Are you convinced that sword swallowing is an art and not a trick?
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Re: Are you convinced that sword swallowing is an art and not a trick?
- Keri wood
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I believe we could all agree that Duke was a Master at his profession. So, whether sword swallowing is a "trick" or not, when performed by Duke it was an art.
Obviously, it can be taught and learned as sword swallowing has been a part of the traveling circus tradition for generations.
My previous statement made me a little curious about the actual history of sword swallowing. So I did a little research and found that sword swallowing goes back thousands of years to India, where it was performed by shaman priests. (SwordSwallowing.com)
Further down the Google page I found an interesting article written in the Washington Post by Ryan F. Mandelbaum on 2/16/2016 that goes into great detail about how it's done, complete with a video that includes a live x-ray. Incredible!!! And, yes, it can be taught and learned. Just not by the average person...lol
I should amend that statement, in the video one of the sword swallowers says that anyone can learn it... I just find that hard to swallow. (Bad pun intended...lol)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/spe ... wallowing/
While proofreading my comments just before posting, I almost removed my statement where I said, "...whether it is a "trick" or not,..." as my research later shows it obviously is not a trick. I decided to leave it in to show that I didn't already know it was not a trick before I began my post.
Not to say that "all" sword swallowers are actually swallowing authentic metal swords. But I believe Duke Reynolds (whose name was changed per the Preface of the book) was the Real Deal.
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- Mary WhiteFace
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For the first part "Are you convinced that sword swallowing is an art and not a trick? I would have to say yes, I do believe it is an art. Simply because the performer actually DOES swallow the sword. It is not a slight of hand like a magician showing a card trick.
That leads e into your second question, "Do you believe it can be taught?" Yes, it would have to be taught. And it would take lots and lots of practice, with numerous injuries, I suspect. So to practice and learn to be good at sword swallowing would have to be an art, because not everyone can do it.
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