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Performance Magic: What Moves You Guys?

posted by janrinok on Sunday March 30 2014, @03:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the now-you-see-it dept.

The Burnaby Kid writes:

Figured I'd toss this out there, since SN was asking for interesting story submissions. I'm a professional magician working abroad, and I've been indulging in this incredibly geeky performing art for almost two decades. One problem that happens a lot when it comes to magic is that the nature of secrecy means that we don't get open dialogue with the muggles we perform for, and that leads to us getting into this weird sort of insular and incestuous discussion with other magicians, which ends up warping our minds to the extent that we start doing moronic things like... oh, I don't know... referring to our audience members as "muggles". We get into some pretty weird debates, and I've been trying my best to argue for raising the bar, such as by suggesting that we need to be more sensitive about what you guys like, such as by making sure that if we pull out a deck of cards, we've got something to perform that can compete with Card Through Window. And yet... Maybe I've got it wrong? What DO you guys like? If you like watching magicians perform, what do you like about it? If you don't, why not?

 
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  • (Score: 1) by magwm on Sunday March 30 2014, @03:57PM

    by magwm (3783) on Sunday March 30 2014, @03:57PM (#23251) Homepage

    I'll bite.. I'm fascinated by all things "magic" and I hugely appreciate the enourmous amount of training that magicians endure to become professionals.

    however, I mostly only like the tricks and the handwork, and I'm almost instantly bored by the badly written badly performed stories and/or talk that accompany the show. I'd rather they would keep silent, really.

    I think that - regretfully as there is already so much to rehearse - much more attention should go to the text.

    but otherwise, it's AMAZING what people can do with their hands and tech.

    further, as gratifying as it is to finally understand "how" the trick is done, it also in the eyes of the beholder reduces the "magic" to "lots of exercise".. please don't reveal!