The Secret of The Halved Assistant
The first thing to know is that there are actually two assistants involved in the trick, not only the one assistant that the audience members see. Both of these assistants have different roles, which are necessary to making the trick look believable.
One assistant remains hidden inside of the box and sticks her legs out of the box when it’s the right time. When the magician appears to be cutting the one assistant in half, each assistant flails his arms or legs in order to make it appear as though the dismembered body is creepily still able to move. And that is how it’s done, ladies and gents.
What's Really Levitating
Turns out, the genie isn’t the only one who’s able to float mid-air, nor are Indian yogis the only ones. So, how in the world do street levitators join the ranks of the genie Well, when you know and yogis of the world? Well, it’s pretty simple, actually. The trick only involves three parts; the rod, the seat they are sitting on, and the platform on the ground.
The seat is attached to the rod which is attached to the platform on the ground. Got it? The way they pull off this trick is by concealing the seat and the platform with the clothes they are wearing and the prop on the ground is typically covered by a carpet or flowers. The performer sits on the first platform, in comfort and ease, and passersby wonder how in the world they’re able to pull this off so effortlessly. Well, they aren’t defying gravity or doing anything supernatural, they are just using age-old foolery and making money off of it.
Halving The Assistant
So, how in the world does a magician “cut” somebody’s body in half and then put them back together in a matter of minutes? You should know by now that there is a fairly simple explanation for how the magician manages to pull this trick off and that most likely, the assistant isn’t actually being dissected.
The secret behind the trick might be very surprising.
The Floating Woman Trick
The floating woman trick is an old time classic. If you’ve ever been to a magic show, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen this one being performed. For the trick to be performed, the magician first needs a woman. He either selects a woman from the audience or already has selected a woman before the show who’s waiting to be his assistant in the trick.
In the trick, there is a wooden board which rests on two chairs. The woman lies on the board on her back. Then two assistants pull the chairs away, which leaves the woman suspended in mid-air and leaves the audience with their mouths wide open, hanging to the floor. The magician, to further prove his skill, will sometimes choose to run a metal hoop around the body of the woman, to show the audience that there aren’t any cables in place holding up her body. So, if there aren’t any cables involved, how does the woman’s body stay in place like that? Well, we’re going to reveal that to you in the next slide.
Floating Woman Secret
Much like the floating street art performers, the magician needs to conceal the way in which he’s making it look like the woman is floating in the air. So, how do you think he goes about doing this? Well, you’ve heard this one before, and it’s one which doesn’t even require skill per se, just carrying out the trick strategically to make sure that the secret doesn’t accidentally get revealed to audience members. The magician stands in front of a base that is connected to a metal rod in the back.
The rod stays hidden during the whole trick, so even when a hoop is run over a woman’s body, the audience doesn’t see the concealed rod. And if you’re wondering how the rod doesn’t interfere with the metal hoop, that too is designed in an ‘s’ formation so as to add to the illusion. The two chairs meanwhile, convince the audience that the woman is really levitating in mid-air, when all the while, the metal rod is what is keeping her body propped up and “floating.”