What Does it Mean to Be a Magician?
Probably one of the best complements I have ever received while performing was being told that I even write like a magician. This single comment alone illuminated what being a magician is in my mind. Give it a little thought and I think you’ll agree with me. I had just finished performing a number of card tricks for a group of people in a social situation and as I was writing down my email address for someone, one of the other spectators commented… “He even writes like a magician“. At the time I laughed it off, but upon reflection, it showed me that I had succeeded in creating an environment of wonder for that small group for a short amount of time. That the magic I performed had transported them to another place. And for that one person in particular, I had created a reality, that matched what their own mind had only before imagined.
Therefore our goal as performers should be to always transport our audience into a world that previously only existed in their imaginations. We do this through the material we choose to perform, the clothes we wear and the words we say. However, there is no one persona for a magician. You could wear be wearing jeans, a t-shirt and doing card tricks. Or a suit and tie performing mentalism. Your goal is to find what resonates best with people, all sorts of people. And the only way of doing this is by getting out there and performing.
Many possibilities…
It is up to you to decide what a magician looks like and acts like, then to see if you can embody those feelings when performing. One question that has perplexed for many years is should you always be on? And by that I mean, ready to perform. I think you will agree that if you tell somebody you meet that you are a magician, then they expect you to do magic, right there, on the spot. I guess they have every right to, as you are claiming to be a magician, so do magic. Just don’t dance like a monkey. Always leave them wanting more.
“A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician” – Robert Houdin
Gallery of magic
I would be very grateful if you would share your own odd occurrences when people have interpreted your magic in interesting ways and have responded either good or bad to the way you have performed and created the idea of a magician in their mind.