Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Meet the Future

From ThisIsPlymouth.co.uk comes this story on local magician Alex Hansford, a recent winner of Rovi trophy at the British convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. 

According to the article, this is Mr. Hansford's second win of the trophy and it has gotten him thinking about putting off college for a year of travelling and street performing.

Here is a taste of Mr. Hansford's magic.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Our Chief Weapon Is...

A recurring theme in the notes I took at the Genii 75th Anniversary Bash has to do with magic as a theatrical form.

Like theatre, magic is primarily a medium of storytelling and the magical moment--when the trick happens--is not so much the climax of the story, but the inevitable outcome of bringing a specific set of elements into conflict with one another.

What does that mean?

Stories take many forms, but all involve conflict and resolution.  Whether we are talking about the Joads, or Indiana Jones, or a playing card that wants nothing more than to rise to the top of the pack, the storyteller's job is to set the scene, establish the characters, introduce obstacles, raise the stakes and resolve the story.

Stories are about transformation and so is magic.  Melodrama is about the peaks and valleys of experience, but truly powerful stories affect the characters and, by extension, the audience.

While it may seem that I am advocating for Sam the Bellhop as the apotheosis of magic tricks, I am merely pointing out that which was stated explicitly, or conveyed implicitly, by the lecturers in Orlando:  witnessing raw technical skill may be engaging to technicians, but lay audiences want to invest their attention in a compelling story.  Put another way, while the patient has a vested interest in the outcome of the surgery, only other surgeons care about what instruments were used during its performance.

I find it remarkable that so many of the presenters and performers who lectured at the convention chose as their performing character one who was equally amazed as the audience that a particular trick worked.  This was less a reflection on specific technical skill as a choice of framing for the audience.  The magic was happening for them at the same time as for the audience.

Case in point was Chad Long.  From the outset, he projected a torrent of nervous energy that clearly masked a high level of technical skill.

The note I took away from his presentation reads as follows:  "Take a thing they know..., add something and it's a new thing."

That's all I wrote down.  I have been trying to work out why that stuck with me long enough to find my pen and I think finally it has to do with surprise and storytelling.

We humans are quick to recognize patterns.  It is a fundamental component of our decision-making process.  We observe and then make predictions based on those observations.  Anyone who has ever pulled out to pass a car on a two-lane road will know exactly what I am talking about.

Storytellers use this primal skill against us as a way of sustaining out investment in the outcome of their tales.  They establish the conventions of their story and then intentionally subvert or destroy those conventions.  And magicians do this all the time, for what is a "kicker" ending if not a demonstration that the assumption of the audience are mostly, if not completely, in error.

Mr. Long's notion of taking the familiar and adding new elements to create a new "thing" speaks directly to this.

Surprise, this subversion of convention, is closely tied to the magical moment.  The power of the magician comes, in part, from the ability to present the idea that whether through skill, or "strange and hypnotic powers," they can, if only in the context of their performance, live outside the conventions to which the rest of us are held hostage.  When you or I put the "ambitious" card in the middle of the deck, it stays in the middle of the deck.  But when the magician does it, there are no rules, no telling where that card will end up.

A big part of the discoveries I made at this convention was in recognizing a kind of universal coherence across the various silos of my life.

After four decades of following magic and bemoaning my complete lack of skill, or ability to perform, I find that my "safety" interests in theatre and storytelling are more closely related to magic than I had once thought.  My appreciation for a well-told joke and the associated comedy arts draws on similar skills as those used by the magician.

I wrote earlier about wanting to master The Pass as a way of connecting to the sleight of hand masters.  This is still a goal, but I now understand that technical skill without context--without a good story--is like being a comedian without timing:  you may know where the punchline is, but nobody else will.

So, I will end this installment of my report on the conference by illustrating a combination of elements that in combination create a magical moment for the audience.



Saturday, October 20, 2012

I Went to a Mahvellous Party! - Part 1

I was privileged to be in Orlando for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Genii Magazine.

