For contemporary Sports Throwing athletes, rotational knife is arguably the most popular competition category and discipline. But the greater activity of modern professional knife throwing is much broader. Professional knife throwing can be split into three arenas: sport, martial arts, and performance arts. Of the three, performance arts have the deepest and oldest roots in the entertainment industry, boasting the most well-known, difficult and dangerous category of all knife throwing: Impalement Arts.
The Impalement Arts are a collection of disciplines, all of which have the artist throwing knives around a human target, positioned facing forward, their back against a larger wooden target, sticking each knife into the back target as close to the human assistant as possible. Their origins may go as far back as Roman antiquity, but modern Impalement Arts as we know it amassed intrigue through touring performances in America and Europe in the late 19th century. Its popularity continued through the entire 20th century, from circus shows and burlesque theater halls to the television screen. To this day Impalement Throwing is alive and well, with a rich history of legendary performers going back two centuries. Of all Impalement Artists, none is as distinguished, renowned and accomplished as The Reverend Dr. David Adamovich, better known as “The Great Throwdini”.
In his 28 years of mastering the Impalement Arts, (5 competition, 23 stage), The Great Throwdini has built an unparalleled performance record. In fact, those who research his accomplishments will behold an artist's resume that is as massive as it is astounding. As the oldest working professional Impalement Artist at the age of 78, he has produced, directed and starred in multiple off-broadway productions, featured in dozens of major broadcast and cable television productions, the cinema, sideshow and prestigious circuses nationally and internationally. These include Stars of The World Famous Moscow State Circus, The National Circus of Cuba, Circo do Brazil, The Coney Island Circus Sideshow, Mahakarya Magician 2010, and The Great American Variety Show. Throwdini has been featured in a performance art exhibition at NY's Whitney Museum, and performed in America's, France's, Germany's and Britain's Got Talent. He has set or broken 45 world records (combined Guinness World Records and Record Holders Republic) for speed, distance and accuracy of his throwing. He has performed and created records and stunts that no other artist has yet to duplicate. Though it may come as a surprise, David only started throwing at the age of 50 and then turned to the Impalement Arts at the age of 55. When looking back at his lifetime of professional accomplishments, it is truly amazing.
Throwdini chose a slightly different path in developing his act by departing from the traditional 'Cowboy and Indian' theme to formal attire; tailed tux complete with his signature red bow tie and cummerbund, and black/white spectator shoes. In addition, he insists on featuring his assistant/partner as an equal part of the act. That's not to say that previous artists did not recognize their assistants as part of their performance, but Throwdini made it his business to always introduce his partner and share bows between stunts. In his own words, “Sine qua non,” (without which there is none). He adds, “My act is based on increasingly difficult stunts and profiles designed to bring the audience to the edge of their seats, then allowing them to sit back and relax while I describe the next stunt. I'm the serious professorial type and my partner is my foil for the comic relief between pathos and comedy. Her taking an occasional jab at me, “Catch him if he falls, he's old,” for example, gets a good laugh as she unexpectedly blurts it out in the set-up of a serious stunt. Throughout the performance the audience develops a relationship with my partner, wondering how she can stand there so brave in the face of obvious danger. After throwing a really, really tight profile of knives over her backward bent body, from knees to over the throat, I might say, “Close, huh? Well, you know why I do that? Because I can.” Meanwhile, the audience is watching her expressions and realizing she's quite confident in my throwing. One of my highlights during our performance is the follow-up applause during the veiled board stunt. She drops the veil and steps forward for our applause and plants a kiss on my cheek - a gesture of our mutual respect and admiration for each other. Finally, my closing signature piece which would follow the Veiled Wheel is the stabbing of a previously freely chosen and signed card as my assistant springs the deck in front of the board. Someone in the audience invariably yells, “No way,” to which I reply, “Way,” pulling the card off the knife and showing it to the audience. We take our final bow, she puts her arm in mine, and off we go. I love what I do. I hope to never retire.”
