born to perform.

Magic is for entertainment and for fun. But when performing professional magic, you need to ask yourself "why am I doing this? Why should the audience CARE abut me or what I have to show them?"

An artist doesn't paint a picture "because they can", they paint it with emotion to tell the viewer a story. Sure you might have to look deep into it but it's there, embedded in the canvas. Leonardo DaVinci didn't paint the Last Supper because he had skills, it was because he wanted to tell a story.

Jump to 2010: Green Day concert. Green Day has been around for over 20 years. The other day they performed one of the best concerts I've ever seen. No song was just thrown into the mix because they wanted to. It all progressed and all fit together nicely and fluently. The lead singer even made a point to tell us...

Because we spent our hard earned money just to go see them, they should put their all into giving us the best show we will ever see.

That's what magic should be.

So now question for all of us is, "How?"

Personally, I like to present my magic with a story theme. Something that will (1) draw the audience in, (2) linger in their mind for the rest of the show and (3) tie everything that I do together.

BUT, it can't just be anything. Take Pen through dollar for example: Imagine having a spectator draw fangs on the president's mouth. This will justify a story that you can stab the pen right through the bill and then restore it. Sure, it's silly, but it's also plausible. "Vampires" are hot right now so it's culturally relevant.

A less extreme example: The Rising Card. What in your mind can cause a card to rise out of the deck so softly and majestically? NATURE. Suppose you told an audience you can grow playing cards. Just by placing a "card seed" in the deck, you can make the selection rise out of the deck like a sprouting flower. Little crazy premises like this give you a foundation to build a story.

Take a closer look at the effects you see on Penguin. Find the reason behind the effect. Find the reason you would want to tear and restore a bill. Find the reason you would want to make a card rise to the top. And build your story upon it.

I hope you explore these concepts and apply them to your own magic. It's a fun road to explore, if you can find it ;) Share your own examples in the comments below, I'd love to see them.

BORN TO PERFORM
-Mark