On our way to meet the blogger behind this awesome website Messy Nessy Chic, we came across this man, “levitating” at Saint Michel next to Notre Dame in Paris to the wonderment of the crowd in front of him. Just in case you’re in doubt, we walked all the way around to double check. We think the trick is that the stick he carries continues into his arm (which he doesn’t move), and down his back where a seat is attached. According to a reader with knowledge of these type of tricks:
It’s a variation on the standard yogi levitation trick, where the staff is actually a steel pole connected, under the rug, to a heavy base and an arm, running under the robes to a platform on which the performer sits. In this case, there’s a secondary arm between the bottom of the pole and the base. It’s hard to see in this picture, but either the arms are fake, disguising the metal tubing or the tubing has been made thin enough to be hidden by their sleeves.
He used to do it solo, as evidenced in this YouTube video and this photo, but the guy helping the man really takes it to another level, literally.
Michelle is the founder of Untapped New York and the author of The Art Spy (HarperOne, forthcoming) Secret Brooklyn, Secret New York Hidden Bars & Restaurants, and Broadway. michelleyoungwriter.com
