I have often found that my sleights are a little awkward when I first pick up my equipment. One or two times doing most any sleight and my hands are ready to perform up to par on all of them. It seems like, no matter how well I know a sleight, it always is a little difficult when I come to it cold. That is a problem when I don't have time to run through a routine before performing. Is there anyone who knows a good way of dealing with this?

Just wondering how often you practice and under what circumstances you don't have time to run through a routine before performing.

I practice in some form almost every day. About three days a week I get a good 2-hour practice session in and I run through sleights about every day for 15 minutes to a half hour. As far as conditions where I don't get to run through a routine before performing, they are varied. Sometimes I can, but others I am mingling with people for a while beforehand and then have to simply take out my props and go. Or, and this is of course a lesser concern, but I would like to be able to, on request, perform some small trick for someone on a moments notice. Hope that answers the question.

Hmmm, it sounds to me like you're doing what you should be doing. The only suggestion I have is that you conduct your 15 - 30 minute run through of sleights each morning so that the moves will be relatively fresh in your muscle memory if you need to use them later that same day. Sorry that no other ideas come to mind.

Cjp24,

Sounds like a large portion of your shows are manipulation type effects. It also sounds like your practice sessions are adequate. Whenever I start a performance, I've got the 'beginning jitters.' I would never try a complicated sleight at the beginning of a show. Once I warm up the crowd with a few simple, flashy effects that I could do in my sleep... it seems to set the pace and it settles me down. It also gives me a chance to guage the mood of the audience. Even though these simple effects require very little coordination and effort, they seem pretty amazing to the lay audience. Therefore, it establishes me as a magician. Once that's established, it allows me to venture into more complicated sleights with a little less 'heat' on, and a little more confidence.

Hopefully, this might help.

Dave

Wash your hands with warm water and give them a good massage. Then give them some good, gentle backbends, fingers, wrists, etc. Nothing strenuous, just stretchy kind of things.

There are also lotions...
What exactly are they?

Consider also running through your routine in your mind step by step, seeing yourself successfully complete each sleight. This type of Visualization is used in athletics (Phil Jackson) and the performing arts. It reduces the chance of "choking", hesitating, or making a foolish blunder. Check out:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/sport......700a.htm

Punx used this system as well. He wrote about it in his book Farewell Performance.