Hi, in a couple of weeks I need to perform the Dancing Cane, I already got a cane but wanted to do something different this time, and looking around found out the "Dancing Vanishing Cane (D.V.C.) by Magiclism", but can't find much information about it before buying, anyone has it? is it worth it? opinions please.

I have the Fantasio Dancing and Vanishing Cane, the idea is to come out, do the dancing cane, then when your routine is finished, hold the cane between your hands, and change the cane to 2 silks. You will have to buy the silks extra. Usually 18" square magician silks, or it can be changed to large display silk if you have the money to purchase a 36" silk.

Whether it is worth it, is up to you to decide.

You say you want to do something different, does that mean you already have shown your routine to this same group. If not, then do what you know.

Thanks Bill.

It might help if we reference a video of Magiclism's "Dancing Vanishing Cane"--so here's a youtube link to it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FUeSX824rA

With all the fancy video flashes, it's a little hard to get a clear perspective of what the effect would look like in live performance.

The "Fantastic Ending" seems to be the transformation of the cane into confetti. It's interesting that the cane is held vertically when the transformation occurs.

The video also shows the cane changing colors (at the 0:31 point), which I remember Fantasio showing in a lecture I attended. At 0:44 we see what looks like a multiplying cane sequence, which makes me wonder if we're seeing two different effects in one video. The change of the cane to confetti seems to me a definitive ending. How does one go from the cane-to-confetti sequence to the multiplying canes? I would guess that if you buy the "Dancing Vanishing Cane" from Magiclism you get only the vanishing cane, not the multiplying canes. The description at Penguin Magic says: "You can also color change or multiply your dancing cane, if you wish."*
I take it that the "if you wish" implies also "if you have different colored canes or appearing canes" to add those effects to the routine.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez
N.B. To see what I mean by keeping the cane oriented closer to a vertical position during the floating/dancing sequence, take a look at the 0:49 point of this video from the IBM Ring 103 facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/338764602812514......&theater

Anatole, thanks for the link. Going to Penguin Magic, as I read between the lines of the description, it sound to me like, the DVD contains the additional ideas for Color Change, Multiplying Canes, Floating Rose, Cane to Confetti or silk. What it does not say, is that with the gimmick supplied you cannot do all those variations without additional gimmicks and supplies.

I would guess, the other gimmicks and tricks will be coming in the near future.

For what it's worth, I detest "demos" such as this one. This video is as much about "cool" video effects and transitions (if not more) than it is about the effect. I could never make a decision to purchase an effect with this sort of "presentation".

And while I'm ranting, can I just further say how laughable a term such as "multiple finales" is? A finale is, by definition, final. If someone feels the need to stack finishes, chances are the effect wasn't good enough in the first place.

"Multiple Finales"is a topic that has been discussed now and then in magic literature, begging the question: "Do multiple kicker endings diminish the effect of the ones preceding them?"

If you watch Channing Pollock's act from "European Nights":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khQT5HP3zfU
you'll note that the director, Alessandro Blasetti, ended the film of Channing's act with The Dove to Silk, choosing not to include The Vanishing Bird Cage finale. Blasetti, who is widely known as "The Father of Italian Cinema"--must have felt that the Dove to Silk was a stronger finale than the Vanishing Bird Cage. From a purely artistic perspective Blasetti may have felt that the Dove to Silk was more evocative of Channing Pollock's act than the Vanishing Bird Cage. Think about it-- The Dove to Silk was pure skill whereas the Vanishing Bird Cage was a mechanical device, so The Dove to Silk highlights the personal skill of the magician as artist rather than the cleverness of a mechanical device.

Having said that, though, I do think The Vanishing Bird Cage brings an element of closure to Pollock's act. He more-or-less "vanished" one dove by changing it to a silk handkerchief, so why not vanish all of them at the end? The cage vanish is, to my mind, an encore-like effect rather than a second ending.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

I used it to win a lot of competitions in the past a great magic trick.

Bairefoot

I agree with Frank, it's a horrendous demo video... But that's because we look on it as potential consumers of a product... rather than potential consumers of an image, which is presumably what they are trying to sell to the teenage and younger audience that this demo (and by inference; product) is aimed at.

I remember buying the 'dancing vanishing cane' from The Supreme Magic Company back in the late 80's. Getting the balance point right was never easy and neither was removing the gimmick in order to vanish the cane after the 'dancing'. But maybe that was just me.

