Slow and Smooth

My Good friend Chris Shing has always been known to use this phrase in relation to coin magic. To see Chris perform some of his 'World Class' coin magic is to witness this term played out to it's full beauty and potential.

What is the crux of that expression though? Does it mean you have to perform everything slowly in order for it to register? No I don't think so. At the heart of the matter I think that what it really means is to perform with deliberate clarity. This usually means using pace and pace as we all know CAN involve speed.

Why am I talking about this? Well it is in relation to vent. I have been practicing the arse off a routine for the past three weeks in readiness for a performance on Monday Night. I am learning this scripts the same way that I learn acting dialogue for an audition. Every spare minute I get I go over the lines at speed and level. I act it out in it's entirely and in the case of vent I also us e the correct lip control when it's the puppet's turn to speak. Ok I can now recite this dialogue backwards in my sleep and whenevr I act it out in practice I am doing it VERY quickly. Too quickly maybe.

So how does that 'Shing' catchpharse come into all of this? Well, what I have to do now and certainly on the night, is to take what I have accomplised and channel that speed and solidity into something that is slow and smooth. I have no choice but to slow it down. Not in terms of the speed orpace ofdialogue but in terms of the gaps. The pauses. Without sacrificing the pace of the routine I must search for a way to find the MOMENTS. Discover the moments where I am not going tospeak.This will crete the artificial idea of twodifferent people. The places to BREATH. I need to (at the very least) prepare for the laughs. I need to think about the diction and above all the clarity. This clarity, as I have already said, is what I believe to be the true meaning of the phrase Slow and Smooth.