Sleights & Stories By Javi Benitez

This is the recording of a live workshop filmed earlier this year at MagiFest in Columbus, Ohio. Javi Benitez is a charismatic, energetic, and very thoughtful performer. (It’s always worth remembering that performers who succeed while appearing clumsy, goofy, and forgetful often do more to analyze their magic behind the scenes than serious performers.) The theme of the workshop, with some digressions, is about imposing a narrative structure on longer multiphase routines. That is, how can one do the same trick 10 times in a row without repetition leading to boredom? Well, Javi does just that with his versions of Charles Bertram’s Cards to Pocket (and he does all 12 cards), and Edward Victor and Fred Kaps’ Eleven Bill Trick.