talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect

A complete 12 minutes professional act using a ring and a piece of rope.

Click here for the sales pitch and a shortened video of the routine

http://www.gallo-magic.com/galloframe.html

Cost

I paid £25 to get my hands on it quickly but I don't suppose it will be too hard to find it cheaper online.

Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)

The sleights taught in the DVD range from a 1 (easy to do) through to a 3. The hardest ones to learn are due to the teaching and camera angles and although I work quite a bit with rope, I found that a couple of the moves it still took me about 30 minutes to figure out.

Overall, I'd rate the DVD as between a 2 and 3 depending on your experience and suited to an intermediate or experienced magician.

Review

I love rope and regularly perform Richard Sander's Fibre Optics routine along with Joe Riding's cut and restored comedy routine so when I saw this in my local magic studio I just had to have it. It's sufficiently different to be able to link from one to another without getting bored.

The routine itself, and the way that Gallo presents it is marvelous although I will make some changes to my own presentation of the routine when I've got it down to a tee.

There's humour, lots of audience participation (why it's perhaps not suitable for a beginner) and a whole lot more and as said, the routine can lead in and out of other rope routines if you desire.

The DVD beings with a 12 minute performance of the whole Gallo Ring 'n Rope routine and you'll be watching this over and over again, not only for the moves but also for the sheer entertainment. The routine is then followed by a full lecture filmed with the audience (possibly some magic society) that details the Ring 'N Rope routine, step by step. Gallo gives you lots of subtle tips that go into his routine and talks about how some of them were developed.

Finally, there's a move by move gallery that shows each move again, but filmed in a studio from an 'over the shoulder' position

Overall

If you're into rope magic then you'll love this.

9/10

The clip looked interesting - I saw one move that was new to me. The rest looked a lot like a mish mash of Willi Wessle's Rope routine, an Anverdi move and a Pat Page move, done repeatedly.

I think it might warrant a closer look, though.

Take care, Ian

There are a number of moves that are credited to a variety of people and full creadit appears to be given where due, which is nice to see.

I'm not sure that any of these names are mentionned though.

I'll keep a lookout for them when I watch again

I had the pleasure of being at one of his lectures where he performed and taught this routine. It is great to watch. The routine is on his lecture notes cd along with a ton of other stuff.

You get the complete lecture on the DVD of how to perform this - I've spent the week on and off learning the moves and now have it sorted.

I've edited in a few places to suit me but not too much. I've started showing it to a few friends and family and the reactions have been worthwhile.