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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
To any of you who use doves as a staple in your act, my hat is off to you.
Here's my thinking; the average person has no idea of what I suspect is the hidden costs of maintaining a fine dove act. I have two doves that I once used in my act, but I did not do anything major or involved with themjust simple effects..now they get fed and watered and have a nice cage in their "retirement" But for you pros, there is way more involved cost wise. I suspect, that staying trim and excercising regularly is a part of your regime? What I'm driving at is the expense involved any time you have to re-tailor that suit! Or if you get a different costume all-together, then there is the pain in the butt of having all the dove pockets re-done, etc. Time, money, and headaches seem to be the word that fits here. Then there is the time involvement of keeping the doves in top form, and if one of them falls ill, then the vet wants his fair share..and the list goes on, not to mention basics like daily feed and other necessities. And I suspect that all this is only the tip of the ice burg..so when you are on stage pulling off those beautiful productions, and the guy in the audience only knows that it looks like magic, here is one guy who really appreciates all the time, money, and work that goes into maintaining such an act. My hat is off to you guys!
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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RJE Inner circle 1848 Posts |
Hey Daff,
We keep a minimum of 10 doves and have 9 different costumes with pockets. We also keep a number of non body l*** productions. The latest we got yesterday is a beautiful Hong Kong Dove Production we had custom built. It is going into our silk and dove routine. By the way, we currently have a couple of young doves for sale. All the best, Rob |
daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
Ten doves? So I was spot on. we ARE talking about some major expense here, huh?
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
Hi Daffy, nice to see that someone other than us dove workers have an idea of what's involved. I have 31 doves at the current moment. I don't use them all in my act but they are worked and excercised everyday. I have 3 tuxedos of different sizes to accomodate my personal weight fluxuation and all have the pockets sewn t fit the jacket. My up front cost of course was a little high but I sew my own pockets and attach them to the jacket myself to save some money.
My vet gives me a break since I have so many birds. I have them checked twice a year for general health and most of the time, if one gets sick, he waves the cost of the examine. Not everyone is so lucky. Buying seed in bulk helps but it's still an expense that most people don't think about. Then there's the cost of vitamins, treats, grit and all that stuff. Hey Rob, what do you think about the Hong Kong Dove production. I've thought of getting one before but never took the plunge.
Where the magic begins
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daffydoug Eternal Order Look mom! I've got 14077 Posts |
Thanks for the kind reply!
My main thought was that the uninitiated, mainly the layman watching a beautiful dove act has not even the slightest INKLING of the costs and sacrifice! (And the dedication.) Of course, if you love doing it, it would not seem like a sacrifice, but I think you get my gist.
The difficult must become easy, the easy beautiful and the beautiful magical.
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haywire Special user Philadelphia 760 Posts |
I agree, it takes a lot of time and energy off stage to maintain the birds, feeding, claining cages, excerscising them, coloring them, plus vet expenses, cleaning your coats and costumes.
I consider it all worth it because in my experience so far, dove magic gets the very best reactions of all the stage magic I have used. So when I handle these things, I'm not thinking about the drudgery or expense, I'm thinking about the audience reactions, which makes it all worth it. Steven |
Gordon Special user Chicago 692 Posts |
You bring up a very good point. Caring for any living thing is a major commitment. In addition to the things you mentioned, there's finding someone to care for your birds if you want to take a vacation, and so on.
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RJE Inner circle 1848 Posts |
Hi Dave,
We just got the Hong Kong production and will use it for the first time this Saturday. We had this one custom built so it could hold a few extra goodies (like a number of silk streamers) besides the 5 or 6 doves that will easily fit into it. Our builder did a beautiful job making it almost entirely out of oak and staining in with a rich walnut finish. He planed the boards down so that they are quite strong, yet the whole illusion still weighs probably no more than 10 to 15 pounds. Pat and I wanted something that not a lot of people are doing. Something that can be done totally surrounded. Something that would not be a hassle to transport and set up. It seemed to fit all of these criteria. For the upcoming Christmas season we hope to use wrapping paper instead of newspaper or newsprint on it. The main work it will see though is in our 2008 summer resort shows. Each year we have to create a new 90 minute act complete with all new routines, effects and patter. Nothing repeats because the guests certainly do year after year. We hope the Hong Kong production will be the finale of our opening routine which centres around using silks and doves. All the best, Rob Posted: Nov 12, 2007 7:06pm Hi again Dave, We ran a rehearsal in the kitchen (where else) with the Hong Kong Production tonight. What a lot of fun. So easy and so pretty to look at. We discovered that even though more doves would fit, 2 seems to work best. I'm going to e mail you some pics. All the best, Rob Posted: Nov 18, 2007 6:23pm Just to follow up, we did our silk routine as an opening bit today. The venue was a nice soft seater theatre (holds about 750). The finale of the silk routine was the new Hong Kong Dove Production we had made. This was its first time in front of an audience and it worked like a charm. Got a really nice reaction from the crowd. I don't know of anyone else who is doing this right now (of course there could be all sorts of people out there doing it, but I just don't know of any). We used Christmas wrapping paper for the panels. With our design, we created a second l**d area. The result was 30' silk streamers followed by a couple of doves. It's light, easy to do and looks great on the big stage. I know that it would also do just as well in a much smaller venue and can be done totally surrounded. All the best, Rob |
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