Evening all....

I am having difficulty with the one-handed blocked link in Shoot's Ninja Ring routine. The rest is coming together nicely although month's from perfection. I'd like to publicly thank Frank Starsini for his sound advice on the routine already.

The difficulty I am having is at point of lifting sharply on the k** ring, the remaining ring not only does not link, but often I lose one or both of the other rings! This is fantastically challenging and the reason for asking your expertise is that I feel I may be way off the mark. Despite slowing down the footage on the DVD, I still cannot identify where I'm going wrong. I appreciate it's a difficult move and perhaps just a knack, just wondered please if there's any handling tips you could help me with via PM I suspect.

Any guidance at all is very much appreciated.

Best regards

James

I would suggest cocking your wrist back toward yourself.
Grip with thumb and first finger the rest should not grip much.
Don't grip too tightly.
Make sure *** is completely covered and not peeking but just barely
Exhale just before the link.

Once you're performing the routine, I suggest trying it whether you hit it 100% or not. (Against the usual recommendation).
It's the only way you'll get proficient in perofrmance. If you miss,
do it the 2nd (or 3rd) time with two hands and have some patter to humorously cover the miss(es).

Soon enough, you'll hit it 95% of the time. It just takes a while.
don't give up.
email me a beer.

What a guy! Virtual beer on way!

I don't remimber where I heard it but... Shoot and the fellow that taught him have worked on the Ninja Rings a loooooong time. Don't beat yourself up they probably had the same problem and had to work it out too.

A light grip is good advice. I had trouble with the one handed link. I always say "On a good day, I can link them like this". If I miss I follow with "but on a Tuesday (performance day) I do it like this", and do a two handed link.

It takes the pressure off, and looks cool if I get it. "On a good day I can link them like this... CLANK."

EVERYTHING changed for me when I did the following:

- Make the upward movement of the hand (holding the key ring) as small as possible. The actual upward 'swing' or 'lifting' of the key ring is very fast, but the distance the hand / key ring travels upward is as small a distance as possible.

I went from iffy to about a 90% success rate.

Nice lines! Would you mind me using it?

I am indebted to you all, thanks indeed for the advice. Along with technique I'm sure you are correct in that only time separates the now from (near) perfection.

Final confirmation then, can I just clarify the position of the remaining. Looking down, is it nearest the *** ring, or furthest away?

Thanks again guys. To me, this is exactly what this forum is about. Helping one another's progression.

Kind regards

James

H_A_Z,

Help yourself. Unless I state otherwise, I'm happy to share any of my ideas.

Yea, my advice is something along the lines of what Josh said... let them know this link is quite challenging and if you can do it, great! But no promises.

I went to the shoot ogawa lecture/workshop several months ago in SF and it was worth going just to see some different moves and to see just how gently you can actually do this link. shoot is able to barely make the rings move and still link them.

it's quite incredible. just a slight arm/wrist movement and *link*
quite gentle as well.

once you can do it this advancement something to strive for.
try not to attack the lower ring like a guard dog.

Oh and one more thing... I was having quite a bit trouble with it, and like Frank said, I tried tilting the ring back just about 1 degree, (bringing the hanging rings slightly closer to the ***) that helped a lot!

A couple suggestions for technique and performance.
First, move the *** down toward the floor until it is almost completely exposed. Grip the ring lightly between the thumb and forefinger alone and cock the wrist back slightly. The move is to slightly lift the hanging rings and while they are in the air, strike down like a crash link.
The good news is that you have almost got it when you are at the point where one or both of the rings come off.
When learning this and performing for people, I made it a rule that if I didn't get it the first two tries, I did it two handed. It just takes time and practice and you will get the feel.
Something interesting when performing for magicians... especially ones who are working on this routine. After your routine, place your rings in your case and talk with someone else who is learning this link. Go back for your rings for a "show and tell". This time, bring out a set of three linked rings and a single, no ***. Hold the set of three by one of the end rings, letting the rings hang as a chain of three (a top ring, a middle and a bottom). Pretend to do the one handed link and fail twice. On the third try, toss the rings slightly, let go of the top ring and grab the middle ring. It will look like you finaly got the link. After a pause, hand your friend the rings for him to try... This can be a fun time and I have used it to really fool some Shoot followers. Thanks.

Anyone attending one of Shoot's lectures ever ask him "How long did it take to get it down?" And, "How much time do you practice?"

I talked to Shoot two years ago at a TAOM conference. He really downplayed the rings. He made it sound almost like the moves came naturally to him... probably from loads of practice early on. I asked him lots of questions about the rings. He was a little put off that most people in the states knew him (at the time) for the rings. He was much more interested in talking about coins and cards.
He did tell me, in broken English, that a few hours of practice a day for a week or so and you could do the one handed link...