Dr. Adamovich was born in 1946 in post-war Brooklyn to second-generation Russian and Italian immigrants and became proficient in gymnastics in his youth. A cancer survivor and father of a successful lawyer and plastic surgeon, David has earned both a Master and Doctorate of Education in Applied Physiology at Columbia University's Teachers College, and both a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and a Master of Science in Exercise Physiology at Long Island University. He is an honors graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) Professional Career Program in NYC and is also an ordained minister. Throwdini’s career history is a saga no less vast. He taught electrocardiography, exercise physiology, biostatistics, and exercise physiology at the graduate level in almost every university in the NYC area and is a former director of the graduate program in exercise physiology, Long Island University. He worked as a hospital-based research and clinical exercise physiologist who specialized in cardiac rehabilitation, exercise stress testing, and 12-lead electrocardiography, attained the coveted status as 'Fellow of The American College of Sports Medicine,' and was Vice President of an emergency medicine management group before moving on to open two billiard parlors.
A true polymath and often described as a Renaissance Man, his incredible resume broadens further to professionally trained chef, paramedic, chaplain and volunteer fireman, ordained minister, and author to work on billiards, electrocardiography, cardiac rehabilitation, world records, and the Impalement Arts. It would seem Dr. Adamovich had already done it all, but it was after leaving emergency medicine management that his career path experienced its greatest change. A fan of the sport of pool since his youth, he felt the natural next step in life was to open a billiards hall. Not long into this proprietorship, his good friend and patron, Joe Torraca, showed him a throwing knife, gifted by Joe’s son-in-law. Sharing the experience, he tells us “We both threw it into a tree outside the pool hall, Joe flopped it, I stuck it and said, “I can do this.” I searched the internet for throwers and found Harry Munroe, a few hours away in Rhode Island. I visited Harry and he told me about the American Knife Throwers Alliance (AKTA) and International Knife Throwers Alliance (IKTA) organizations and their National and World Championship tournaments. Nine months later I went to my first tournament and, well, I was hooked. Nobody knew me, I was the new kid on the block at the tournaments. Bob Karp, (Founder - International Knife Throwers Alliance,) stopped everyone from throwing and said, “Hey guys, watch this guy, he's the smoothest knife thrower I've ever seen.” Perhaps it was because of my very relaxed “Peel and Throw” style employing very little effort”. The “Peel and Throw” method is not only perfect for maintaining stamina during prolonged throwing, it was naturally developed by David himself.
From 1996 to 2001, he competed and won in both national and world championship titles in both AKTA and IKTA tournaments. “And then one day I was highlighted in an article in Time Out NY. Wild West Performer and World Champion Trick Roper, Chris McDaniel, saw the article and contacted me about teaching him to add knives to his act. When he saw how good I was he convinced me to leave “bulls eye busting” and to create a stage act. As such he gave me a video tape of the old/former knife throwers to review. One week later I sent him back a video of me duplicating all their stunts around a dummy. He helped me create a full impalement routine entitled “Maximum Risk – The Impalement Arts with a Touch of Magic and Comedy,” inspired by lines and music from the French movie, “Girl on The Bridge.” The other person who influenced me was professional impalement artist Larry Cisewski. I contacted him and asked for advice. I flew to California from New York. We threw together and he openly shared tips and secrets of the trade learned through his years as a performer. Most importantly he gave me the courage and confidence to follow my newly found passion for performing. Quite often, when considering a new stunt, I was told, “It's too dangerous or too difficult.” That's all I had to hear to convince myself I could do it!” With that, Throwdini forged a new path in the Impalement Arts that portrays the partnership between thrower and target. Now 23 years later, he continues to perform nationally and internationally.
When it comes to the Aim Games organization, Throwdini’s involvement has been nothing short of foundational. Meeting Aim Games founder, Rick Lemberg, in 2000 during his competition days, the two formed a bond of professional camaraderie rooted in mutual respect and admiration for each other's craft and philosophy on professional knife throwing. Dr. Adamovich has been an avid supporter of the Aim Games mission and vision and plans to make major contributions to the Rocket Collections Museum. “I've offered most of my career artifacts to Rick for his museum. I'm working on getting other artists to do the same. I believe in his mission and through his efforts he will keep our memories, accomplishments and legacies alive for future throwers. I like that Rick's AIMGAMES is organized to improve the weakest and reward the strongest. In my humble opinion, knife throwing is unisex. Creating categories by level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced) and/or gender (male or female) are irrelevant when the goal is to reward the one who throws the best and scores the highest. As a professor of sports sciences for over 20 years, I feel pretty confident in saying that other than distance throwing where strength may be of consequence, knife and hawk throwing from 3 or 4 meters is predominantly a function of eye-hand coordination with little to no regard to gender. The greatest talents in knife throwing surface, develop and blossom early on and only need to focus on improving their skill. High level skill, often inherent, but not always, rears its presence in talented children, e.g. tennis (Williams sisters) and golf (Woods) prodigies. In my case, I stumbled upon my hidden talent at the age of 50.”
