Thanks for the heads up!

nola

Gold star for you, George!

The routine should be a journey and not just a destination.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

The Sword Basket can be your strongest illusion. If you perform it like a puzzle where the girl enters, is thrust, you sit, she exits - it will be just that, a puzzle.If you have an "inner script" or understand the motivation for the effect it will sparkle. Try performing the basket as if the plot is: "Man's inhumanity against man". The assistant is squeezed, poked, stomped and yet... she survives!

If you're not getting the impact perhaps your theme, costuming or music can be updated. Most importantly, are you having fun performing? The audience can tell.

Once, after a show, a lady aproached me and told me she used to work as an assistant and "knew" that all illusions were done by having the assistant hide in the base - however - she was amazed at how thin the raised base on my basket was, and she didn't know how the assistant could possibly fit in a small three inch deep space... So I struck with the speed of lightning and told her "Yes, It's amazing you've noticed that. I've been working on a new way to compress people into a smaller size so when they go into space they'll take up less room, because they are more or less flat. Right now NASA is interested in my discovery but we have to keep the details secret because we don't want other countrys to find out so please don't tell anyone."

She congradulated me on my discovery and went on her way believing that I took her into my confidence. She was happy. Everyone was happy... except for my crew who were more amazed then anything, because they couldn't believe that some people could be so gullible. I told my crew... Now you see how cults get started.