Story based tricks

Was showing some tricks to a group drinking beer on a bench, older bunch.

One guy said a yo-yo man used to come to his school and tell stories throughout the tricks, and he was mesmerized as a kid.

It got me thinking… why not? There’s rabbits, pac men, towers, escapes, doors, flags, aliens, ladders, coyotes, darth vader, scissors …
you got the idea, gondolas for travel… Easy to come up with some zany story and flow from one to the next usually.

Magicians call it patter, this is a branch of magic, so why not? Is this something that was commonly done in the past?

Thoughts?

Interesting question. I wish I could contribute to an answer. I am interested in hearing any stories other might share…

We’re not happy until you’re not happy! *<B{Q>

I think that “stories” could be a bit more metaphorical and accompanied with music. (i.e. sad music slow techy tricks to energetic music and energetic yo-yoing to symbolise improvement).

Not so easy to have music at the park bench during an impromptu performance.
Picture tricks could obviously make sense, i.e. a rabbit…chased by the coyote…ran around in circles and jumped down the rabbit hole…

Don’t forget your techy tricks impress other yo-yoers, the initiated are more impressed by eli hops, since they can better visualize what’s going on, or they may remember the trick gondola out of four or five other much harder tricks!

When people say show me some tricks, it’s just something to think about, they may respond to the magical and storytelling over “techy”. People like to be entertained, not confused, something they can wrap their mind around.

Younger kids especially find storytelling fun, even if the stories make no sense or seem absurd. Fortunately kids find absurd funny.

I think you could also use tricks with big, understandable motions to convey parts of the story. Brent is a pretty big and comprehensible trick, so if you have your main character going OVER the mountain, brent could signify that.

Or a simple brother slack. I think we are describing showing tricks for very young children, which is worth considering. I agree, young kids respond best to larger movements and color, which is why card magic can be unsuccessful, but scarf magic is entertaining.