Nickname Backstory:
“Throwdini, The Great Throwdini, both arising from Harry Houdini, the famous escapologist.” David added, “My friends call me THROW.”
Select Achievements On and Off Stage:
Recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records and Ripley's Believe it or Not! as 'The World's Fastest and Most Accurate Knife Thrower'. Has appeared in numerous editions of Guinness and Ripley's annual and specialty editions.
Recreated Joe Gibson's 'Veiled Wheel of Death' in 2010, becoming the 4th artist to do it after a 30 year absence. The other 3 were Gibson, Zeros, and Brumbach. In recent years, a fifth artist, Gomonov, has joined the elite group.
Featured in the Centennial Edition of Ripley's Believe it or Not! for being the only artist to perform The Veiled Double Wheel of Death — two assistants behind a paper veil on a 6-foot diameter wheel. Debuted at the 103rd Salute to Magic, Society of American Magicians, NYC, in 2013. (www.facebook.com/RipleysBelieveItorNot/videos/2225317661123879/)
Two-time recipient of magic's highest award by The International Magicians Society, The Merlin Award. One for Outstanding Performances in The Impalement Arts in 2009, and a 24K Merlin Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2022. The Merlin Award is to magic what the Oscar is to the movies, the Emmy is for television, or the Tony is for theater. It is presented to those magicians who have achieved the highest level in their craft, both on the national and international stage. (imsmagic.com)
Served as 74th President of Parent Assembly #1, The Society of American Magicians. The first president was Harry Houdini in early 1917. (magicsampa1.com)
Inducted as a Member of The Vidocq Society based on his extensive knowledge as an expert witness in the mechanics of a thrown knife, background as a research physiologist, and curator of the world's largest serial killer murderabilia collection. The Vidocq Society assists homicide investigators through its team of forensic experts and investigators in the resolution of long unsolved difficult cold case homicides. (vidoc.org) (Anticipated to occur January 2025)
Select TV documentaries and performances:
CBS News Sunday Morning, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK8X_k7ATDg
CBS News, https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/snapshot-new-york-the-great-throwdini/
Modern Marvels on The History Channel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeVaCPihyg8
ESPN E-60, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTJrhlHVELI
Sharp Knives / Soft Targets, https://vimeo.com/126980345
Crash the Superbowl submission, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPGBqNMWiHs
Borgata Hotel and Casino, https://vimeo.com/521934677/5c983c83e0
Impractical Jokers, https://vimeo.com/124620917
Cirque Dream Story, https://vimeo.com/899998793
Promo Reel, https://vimeo.com/1034210998?share=copy#t=0
Select Original Stunts:
Stabbing a signed playing card from a sprung deck.
Two assistants behind a 4x6 foot paper veil with 3 knives thrown on each side and 3 in-between, performed in a black theater to a strobe light.
Speed stunt of 10 knives in 5 seconds around an assistant who swallowed a sword.
Extinguishing a lit cigarette held in an assistant's mouth by hitting the ashes only.
The Veiled Double Wheel of Death, performed at 1.1 seconds per revolution, 2 knives per revolution.
Select World Records:
Most knives thrown around a human target in 1 min: 144 (3 at a time). Performed for Record Holders Republic - Registry of Official World Records.
Most knives thrown around a human target in 1 min: 102 (1 at a time). Selected as 'One of The Top 100 Guinness World Records of All Time', NBC Special, 2008.
Most knives thrown around a human target in 10 seconds: 30 (3 at a time).
Fastest time to throw 10 knives around a human target: 4.29 sec.
Fastest time to throw 10 knives around a human target hidden behind a paper veil (The Veiled Wheel of Death): <6 sec.
Furthest distance to throw a 14” knife into a 12-inch circle: 101 feet.
For more information visit www.knifethrower.com
To contact The Great Throwdini, please call 516-850-4960