3 Ways Successful Magicians Use the Dual Force

I think a lot about One Ahead's weekly newsletter format. The question becomes, how can we provide value in ways that other magic brands/projects cannot? There are certain benefits to the newsletter format that make it uniquely positioned.

The first value proposition is a little obvious: topical news stories. I'll always strive to get one of our writers to share the latest big news stories. If you read One Ahead, then you can rest assured that you will stay One Ahead.

The second way to provide value is magic insights and stories from the best names in magic. Busy magic consultants and performers who might not have the time to write an entire magic book – well, they might let us pay them to write a 1,500 article packed with value.

These insights intrigue me. It's because so much of our industry and community is defined by tricks that can easily be packaged up and sold for $39.95. Magic, in general, mostly exists in the intersection between tricks that shops can make for $1 in small quantities and tricks magicians genuinely find value in performing.

The ring flight trick Ellusionist released not long ago is a perfect example of that. It's a small, reliable prop that actually works well and fools audiences.

The industry spends all year buying the latest props and hoping to get out maybe three tricks as good as that throughout the year.

Successful magicians are able to do two things that set them ahead of the rest. The first is that they have the funds to create their own tricks. These might be big, expensive props or even small tricks that only exist thanks to well-paid magic consultants. The trick David Blaine performs in which someone springs cards at him and he catches the chosen card is an absolute miracle of a trick with such a devilishly simple method, but it exists, and it is his because of his creative team.

What always amazes me about successful magicians is how often they perform very simple, tried and tested principles.

It's amusing to me because most magicians reading this will have never heard about a dumb force, the never-change principle, funnel forces, or dual forces. And the only reason they won't know about them is because magic principles like these are hard to package up and sell commercially for $39.95.

This is where One Ahead comes back into the picture. You lovely lot who pay to read these love to learn about these sorts of secret principles that all the big-name magicians and their consultants use all of the time. So, let's get into it and take another look at the dual-force today. We'll recap what it is exactly and look at three ways you might want to use it to enhance your magic performances.