I did a little rope routine for my parants and a guest last night, which they enjoyed despite having seen "the Nightmare" many times. I asked their assistance in deciding what type of effect to do for them; one in which a long piece of rope is magically cut in two, or one in which an imaginary piece of rope is cut by real scissors? In both I started out pantomiming holding a piece of rope. For the first effect an actual long piece appeared and I 'cut' it with my fingers pantomiming scissors, and I set the pieces aside. Then I used real scissors to cut another imaginary rope, only to have two unequal strands appear in my hands. Naturally, I stetched these unequal pieces to the same length, and with spectator help did linking rings with my cleverly switched rope pieces. I was going to restore them to a single long strand, but we'all got diverted by pie and cookies.

Was this "Dances with Ropes"?
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......rum=9&33
Sounds good, but why the Mime and invisible rope when you can do it for real?

No, just my own playing around. I have found that pretending to have an object (invisible) and having it turn real is very efective -- like making a dream come true. Guess I'm just uncomfortable with suddenly saying, "here I just happed to have an ordinary piece of rope." If I were skilled enough I'd cut the cord off of a lamp, do some tricks with it and then restore. Can't do that impromptu, so I play with producing a rope instead. My own worse enemy, I guess.

Well, the title got my attention and the description is very close to what I do during "Dances with ropes"

Haven't seen it unfortunately. Probably pretty good. Mine is mostly a takeoff on FunSway's "Necklacy". It ends with PN as a suggestion, but not essential to the entire routine. Some influence with "Three Ropes and a Baby" Mostly just playing around. Often when I don't like what I see I try and think of a way to improve it.

Almost 60 years ago I bought Harold Sterling's "Short and Long" rope trick. I still use it today, matter of fact did it last night at a friend's 70th birthday surprise party. Frankly the effect and comedy are so strong, I don't like to do anything more complex for laymen. I think many routines just confuse them.