Effect:

The Balducci Levitation is an illusion that can be performed whenever, wherever. It uses no wires, strings, rigs, camera tricks, etc. The pictures below show you the audience point-of-view.

Angle is the most importantly part of the trick. Try practicing the angels a few times till you get used to it. One bad angle or position and the illusion is blown!

In the television special "David Blaine: Street Magic" they show everyone having 'cows' over Blaine's levitation. What you don't see is how many times David Blaine has screwed up the trick. It is extremely easy to get a bad angle, especially when you are performing in front of a group of people.

Figure 1 shows the beginning stance of the illusion.

     

Stand about 8 to 10 feet away from the audience at a 45° 'backward' angle (as shown in figure 1). Stand still for awhile then slowly start to float (figure 2).

You rise 3 to 5 inches off of the ground before you suddenly "crash" back down to the ground. When performed correctly, this is about as close to "real" magic as you'd ever want to get.

Procedure:

All you do is pretend to "float off of the ground while you tippee-toe on just one foot (the foot furthest from their view) as shown below. Believe it, or not, this looks GREAT!

The small audience can not see your supporting foot because it is hidden by three things: your pants, the angle of the trick and your closest shoe (which hides their view of the foot being used to "levitate" you.) You might only rise 3 or 5 inches off of the ground, but it's all in the presentation! You will want to slowly rise off of the ground . . . wait just one second and then drop fast. Stay up too long and they will probably figure it out.

This is what the Balducci Levitation looks like during the performance:

The position on the left is the start of the illusion. The position on the right shows the climax of the levitation.

Another thing to take note. Try to build up the "magical" mood before performing the Balducci levitation, be it performing to friends or strangers. You can do that by showing them a bunch a card tricks. This will let them know that you are the MAGICIAN.

If they tend to grab your cards or make life difficult for you, then you do not want to perform the Balducci Levitation. Because the Balducci Levitation requires a respectable and responsive audience - people like that want to be entertained.

Practice in front of a mirror, or better yet, film yourself with a video camera at eye level or get a friend to help you out. Good luck.