In this article I’d like to share my thoughts on making cardistry more practical. I gave a talk at Cardistry-Con 2024 on this subject, and I wanted to get these ideas out there for anyone who wasn’t at the Con.
When I first started creating my own cardistry, my goal was to make moves that were as cool and novel as possible. The best way I found to do this was to look for obtuse, difficult mechanics and uncomfortable grips, and construct moves out of those. My mindset was that most people wouldn't bother to explore these ideas because they dismissed them as being too hard. And this strategy kind of works! I made a bunch of cool moves; however, they were all way too hard and I never want to do them again.
My approach completely missed the point of what cardistry is about, which is demonstrating control. Every great move does this in some way. Aerial moves demonstrate an understanding of how a card or packet will act in midair, and being able to control where and how it will land. Cuts are about controlling multiple packets and keeping them square. Fans are about controlling the amount of spread and shape of the deck, etc.
I had assumed that more difficulty equals a more impressive amount of control, but I have since realized that the opposite is true. When you watch someone performing cardistry (or anything else, for that matter) the first thing you notice is their confidence and proficiency. Do their hands look relaxed, or tense? Are they making mistakes? If they have truly mastered their craft, it will look like the performance is completely effortless. They don’t need to look at their hands; they don’t even need to think about what they are doing. This is called sprezzatura, or “studied carelessness”. In my opinion, this is the ultimate display of control.
I think this is why laymen enjoy simple flourishes. The mechanics are irrelevant - they are reacting to your ability to do them with seemingly no effort. Fellow cardists will also notice and comment on subconscious “fidget moves”, even if they aren’t particularly new or interesting.
Obviously, with enough practice, anything can be performed with sprezzatura. The problem with the really difficult, impractical flourishes is that it takes a tremendous amount of time and dedication to get them to that point, and so many cardists settle with a sub-par performance and hope to compensate with novelty and design. This unfortunately doesn’t work. Ideas are meaningless without execution, and people won't be able to see the effort you put into move design if you can't do the move in the first place. I think this is something we forget because we get so excited about the creative stuff and the ideas.
If you feel like you are guilty of this (I definitely am), here is my recommendation:
MAKE EASY MOVES
If you are used to making harder stuff, it’s a tough habit to break. I think it’s important to think of extreme difficulty as a design flaw. It is something that can be prevented and eliminated, once you are aware of it. When you are working on a flourish, is there one moment or action that always trips you up? There’s probably a way to simplify it — maybe just a small tweak, or maybe it needs to be replaced with something different. Make decisions based on what feels good to execute, and what feels comfortable in your hands (AKA Comfy Cardistry).
You should also be mindful of the duration of your moves. Every additional packet, movement or phase can increase the difficulty of both practicing and performing the move. Use restraint, and try to keep things concise.
As tempting as they are, you should also avoid mechanics that you have no control over. Chaotic aerials are the biggest offenders, but also consider more subtle things like clipped and balanced packets. Make sure that those packets will stay in your control even if your hands are a little sweaty or if the cards are a little slippery.
Intentionally making easy moves might sound boring, but I have actually found it to be a really fun and interesting creative challenge. Like any other constraint, it can force you to make different decisions than you usually would. It also speeds up the creative process as you will be able to make judgments about the flourish without as much practice.
I should mention that when I say "easy", I don't necessarily mean to make moves for someone who's never touched cards before (moves like that are hard to come across these days!) I mean make moves that are easy for you. At your current skill level. Moves that feel good to perform and can be executed consistently and repeatedly.
I’m also not saying that there isn’t a place for impossible flourishes and insane stunts in cardistry - most of us get into cardistry because of those moves. However, easy, practical moves still have an important place in the cardistry world and have some unique benefits.
One thing I noticed very quickly after designing a few easy moves is that other people want to learn them. I’ve been doing cardistry for over 10 years, but this was the first time I saw other cardists going out of their way to learn and perform cuts I had made. It turns out that people don’t want to learn things that they will never be able to do! They want to learn practical things that they can actually perform and add to their repertoire.
Another great thing about practical cardistry is that it is easier to film. Tobias Levin's iconic cardistry video MIX 08 was filmed entirely in 2 hours - that's around 10 minutes per flourish. You don't get those kinds of results without being VERY consistent, and having a complete understanding of every aspect of each move. Simplifying the filming process allows you to focus on other parts of your cardistry video, like the framing, timing, and camera movement.
Finally, (and most importantly), doing practical cardistry is fun. It allows you to share your ideas with other people, with the confidence that you will be able to nail your moves on the first try. It unlocks new forms of performance that would otherwise be impossible - I would love to see more cardists doing uncut routines and live performances!
This practical approach has changed the way I think about cardistry and I hope you consider trying it out. Leave any questions or thoughts in the comments; I’d love to read them :)
Cheers!
If you enjoyed this and want to read more, I recommend getting your hands on Alex Hansford’s book “MAINSPRING”, which was the initial inspiration for this article. Alex discusses some of these ideas (and more) in the context of magic, and there are a lot of other great essays in there that directly translate to cardistry too.
About the author, Samuel Pratt:
Samuel Pratt (aka spratt) is 26 and currently lives in Melbourne, Australia. You can find him on Instagram @sprattcards
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