talkmagic.co.uk

I find myself asking myself this question quite often lately - "where on earth am i going with this".

I love entertaining kids and so I'm continuing to work on my kid's show. My goal is to have 8 shows a month ( I currently do about 3 or 4). If I was doing this full time I'd obviously do a lot more.

I'm also really drawn to mentalism at the moment. Not too sure if it's just part of the current mentalism fad - but I suppose that doesn't really matter that much. I'm reading and watching all I can and my goal here is to put together a 15 min routine that I can perform for adults - preferably in a more intimate setting - like around a dinner table, but I'd like it to be flexible enough to be able to be presented from a small stage.

I'm still trying to get my head around the whole magic vs mentalism thing as I still feel that the two can be combined - namely to make magic stronger. I think I'll probably go this route as I really enjoy doing magic - but stuff that could fit into the whole mentalism 'genre'. I suppose the real difference lies in how each is presented - but I'm going off topic here

What are your goals - where do you see yourselves going with magic??

My goals are (in no specific order):

To have a close-up card act. Purely cards. The purer the better.
To have a well informed and well routined Cups and Balls routine
To have a stand-up/caberet act with plenty of variation.
To be able to entertain anybody, anywhere, anytime with magic in absolutely any situation.

I can happily say that I am on my way with most of those ambitions but I'm not rushing it, if that makes sense. Above all I want to be the best performer I can be and I understand that will take some time.

GoldFish wrote:To be able to entertain anybody, anywhere, anytime with magic in absolutely any situation.

That's my ambition.
But it's a big one and I expect it to take a lifetime to fulfil.

Taneous

I share your sentiments but from my own experience I think that if you can perform to kids then you'll have no problems with adults. I think that when watching magic the kids can often see what the adults can't.

I also agree that magic and mentalism can be combined to good effect. I feel that menatlism is just a different approach and most laymen will not know the difference between the two.

I would like to take on more paid performances and am always looking for opportunities. However, I can't seem to settle on what should be in my routine without it expanding to some 20 or so tricks

I personally would like to be able to make some money from magic one day however i see this more as a prop maker! At the moment i feel i want just show off my magic and start to do some parties and some paid gigs!

i also want to improve my close up magic as at the moment i am mostly doing larger effects

Pcwizme

I started out with a few card tricks, only hoping I could fool my friends heheheheh. But as time went by, as more tricks learned, and as more thoughts put into it, I figure I don't wanna fool my friends anymore. I want to have magic as entertainment (with no one feels being fooled). I guess it's kind of harder, because good entertainment should have good surprise.

I don't think I should be expecting any money, my payment is my audience's amazement and laugh.

My problem with kids is that they're kids: they move around and try to see what I do with the cards... and after the 20th sleight of hands and a card revelation, they kill me by not understanding what happens (even if I do simple stuff).

and my goal here is to put together a 15 min routine that I can perform for adults -

A DVD of impromptu magic is available by Dirk Losander, Magic Anytime Anywhere. Simple off the cuff effects providing a 15 min impromptu show. Some of these effects can be worked in to mentalism.

My aims are to eventually be confident and secure enough with my material to present a comedy mentalism/illusional show. I started off in magic by wanting to impress my daughter but found very quickly i was impressing adults too! Now I'd like to move that forward. Eventually I also hope to be able to start developing tricks too.