Genie-in-Chief, Richard Kaufman has clearly been paying close attention as he has travelled the world attending magic conventions and that education paid off in spades at the event.

Every detail appears to have been carefully considered.

The selection of the Florida Hotel and Conference Center proved to be inspired.  Not only was there ample room for the lectures and performances (the dealer room might have been a little larger) but as it is connected to the Florida Mall, there were lots of dining options beyond the hotel fare.  In my experience, the hotel staff was unfailingly courteous and helpful and seemed bent on creating a positive experience for their guests--even the magicians.

I can't really talk about the convention without discussing the generous "gift bag" that was provided to each of the registrants. 

The "bag" turned out to be a deluxe portfolio with a 1-1/2" three-ring binder, notepad, calculator and pen included.  The folio needed to be that large in order to include all of the swag provided by the magazine and its partners.  It came stuffed with DVDs and cards and gaffs and manuscripts for all manner of tricks.  I still haven't managed to get through the whole thing! 

Another important choice made in the planning stages of the conference was to keep all the participants on a single track for the majority of the event.  This meant that, by and large, the participants were having the same experiences at the same time and did not have to choose which presenters they got to see and which ones they had to forgo.

Magic lectures are a unique experience.  For a culture renowned for its devotion to safeguarding secrets, lecturers routinely both perform and explain their techniques and thought processes.  Want to know how a magician can routinely deal himself a winning poker hand?  Come to a lecture and he will freely tell you.  And, in case you miss any of the subtleties, there is a video camera standing by to provide a close-up view that even those at the back of the hall can follow.

Somebody asked me yesterday what was the best trick I learned at the event.  This was a tough one for me, because I am not a performer, but I am fascinated by the performance of magic.  As I have written about elsewhere, the technology used is not very sophisticated, but the thinking is and the understanding of human perception and psychology is something that the so-called "hard sciences" are only now beginning to understand.

Did I come away from the conference with new tricks?  Not really.  What I did take away was a clearer understanding of how to think about magic.


John Carney: The Invisible Coins from HMNS on Vimeo.

From John Carney, I learned about how the actor who is playing the part of a magician should prepare for his role.  Carney referenced the Erdnase/Vernon credo of the naturalness of motion--the audience should not be able to tell the difference between an innocent move and a move concealing the "sneaky business."  "Over-selling" that the hands are empty, for example, may have the effect of convincing the audience that the performer has something to hide. 


Carney also made reference--the first of many--to Scottish magician John Ramsay's statement that if you want the audience to look at something, look at it yourself.  He did this in the context of demonstrating a coin vanish routine.  His position was that the performer should not call attention to the vanishing moment, but rather that the performer and the audience should "discover" the vanish together.

This is oversimplifying somewhat, but, in essence, Carney's advise was that, long after the sneaky business has happened and the coin has vanished, the performer should continue to present the "coin" to the audience in exactly the same way as he would if the coin were still there.  "Show it as you would actually show it," was the note I took at this point in his presentation.  If the performer believes that the coin is still there, the audience will too.

This goes to a larger and more theatrical point about the importance of the performer being fully present in the moment.  This is a subtext through several of the other lectures at the conference and one that I will keep coming back to.  The performance of magic is a shared experience and it is the job of the performer to do all of the necessary preparations so that he can do the sneaky business without thinking and concentrate on sharing something magical with the spectators.  The performer should be experiencing the magical moment for the first time right along with the spectators. 

Doing something "to" the audience is threatening.  Sharing something "with" the audience is powerful.  In the October issue of Magic Magazine, Joshua Jay writes about the "atfor dilemma" which is a variation of the same discussion.  His position is that it is better for the performer to perform "for" the audience rather than "at" them.

There's lots more to say, but this should do for the moment.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

John Calvert

From the Oakland Tribune in California comes this column about magician John Calvert's appearance before a group of fellow conjurors in Oakland.

Here is a conversation with Calvert about his life and career.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Set Your DVR

Steve Cohen, the Millionaire's Magician will hosting a two-hour special on the History Channel on Thursday, October 18th.

You can read more about the special here and see the trailer below.