One “magic word” that that will help you perform like the Spanish masters.
Spanish close-up magicians have a reputation around the world for performing the most mind-blowing and fooling magic, with a looseness and grace that few can imitate. Part of this is thanks to their magic culture, influenced heavily by masters like Juan Tamariz and his teacher, Arturo de Ascanio. Magicians in Spain also have the benefit of a beautiful language that—like all languages—shapes the way they see the world. That’s why just knowing the word “soltura” helps them perform incredible miracles in such a comfortable, natural way.
In his book The Structural Conception of Magic, Ascanio defines soltura as: agility, promptness, expedition, grace and facility, whether material or immaterial. If you’ve seen some of the Spanish legends perform, you know that every single one of those words perfectly encapsulate that thing we Americans so admire about their style. The most technically difficult techniques look effortless, the most complex concepts or sleights appear simple and natural. And notice the last bit—whether material or immaterial. It’s not just the sleights; their words, their stories, their audience interactions are all so full of soltura.
When a magician has soltura, her magic is more beautiful, she’s imbued with an enchanting warmth that connects her to the audience. It creates a “disarming beauty” (says Tamariz) that makes the audience smile and helps them feel comfortable. Contrast it to the stiff and uncomfortable magician who is clutching onto the cards so tight their fingertips are losing color, who handles the coins as if they were fragile pieces of glass (I know you’ve seen it before—if you’re honest, you’ve seen it in yourself). The lack of elegance and grace is stark, and the audience can feel the difference, even when it’s subtle.
Although artistic magic is a worthy goal in itself, soltura’s functionality goes beyond beauty and charm—which is lucky, since we also want our magic to be fooling. In an essay about the importance of gestures and details in our magic, I wrote that the most subtle details of our body language speak volumes to our audience. Humans have evolved to read each other really well, so the most imperceptible details may alert your audience that something is up, even if they’re not sure what. It’s why some audience members have told me “I know you did something,” but couldn’t tell me remotely what secret move they had witnessed. Obviously something was off.
However, even the most cynical audience members—those hellbent on “figuring it out”—will accidentally let their guard down in the face of soltura (you know the type—some swear they know how it's done before you’ve taken the cards out of their case). Soltura’s “disarming looseness” (as Ascanio calls it) relaxes them, puts their mind at ease, and ultimately evaporates all suspicion. In addition to making their magic more beautiful, it also makes it far more fooling; they stop looking for trickery, because nothing tricky seems to be happening.
Why do Spaniards embody soltura so naturally, while the rest of us have to work at it? Ascanio offers a theory: “Anglo Saxons don’t have an equivalent word and I believe, due to the influence of the language in social behavior that their magic tends to lack soltura. Americans have a clear concept of naturalness and timing. Their magic is natural and their timing is good, but they lack soltura.” And his hypothesis is backed up by research. Scientists have been studying the concept of linguistic relativity—that our language determines how we think about and view the world—for years. In one of these studies, researchers found that when a language has more words for colors, those who speak that language literally see more colors. For example, some languages don't have a word for the color pink, so the people who speak that language don’t have a concept of the color pink, which is why they can’t see it as a distinct color—they only see “light red.” And magicians who don’t have a concept of soltura, can’t embody it.
That’s why simply learning this one word can help our magic feel more natural and loose. Once we have the vocabulary for it, we can start to think in terms of “soltura.” We can spot it in others, we can see when it’s lacking. Just like we see pink as its own defined color, we will start to see soltura, not as a collection of traits, but its own standalone thing. Simply understanding the concept will influence how we see and think about magic, and if we’re intentional about it, even we Americans can implement and embody the Spanish idea of soltura in our own performances.
The natural charm, nonchalance, and deceptiveness we associate with magicians from Spain are attributed in part to their legendary teachers, but also to the way they see the world, which is shaped by their language. If you want to learn from those teachers, I recommend Ascanio’s Structural Conception of Magic, in which he offers so many valuable thoughts about the Spanish magic style. And if you want see the world like a Spaniard, you can start by thinking about soltura, looking for it all around you, and letting it slowly become a part of you and your magic.