The purpose of this text is not to abruptly reveal David’s tricks; any good magic fan will certainly be able to understand most techniques used by the performer. It is mainly to remind people that David Blaine is not some kind of new super hero but simply a good (and yes, a very good) entertainer working to perform good magic tricks and only tricks, but he sometimes (often?) forgets to say it. Needless to say that he is working with a team and has counsellors that counts amongst the best illusionists, mentalists & cardicians in the world. Most of the tricks revealed can be found in magic shops or in the many magic books sold throughout the world.
“I love this kid; I taught him everything he knows!” Tarko The GreatTHE BALDUCCI LEVITATION
According to Mike Close in his
"Marketplace" column in the June 1997 issue of Magic Magazine, " . . . all the current self-levitations have their basis in two articles published by Karl Fulves. The first titled "Impromptu Levitation" can be found in the July
1974 issue of the Pallbearer's Review (Volume 9, Number 9, page 755.) Ed Balducci is credited in the article, but he explains that he was shown the method by Erwin Levine, who was one of the Harmonicats. Mr. Levine had no idea who the originator was."
As mentioned above, David Blaine is not the originator of this illusion. He has made the illusion popular, once again, with his recent television special, "David Blaine: Street Magic." The unfortunate reality is, however, that we never really get to see Blaine
performing the Balducci Levitation. We watch several times as Blaine performs it for others, but we never get to see it for ourselves.
For the television special, Blaine performed the Balducci levitation in front of several different groups of people, and the camera was there to catch their reaction. The method he used for this is the Balducci method,
described below. While videotaping these various performances, the
producers keyed in on the audience members with the most visual reaction. After the Balducci levitation, the producers of the show had these same people stand by for another taping of the illusion - this time the camera would shoot from behind the audience
members to get a
clear view of Blaine in action. The audience members were told that this second performance was to show them how magicians could use wires to levitate. And this is exactly what happened. A small harness and rig (just out of camera view) was set up and Blaine performed a standard wiresuspension.
What Blaine did was a camera trick - known as a post-production edit. The audience at home watched the second (wire suspension) levitation
performance, with the audience reaction of the real levitation edited in. It was said, in the television special, that no strings or wires were used to perform Blaine's levitation. This is true, no wires or strings are required. Unfortunately, we never got to see Blaine's real levitation: