theme. The theme for the show I'm putting together right now is "Beauty". Another theme I'm working on is "Spectacle". So I have to ask myself, what is my goal with this show, what is my theme?

Moving on from that, you have to find your signature piece, the one trick that you really want to do. Sometimes this piece of magic dictates your theme. The next thought is to placement. If this is your key piece of magic, then it will likely fall at the end of your show, so how do you get to it?

To create a great show, you have to answer this question. How do you get to the end? A truly great show will have a justification for not just every trick, but every transition, every body movement, the music, the lighting, everything! And that is what you are working towards by asking the question how?

A great way to do a transition is to utilize the main prop in the preceeding trick, that way there is an obvious reason to start with the prop. An example: your finale routine is card manipulations. Do a card trick in the trick before. Another way to do a great transition is to, at the end of your trick, turn a prop into the next prop. Remember, something unexpected is almost always a great crowd pleaser. Example: Your finale routine is a dove manipulation routine and the trick before is a card trick. At the end, take the deck, wrap in in a silk and produce a dove, leading directly into the finale routine.

So you're starting to get the idea. Every transition needs to make sense; the show needs to have a natural flow (unless your theme is "chaos" or something).

So to sum it up: Have a theme. Justify your transitions. Have a smooth flow. Put some thought into it.

~Cameron Rivers, www.KingsToYou.com