talkmagic.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdnl3eaPspQ

Lance Burton's sleight of hand routine (included above) was a landmark for me in discovering a passion for magic and sleight of hand. Although now I know how Lance performs his effective sleight of hand tricks; I was just wondering if anybody else would like to point out any other magicians who have mastered Lance's almost-perfect sleight of hand, and of course to discuss this monumental routine!

rgarland.

Good topic Lance's dove act is one of my favourite pieces of magic. He refined this over many years and the performance in the clip (if memory serves he was 42 there) is the best Ive seen. It was used in his FISM winning act in 1982 (Switzerland). Incidently Michael Ammar won the gold medal in the close-up category of FISM the same year. Lance became the first American to win the gold, Michael the second - i assume the various categorys were only days apart.

David Copperfield, while generally associated with Illusion has done some exellent close-up sleight of hand work. His Grandpa's Aces and Linking Cards routines are particularly notable. I was inspired by his change from coins to lockpick sequence in Escape from Alcatraz. The way the coins seemed to melt together first, before being stretched into the picks was genius. Rather than changing straight into the picks we actually got to see the process taking place, and were allowed a view midway through the transformation.

jim