Cardistry
Recently, a groundbreaking new art form has risen up from the underground – Cardistry. While card magic focuses on manipulation of playing cards for purposes of illusion, cardistry is the non-magical manipulation of playing cards with intent to display creativity, performance art, and skill. If you’ve ever seen a magician fan a pack of cards, you’ve seen a very small demonstration of cardistry – a “card flourish”.
Harry Houdini performed armspreads and card fans that amazed audiences.
Cardists (or “card artists”) are gradually becoming more and more advanced in their technique. Simple armspreads have become double armspreads with turnovers, tosses, and catches. Ordinary cuts and shuffles have become one-handed cuts and shuffle sequences. With the emergence of the Sybil and other iconic flourishes in recent years, the art has grown in footprint by leaps and bounds, largely due to it's strong support from many online communities of enthusiasts. Cardistry is growing into a full blown subculture, complete with performance videos posted and shared regularly among cardists all over the world.
