Dani DaOrtiz at Fool US 2022 (the act that Penn and Teller didn’t even try to figure out.)

This is the thing that very few people understand about magic, including many aspiring magicians: there is a lot more to it than just "technical understanding". Magic is a performance art. It's a kind of acting. And you can be very good at the technical stuff and still be a terrible performer/actor. (Personally, I'm bad at both :-) Here is my favorite example. This is one of the greatest performances of all time: [this video] It looks like total chaos, and most people seeing this performance for the first time think that Dani is a master of sleight of hand, and that this performance relies on extremely difficult technical moves. In fact it is exactly the opposite. The secret "moves" are very basic -- anyone can do them, and everything that happens is actually very carefully controlled. (Dani is also a master of slight-of-hand, but that's not what this act relies on.) This is not to say that what Dani is doing here is easy; it's not. Dani teaches a class on this one routine that lasts three hours, and there is never a dull moment (this is how I know what's going on -- I did not figure it out by myself). But it's not hard in the way that, say, juggling is hard, it's hard in the same way that good acting is hard. When it's done well it looks easy, and making it look easy is very, very hard.

> so much of it boils down to “I practiced for years and developed a seemingly superhuman ability to manipulate this object”. Amateur magician here (but a magician member of the Magic Castle, so I know a few things). Manual dexterity is certainly a useful skill, but it's just a tiny part of the art of magic. You can be a consummate sleight-of-hand artist and still be a mediocre magician, and conversely, some of the best magicians don't use particularly difficult sleights. The best example of that I know of is Dani Da Ortiz's routine on Penn and Teller Fool Us: [this video] Now, Dani is in fact a master at sleight-of-hand, and so one would think that you are watching a masterclass in sleights, but no. There are a few sleights, but they are not particularly difficult, beginner-level. I could do them, and I'm not particularly skilled. The trick is based almost entirely on timing and misdirection and psychological subtleties. The degree of psychological subtlety in top-level magic continually blows my mind. The best magicians make it look like magic even when you know how the trick is done. Dani's trick is a consummate example. The performance looks like chaos, but in fact every detail is meticulously crafted and serves a purpose. It's almost like watching a dance.

Dani DaOrtiz is one of the best at that. He sells instructions for all his tricks, but he's so good at performing them that they still feel like magic even if you know what he's doing. His appearance on Fool Us¹ is a series of excellent examples of that. He palms a card onto the box, and Teller's reaction when he misses it happening is astonishment because it's such a simple move to spot but done so well Teller missed it despite looking for such moves. That continues as the act goes on, until both Penn & Teller are left experiencing only the joy of the performance & awe at Dani's skill. None of the techniques are ones they don't know about, but Dani does them so well they didn't even try to figure out everything he did, since they knew they'd have to guess what he'd actually done! Penn later described Dani as "the best card magician who has ever lived"². The best magic tricks tend to be the ones where knowing the secret doesn't ruin the trick, but instead changes it to a show about the skill of the performer. Nobody complains about "spoilers" at a virtuoso's concert, the joy of the performance & the skill of the performer are not ruined by knowing the music beforehand. I think the same can apply to magic, to books, to movies, etc. You can re-read a really good book, or re-watch a really good movie, and the experience won't be ruined by knowing the ending. It'll be different, but not worse. With magic the awe shifts from "how is that possible?" to "how did that person manage t

> And so if a "peer" of theirs were to explain the method to someone who didn't purchase it then it would be viewed as a dick move since it is affecting the livelihood of a fellow performer. Yep that's exactly how I interpreted it ... not because people are adhering to some sacred oath given deep in cavern in a secret location ... just that someone invented something new and unique, they are rightfully earning some money from that effort, and you could potentially destroy the whole thing simply by posting too much information about it. As you said, that would certainly be a "dick move", and since a lot of people don't want be that, they don't do that. In the end it seems to be pretty effective. I still want answers to some of the tricks that I've seen on Penn and Teller's show. Some of them do come across as impossible no matter what way I try to think about it. Dani DaOrtiz comes immediatly to mind ... no clue how it's done but he's pretty funny. This particular routine has various elements that each seem to be impossible. And honestly, I don't want to know how it's done. It's magic. [this video]