Sleight of hand

For the 2006 episode of Prison Break, see Sleight of Hand (Prison Break episode)

Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation ("quick fingers") or legerdemain (from the French for "lightness of hand"), is the set of techniques used by a magician (or card sharp) to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly.

Sleight of hand is not a branch of magic, but rather the means used by a magician to achieve magical effects. The techniques involved are sometimes difficult and may need months or years of practice before they can be performed proficiently. Sleight of hand is mostly employed in close-up magic, but it can also be used in stage magic.

Etymology

Sleight of hand is often mistakenly written as slight of hand. Sleight, meaning dexterity or deceptiveness, comes from the Old Norse Sloegdh, while slight, meaning slender or frail comes from the Old Norse slettr. Apart from their pronunciation they have nothing else in common.

Close-up magic

Close-up magic is performed with the audience close to the magician, possibly in physical contact. It usually makes use of everyday items as props, such as cards and coins (see coin magic). Experts of close-up magic include Michael Ammar, Jay Sankey, Bill Malone, Jerry Sadowitz, Dean Dill [1], Kai Liao, Ricky Jay, Paul Daniels, Sathya Sai Baba, and Christopher Greenamyers. The guiding principle of sleight-of-hand, articulated by legendary close-up magician Dai Vernon, is "be natural." A well-performed sleight looks like an ordinary, natural and completely unsuspicious change in hand position or body posture.

It is commonly believed that sleight of hand works because “the hand is quicker than the eye” but this is usually not the case. In addition to manual dexterity, sleight of hand depends on the use of psychology, misdirection and natural choreography in accomplishing a magical effect. Misdirection is perhaps the most important component of the art of sleight of hand. Using misdirection, the skillful magician choreographs every movement in a routine so even the most critical and observant spectators are compelled to look where the magician wants them to. Two types of misdirection are time and movement. Time is simple; by allowing a small amount of time to pass after an action, events are skewed in the viewers mind. Movement is a little more complicated. A phrase often used is "A larger action covers a smaller action." But care must be used to not make the larger action so big it is suspicious.

A common misconception among novices is that close-up magic must utilize either sleight of hand or gimmicked apparatus, but this is a falsehood. As written in Henry Hay's Cyclopedia of Magic,

"Many small tricks, especially card tricks, require neither apparatus nor sleight of hand; much apparatus of the "gimmick" type does not require sleight of hand. Illusions, because they deal with objects too big to hold in the hand, are one class of magic that seldom require sleight of hand--though even here sleight of hand "forcing" may be called into play. There are successful illusionists and apparatus conjurers who can do no sleight of hand at all, but their difficulties and restrictions deserve our sympathy rather than our scorn. As entertainers they are far ahead of those incredibly skillful sleight of hand students who can do tricks but no magic. "

Deceit

Sleight-of-hand techniques can also be used to cheat in gambling games, in street con games such as the three-shell game, to steal, or, in some cases, to claim supernatural powers, as in the performances of 19th century and early 20th century spirit mediums. For this reason the term "sleight of hand" frequently carries negative associations of dishonesty and deceit, and is also used metaphorically outside the above contexts. However, the techniques used by gamblers are very different from those employed by magicians; similarly, the techniques used by self-proclaimed psychics or spirit mediums are often different from those found in "straight" close-up magic and mentalism. However, the differences are due to the different working conditions and the different degrees of proximity between spectators and performer; the same basic techniques and approaches are common in all the areas of deception mentioned.

Performers

Some of the most influential figures in close-up card magic have been Dai Vernon, Ed Marlo, J.N. Hofzinser and Larry Jennings. Also, American illusionist David Copperfield is reputed to have fooled a robber using sleight-of-hand. Richard Mcormack once passed a burning cigarette through a pound coin. A woman subsequently dropped her child as a result.

There are hundreds of different card sleights at the operator's disposal, but they can generally be classified into groups: switches, changes, passing, false dealing, double lifts, false shuffles, etc.