Sealegs's wrote that "Getting the balance point right was never easy and neither was removing the gimmick in order to vanish the cane. But maybe that was just me."

It wasn't just him.

The problem with the original Fantasio dancing vanishing cane gimmick is that the diameter of the gimmick is fixed whereas the diameter of the cane varies every time you set it up. That's why Rob Allen's gimmick in the June, 1972 issue of _Linking Ring_ is the best solution to the problem.

----- Amado "Sonny" Narvaez

Contact me by PM if you need to find the balance point for the Dancing Cane.

Like I said I used the dancing cane a lot back in the day. The balancing point is normally one inch above the center and then it takes a feel to get the balance exactly right. Fantasio is very nice man he has help me with my props a lot in the past. I remember years ago I mean a long time ago I asked him for silver vanishing candles. He made them for my cd act that I used for a long time. I would make the mini cd turn into the candle. Man Great Stuff. He even made me my first vanishing sitver canes.

Bairefoot

Finding the balance and attachment point isn't a problem.... But getting the gimmick to fit at the correct spot can be. As Anatole (Amado) pointed out the gimmick has a fixed size but the cane tends to be slightly different every time it gets set. This means the gimmick can end up in the 'wrong' spot.

I'd be interested to discover more about Rob Allen's gimmick which I assume must be adjustable to the cane.

Yes, Rob Allen's dancing cane gimmick can be adjusted perfectly to the Fantasio Vanishing Cane. You can find Rob's write up/description in the Jun 1972 issue of _Linking Ring_.

----- Amado "Sonny" narvaez

I purchased the dancing gimmick by Fantasio years ago, and put it in a Fantasio cane, never had a problem with it sliding to the wrong position. This was in the 1980's. Now that only one place sells the gimmick (weight and ring with thread attached) separately. I contacted Fantasio and had to ask him 5 times to sell me a gimmick and thread hook up. Finally he agreed, the new weight is a little smaller then I remember. So maybe do to all the changes with the canes over the years there are some variations now.

I would suggest you purchase the white furniture leg caps at a hardware store in 3/4" size instead of the 1" size, and try that. My original cane was very thin after opening, and the ring was went right into place. I thought the cane looked a little skinny at the time.

I always loosened the can to make it wider where it needed to be. Don't really understand the problem

Re: " I don't really understand the problem?"

Yes you do, you just posted what you do in order to solve the problem!

I found that while the solution you posted works sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes loosening the cane so it's the right width at the right point for the gimmick will mean that the ferrel no longer fits. Sometimes you end up loosening the cane so the gimmick fits at the right spot but the cane then looks the wrong size.

I found it was more luck than judgement if I got the cane to be the right size and the right 'shape' on the first attempt. It wasn't a huge issue but it is a bit of preparation that can sometimes be fiddly.

Maybe you have a natural knack for getting it right? If you (Blairfoot) can adjust the cane so it both looks good and has the gimmick at the right spot then good for you. I did say earlier that, 'maybe it was just me'.... but according to Anatole I'm not alone.

Just trying to help. it like anything the more you do it the easier it gets. I guess I was just doing show many shows it became second nature (I wasn't performing it once every two weeks or once a month.) Are you using it in your show now? Here's my tip. I found that it was easier for me if I made the cane a little too then then I gradually made it thicker by untwisting it slowly. Seemed to work almost all the time for me. Good Luck!

Bairefoot

I haven't used a cane in my show for more years than I can remember but thanks for the input.

As a side note.... Does the dancing cane still look magical to today's audiences? I ask because I suspect that anyone from the UK who was around in the 80's upon seeing a performance of a dancing cane would instantly have the image pop into their mind of... trick stick ... as it was a widely available and heavily advertised and marketed 'toy' that flooded our TV screens at the time.

Maybe people don't remember it though? or maybe it's still good for those born post 1970's? or in those countries that didn't get flooded with trick stick advertising?

I remember the "Trick Stick" from the 80s. And yes: it killed the Dancing Cane for those performers who were doing it in their act (if they appeared before a British audience) at that time. But, the happy thing about time is it makes you forget. Who would have thought James More could do the Impaled Illusion on Britain's Got Talent and get such a strong audience reaction after Copperfield had done it on his show in the 80s? The answer is - time had made people forget about Copperfield. And, there is a whole new generation of people now in the audience who have never seen Copperfield do it. Hence, why it looked so "fresh" when More did it.