Angelo Roay's New Levitation Illusion

So, I don't really care about methods. I try to avoid new and exciting methods when working with big-name magicians. My attitude towards this is that I'm paid to recommend strong, reliable, fooling magic that's cost-effective.

Nine times out of ten, the thing that ticks all these boxes is an existing method. But that doesn't mean I won't appreciate and get inspired by a great new illusion. And that's precisely what happened this week when I saw the new video below.

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I first saw it on Twitter and then later on Facebook, too.

It took a minute to get over the fact that this was the top comment:

But wow, what a video.

I remember the first time I saw the Spontus 360 levitation and was completely blown away. Not long after seeing it, an illusion designer I trust told me they would not put anyone on one due to how poorly made it was. This didn't stop thousands of magicians from purchasing the expensive illusion, including magicians I love.

The Spontus illusion is a terrific-looking levitation of a spectator or assistant that can be performed 360 anywhere you like. The illusion is self-contained so you can wheel it into the middle of a room, stage, or street show.

I was working on a TV show once and needed a reference video for a pitch quickly, so I searched the illusion on YouTube by name for the first time. I couldn't believe how many people had posted videos of them practising with the illusion. I was shocked to see the method's name in the titles but also generally bemused by the fact this multi-thousand dollar illusion was performed mainly by husbands on their wives and daughters and often in their garages.

If you've forked all that money on an illusion, what else is there to do besides uploading your practice footage for other magicians to see?

What made the Spontus illusion so groundbreaking to me was that it was so easy to wheel around and could be performed 360.

I remember thinking, well, you won't get better than that.

It looks like I might have been wrong.

The new illusion in the video at the top of this post is rather spectacular.

There's no table. The magician stands completely free of any props or anything and makes his assistant levitate in front of him. It caught me off guard the first time I saw it, and when I assumed what the method was, I was even more delighted.

Some details on the origins:

• The illusion is Angelo Roay's Impossible Levitation.

• Its inventor is Angelo Roay, and the building rights are owned by KMD - Ray Lum.

• Magus of Japan commissioned the version we see in the video.

Is it better than the Spontus?

Probably not. And this is where we have to fight off our inner magician. That feeling you get when you see something new as a magician is not the same feeling a layperson will get. Lay people get that feeling when they see most magic tricks.

At first glance, the fact that no table gets used strikes me as a positive. But the thing is that the table is wholly justified in the Spontus illusion. It's there for the spectator or assistant to lie down upon before they levitate. Getting them to lie on the floor at the start of the illusion would be awkward or just weird.

This new illusion video shows how weird it would be to pick up a spectator randomly and lay them in mid-air.

The other thing about that table is, my god does it look good? Does it look like a standard table? Absolutely not. But it certainly doesn't look like it has everything inside of it to lift a human into the air.

And that's the second key point I realised. Lifting up and down strikes me as more exciting and fooling than side to side as in this new illusion. Perhaps it's because we've all tried lifting a human before and felt how difficult and heavy they can be. Once someone is suspended, seeing them move to the side feels like a lovely flourish, but seeing them move up and down feels more fooling to me.

This new illusion, it's brilliant, especially in the outdoor street magic setting. But I think it's just going to be a source of inspiration for upcoming projects. I'm taking it as a friendly reminder of how laypeople feel when they see new magic and how new methods could always be an option for the magic I'm working on.

I'm impressed, genuinely, and excited to see more levitations and illusions I haven't seen before in the future.