Vanishing Inc. Masterclass: Live

At its most basic level, card magic is about information; colors, suits, and values are bits of data that the magician controls. At its most basic level, coin magic is about objects appearing and disappearing--about presence and absence. What better place than “Vanishing, Inc.” to discuss the essential aspect of these shiny props. During this class we will consider some simple vanishes with individual coins, but we will spend most of our time focused on the hows and whys of manipulating multiple coins to bring them in and out of existence. This realm of “stack work” can be daunting even for the dexterous but is also extremely rewarding. This session will feature multiple techniques and routines that are about making coins appear and disappear in impossible and entertaining ways.

Many magicians forget that a coin vanish in isolation is not really magic: it is a technique by which we create magical effects. There are multiple narratives that magicians have latched on to with coins, and this session will take a critical eye to some of the “standards” that seasoned performers have found useful in professional settings. From Coins Across to Coins Through the Table, we will investigate how the real work of presentation unfolds alongside the methods, how narratives drive performances, and how sometimes less is more.

This live question and answer session will be focused on how to be creative with your wizardry, no matter what props you favor. Using various examples from coin magic, Kainoa will walk you through his own methods of developing and honing material ranging from single effects to acts. Some of his methods are painfully obvious while others will send you into an existential crisis (as they often do him). This session is really about becoming comfortable with creativity by understanding that it is not so much a contiguous process but an example of punctuated equilibrium, where the fits and starts of the hands and the leaps and bounds of the mind can ultimately be molded into the illusion of a coherent whole.