On 2010-07-01 00:43, Todd Robbins wrote:
Though I don't do a hyp act (but who knows what I might be doing down the road) I can speak a bit about performance. The problem with performing is its inherent ephemeral nature. Once you do it, it's gone. When I was working the sideshow in Coney Island we sometimes do fifteen shows a day. If one show went poorly, you learned not let it get to you because there was another show coming up in a few minutes. And if you had a great show, you learned not to fall in love with that experience because there was another show coming up in a few minutes.

This kind of mindset if vital whether you do several shows a year or several hundred. All you can do is learn from every performance you do (videoing as many of your shows as possible is great. And the ability to objectively analyze yourself on video is an important skill.)

A good performance can be the result of many factors, and some of them will be factors over which you have no control. The same can be said for a bad performance. So I guess the best thing to focus on is not whether a performance is good or bad, but what can learned from each performance so that you can consistently improve the quality of your performances.

On 2010-07-01 14:05, Doc Regal wrote:
Perhaps that "waste of time" was an overload that simply lead to fatigue, exhaustion or burnout. Energy depletion seems likely having to be "on" for three-in-a-row performances. If not, it may have been the monotonous and repetitious nature of your hypnotic routine. How often were you able to vary the show? Did the sequences follow the same order every time? Spontaneity is challenging when flow is preordained.