SEPTEMBER 2009: That Feeling of Wonder

[AlfieWhattamMagic]

When I saw David Copperfield levitating.... It made my day...

 

[canadamagic]

I think for me was something simple compleatly unrelated to magic.

I live in B.C Canada, I moved here when I was 9 from North Carolina, biggest move of my life. We left the rest of my family living in N.C. Though year before last we had a huge family reunion. My family from all parts of N.C came, my family in South Dakoda also came to join us. We spent the week in a beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beach house was literally a ten step walk to the sound and behind the house was a minute walk to the actual ocean. On the last eave we were there we all went out into the sand to take pictures needless to say to remember the ocasion. When we were done we all just stood arms around each other looking out at the sound. The fish shooting through the water and the bugs cheerping in the background. It was right as the sun was going down, everything was glowing orange and yellow. We all just stood looking. It was one of the greatest feelings in my life, just being with my family that I never see anymore doing nothing. Everything just felt alright. That was my magical experience.

Great topic!

 

[Robert//Livingston]

Performing music is Magic to me. Being able to be very virtuostic and playing the drums or marimba in a way that seems impossible to people, with the applause and cheering at the finish is actually what made me want to perform magic. So whatever trick I do or vanish I accomplish I always try to be a virtuoso about it and make it seem like I do... the impossible.

 

[Justice]

this second part is optional - but how can we as magicians utilize that same energy and awe to create new effects and revitalize old ones? An example of this would be copperfield taking an old effect like snowstorm in china and pairing it with the real feeling as a child seeing snow for the first time. this inspiration also applies to cardistry - I know guys like Andrei get inspiration from the X-Games, seeing movement and fluidity in motion and then applying that to playing cards. inspiration and execution creates art.

Not every group of people is alike, we are talking about connecting with people (we don't know) on a emotional level really fast, that's why we can't perform the same trick with the same patter over and over again for our audiences.

We have to develop our intuition, we need to become good listeners in order to create magic, a little detail in what the spectator is saying could be the key to adapt our routine and magic into something that they can relate to.

We are pretty egocentric, most of the time during performance it's all about us, about THE THINGS THAT WE CAN DO, that kinda creates a distance from the spectator and it limits us from the possibility of connecting with them, of creating magic.

Magic is not about the things we can do, it's about the things that we can make them perceive.

So to resume all this I can say that we need to be aware of every spectator necessity and that through that necessity we can find a way to connect with them and give them at least a shot momment of amazement and magic.

 

[Mat La Vore]

Came across this video today and it made me think of this thread Dan started. Just wanted to share it. Astonishing how technology can change someone's life so drastically like this. You can see that feeling of wonder all over the kid's face as he hears sound for the first time.

 

[anish233]

It's hard to pick one truly magical moment that has happened to me. I have many. But one that sticks out to me, still makes my heart feel like it's going to burst to this day.

Last year, I worked as a resident assistant in a nursing home. It's most definitely the hardest job I've had thus far. Not only was the work hard, but getting attached to the residents, and then a lot of the times have them pass away, was extremely hard on me.
There was this one lady, Mary.. she had severe Alzheimer's Disease. It broke my heart. Her children would come to visit her and she would have no idea who they were. They frightened her in fact. Her husband even stopped coming because of that.
Most days she would just stare out her window. She hadn't spoken in two years.
Well, one night I was working third shift and I get a help call on my phone coming from Mary's room. I rush in there and she's crying.
She asks me where her children, Jake and Amy are. I was beyond startled that she was speaking and even more shocked that she could recall their names.
I tried to calm her down but she was relentless on talking to her children.

So I ran to the office and found their phone numbers so she could call them. All she said was, " I love you so much and I will miss you".
(by this time two other RA's came in and we were all in shock)
She calmed down after that.. went to sleep.. and never woke up.

That was one of the most surreal moments I've ever had.
I could try to explain the feeling had/have but it wouldn't give it justice.
That was true magic to me.

wow... truely heartwrenching and heartbreaking at the sametime..

"she calmed down after that.. went to sleep.. and never woke up".. chills down my spine.

 

[anish233]

I think for me was something simple compleatly unrelated to magic.

I live in B.C Canada, I moved here when I was 9 from North Carolina, biggest move of my life. We left the rest of my family living in N.C. Though year before last we had a huge family reunion. My family from all parts of N.C came, my family in South Dakoda also came to join us. We spent the week in a beach house in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beach house was literally a ten step walk to the sound and behind the house was a minute walk to the actual ocean. On the last eave we were there we all went out into the sand to take pictures needless to say to remember the ocasion. When we were done we all just stood arms around each other looking out at the sound. The fish shooting through the water and the bugs cheerping in the background. It was right as the sun was going down, everything was glowing orange and yellow. We all just stood looking. It was one of the greatest feelings in my life, just being with my family that I never see anymore doing nothing. Everything just felt alright. That was my magical experience.

Great topic!

+1.. tfs

seeing family after a long time is truely a magical feeling... its like a certain kind of high.. i guess its that feeling of "safety".. atleast for me.

sometimes that "safe" feeling is magical... sort of like being a child again, feeling ''innocent" again.

 

[anish233]

Not every group of people is alike, we are talking about connecting with people (we don't know) on a emotional level really fast, that's why we can't perform the same trick with the same patter over and over again for our audiences.

We have to develop our intuition, we need to become good listeners in order to create magic, a little detail in what the spectator is saying could be the key to adapt our routine and magic into something that they can relate to.

We are pretty egocentric, most of the time during performance it's all about us, about THE THINGS THAT WE CAN DO, that kinda creates a distance from the spectator and it limits us from the possibility of connecting with them, of creating magic.

Magic is not about the things we can do, it's about the things that we can make them perceive.

So to resume all this I can say that we need to be aware of every spectator necessity and that through that necessity we can find a way to connect with them and give them at least a shot momment of amazement and magic.

very very well said ...

 

[anish233]

Firstly I must say...

This is the BEST Topic EVER.. iv gotten an opputunity to read such lovely stories you people have shared, reading them is already some Magic !..

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When i met my Grandmother after not seeing her for 4 years.. and she cried seeing me... that was MAGIC. It's like a million emotions ran down for both herself and Me... and then I cried, probably after years and years... It was just this feeling of pain, love, delight, shock and.. and.. Magic... so i believe in other words, Love is Magic...
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[arsalngee404]

Personally I find that I am struck by the wonder of existence on on a pretty much daily basis, and the more I learn, the more wonderful it all gets.

The only way to lose the wonder is to let it be taken from you, by not being true to yourself.

2 years ago

 

[malinamartis]

Excellent, thanks for sharing your own feelings with us..keep posting.