The Dance by Brad Henderson

Details: Catch the tidal wave of demand for performers who can divine an audience’s innermost thoughts and feelings. The Dance is the most advanced work on the subject of Cold Reading to date. Where many of the manuals in the past have told you what to do, The Dance teaches you the ins and outs of HOW TO DO IT!

Topics include ethics, reading onstage, misses into hits, skeptics and two professional mind reading routines.

Few teaching texts have been released to the performance community of theatrical mind readers and ‘psychic entertainers’. Many are small pamphlets of 15-20 pages, which when available can command prices as high as $80-200. Unlike these ‘traditional’ texts, The Dance focuses on cold reading not as a product but as a process. The how’s and why’s of cold reading are presented to the student in a clear and concise fashion. Many books try to teach you what to say, The Dance teaches you how to say it, when and where.

Brad Henderson has been a professional entertainer and mind reader for over 20 years. He has lectured to some of the most exclusive gatherings of magicians and has garnered a considerable reputation for his own psychic reading skills. He presents seminars on the Psychology of Communication to business people from a multitude of industries. His own performances walk the edge of theatrical techniques and legitimate psychological manipulation that borders on eerie. Not only has he studied the art of cold reading for years, but has hands on experience, in the trenches, using his skills to entertain and educate audiences throughout the U.S.

The title typifies the author’s approach to the techniques used in psychic readings. Each reading is like a dance; interplay between psychic and subject whereby the reader surreptitiously gains information and leads the listener into believing he is speaking in terms of specifics, when in reality generalities abound. The key lies in keeping the listeners unaware of this process and rewriting their memories of the events which occurred. Teaching such an ‘organic’ and ‘live’ process is a difficult task; The Dance attempts and succeeds in a manner never before conveyed in print.

Though a rather advanced book, The Dance asks key questions which every potential reader should answer before embarking on their studies. Sections of The Dance include:

The Myth of the Cold Reading: There is a common perception that there exists one very general script that will hold true to most people. The Dance is one of the only texts written on the subject which abandons such a notion in favor of teaching the real techniques used by successful psychics. Our opening section lays down the philosophical framework of the text as well as explores the way general statements are believed to work, and reveal their inherent weaknesses.

Also, The Dance explores the ethics of misrepresenting to our audience that what we do is “real” and offers for the first time a reading paradigm which is both engaging and ethically sound. What’s My Motivation?: One of the more frightening revelations begins as a discussion of the personality types naturally drawn to the pursuit of Psychic Readings. Control, power, and ego fulfillment which pervade the industry.

The Dance advocates a NEW approach deviating from the Classic Svengali – the dark, mysterious, power hungry character who knows all and sees all. Learn how this more modern approach makes the public a willing accomplice to the “mediumship” process and insures that they receive real value from their time with the Psychic. Also, learn who should stay away from this kind of work and why. . Sections include: How to Ask a Question, Does This Make Sense, Multiple Choice, Negative Question and the Method, Beware the Stereotype, Tricks of the Trade (data collection), We have Ways of Making You Talk, Back Pedaling, Projectile Missiles, Celebrity, and Recapitulation. Finally, we close with PERFORMANCE PIECES. Here are two show stopping presentations straight from Brad’s working repertoire. Both will give you the opportunity to showcase your readings skills.

The Dance is a powerful, fascinating, and educational treatise on the techniques some ‘psychics’ use in their Mediumship practices. By offering informational tools of this sort, the performer is empowered to critically evaluate these types of psychic experience and make informed judgments as to their validity. At the very least, by allowing the performer to glimpse inside a very real world of deceit, connivers and their verbal deception which borders on art, they may walk away with a better understanding of how we as human being have the incredible power to deceive our fellow man for purposes of good or ill.

An incredible value. 121 pages of professional quality material designed for the working performer.

Contents:

About the Author 6
Preface 7
Preface to the Second Edition 8
Acknowledgements 11

Considerations

How to Use This Book 14
Sexism 15
Slippery Slopes 15
A (Jagged) Line in the Sand 17
I Come to Praise Ms. Browne, Not to Bury Her.. 21

Foundations

The Myth of the Cold Reading 24
The Truth about Cold Reading 26
What’s My Motivation? 27
Methods in the Madness 29
Interpretation – The Method behind the Method 29
Just the Facts Ma’ am 32
Involvement: Sitter- Derived Readings 3 3
Climbing Out on the Psychic Limb 36
Immunity via Uniqueness 38
Dealing with Skeptics 3 8
Summary 40

The Dance

A Beast with Two Backs – The Rhythm of The Dance 42
Is It This One, or This One? How to Ask a Question 47
Does This Make Sense? 47
Multiple Choice 49
Off-Centered Fishing 5 0
Negative Question and the Method 51
Beware the Friendly Stereotype 52
Crafted Communication 54
Data Collection (a.k.a. Clipboards are forWussies) 55
We Have Ways of Making You Talk 5 6
Backpedaling 5 7
The Method as “The Method” 5 9
Pro] ect Misses into the Future 5 9
Projecting into the Shadows of the Past 60
An Anecdote for the Problem 60
The Ethical Issue 61
Recapitulation 62
The Dance and Method, a Summary 63

Attitudes

Headgames 66

Attitude and Private Readings

Commitment 67
The Stance 68
Who It’s NotAbout.. 68
A Warning to Magicians, Mentalists, arid Performers 69
What’s That Really Saying, Sparky? 70
Who It Is About 71

Attitude and Performance Reading

When Skeptics Attack – Sacrifice the Ego 73
To Read or Not To Read 76
The Nature of the Beast. 76
When THEY Decide It’ s Show Time 78
Going on Stage 80
We Might As Well Sell T-shirts 81
Dance a Little Side Step 81
Team Effort 83
I’m Ready for My Close Up, Mr. DeMille 84
Ask and Ye Shall Receive 84
The Wonderful Thing about Triggers 86
Conclusion 8 6
On Being Perfect 8 7

Performance Pieces

The Old Gypsy Woman 90
The Everlasting Pendulum Trick 94

• Publisher: Brad Henderson
• Pages: 121
• Location: Austin, TX, USA
• Dimensions: 6″x9″
• Date: 2000, 2003
• Binding: hardbound

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