Months have passed and yesterday I did my exam for the local magic club. First things firsts: I am now a proud member of the Magic Club Belge, and I must say I wouldn't be if it weren't for this forum.
So thank you all.
In this probably quite long post I will describe how it went for those interested, but first a disclaimer: I knew that the standards requested were quite low (I have seen other auditions and they only make this "exam" to avoid people going there just to get tricks to publish on the internet) and I am going to leave Belgium in less than two months, otherwise I wouldn't have dared to present myself more than perfectly prepared.
This was the plan (I had to present 5 tricks and was requested to not do more than 2 of the same kind, i.e. cards):
1) Cubism by David Forrest, just the dice prediction and production of the blank faced die
2) Poker Cheat from the Automata DVD
3) Kenton Knepper's Killer Kontrol (from "Hidden Influence")
4) Lennart Green's Rainman
5) Thirty Four, again from the automata DVD
The premise:
When I was a child, I have always fantasized about how would it be to be a REAL magician.
One my recurrent thoughts on the matter was: "If I were a real magician, I could win a lot of money at the casino."
I was that kind of child.
Anyway, growing up and actually studying what magicians do I soon discovered that it's not just that simple.
Nonetheless, there are a few skills that might be used in gambling.
So I proceeded to demonstrate the skills involved: Reading People (later to be revealed as the simple use of a tricked dice), card cheating, psychological influence, card counting and subliminal messages.
What went bad:
I had two issues: in the first trick the magnet failed me when I tried to switch the dice and both came out (I had practiced this a LOT and I have the impression that the magnet in the load is too feeble). Luckily I kept my cool and managed to make things so that only a couple of people got a glimpse of what they shouldn't have seen.
The second issue was a major screwup, totally unexpected: at the very beginning of Rainman, which was the trick I was most confident with, after a really smooth deck switch two tricks before, I fumbled and let the deck of card slip all over the floor. With a quick in-patter chat with the president of the club (who was one of my volunteers) we decided for a small break to give me time to reset. The same still burns, but the incident had the unexpected benefit of making the last "wrong" prediction VERY convincing. So when the time for the actual reveal, after the last trick, after the final applause, came, it came with a boom.
Lesson learned: if you are a newbie, using a new deck of card for performing is a very bad idea. Also: if you have a prepared deck, have a second copy ready to be switched in if needed.
What went good:
I had huge compliments for the presentation and the overall performance. I had up to four spectators on stage involved directly, plus another one whom I had given sealed envelopes with predictions, and I managed to involve the all audience with puns (quite a big deal, considering everything was in French) and having them constantly repeat the "magic formula", which played a role in the final trick. Also, I am quite proud of saying that I managed to do some magical thinking, planning things several tricks in advance, stacking revelations for the final trick over the course of the whole performance, and actually managing to end with a bang. And I am also satisfied that the overall pace was exactly as planned.
Thoughts on the tricks:
1) I really love Cubism, but I still cannot get it to work properly. I will try and order a new set of dice and see if mine have actually lost power.
2) I was quite unlucky with this one, because not more than 10 days ago (I was not there and was told later), Boris Wild had performed a variation of the trick for the same audience.
So my volunteer was a bit bored during the actual trick. What is really excellent in this variation, though, is the final revelation: even if the method was evident to most of them, the revelation
was completely unexpected and funny. This is really excellent.
3) I am amazed at how well Killer Kontrol works. Basically everyone in the audience (they were all magicians after all) got some of it, but not a single one was able to get it all. They were completely baffled. Highly recommended.
4) Rainman is one of my overall favorite tricks. I have thought countless variations on the theme and I have never been disappointed. Even screwing it up completely like yesterday, I managed to get a lot of mileage out of it, by delaying the final reveal to the very end of the performance (I must say, I was inspired by DB shows on this).
5) I didn't want to include this, because as a mathematician I worked out what was going on while I was watching the performance on the DVD for the first time and without having to think about it. I put it because I did not manage to get the trick I had originally planned ready, and I needed something without playing cards. Nonetheless stacked so many revelations (ok, they were 5, but still) one upon the other planned during the whole performance, that I built a very nice final crescendo which led really well to the "one more thing" I had prepared (i.e. the final reveal for Rainman). Furthermore, thinking about building layer upon layer to get there has helped me thinking organically to the whole performance, so it was well worth it.
Other lesson learned: the humblest of tricks, given enough thought and presentation can go a great way. Not exactly a new concept, but touching it with hands is always a good experience.
So that's it: I'm finally an "official" magician
sorry if I bored you (but why did you read it all then?) and hopefully my experience might be useful to someone.
