Allan Luu's Tips on How to hit the street.

A

AllanLuu

Banned
Aug 31, 2007
545
1
32
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
How to Hit the Streets
By, Allan Luu


Now I know that everyone that is performing magic right now wants to start performing to people on the streets and I am here to elp you conquer this fear over performing. Just before I go on I can not say this enough but make sure you have practiced and put the time into the effect before you perform it, that will make performing on the streets just that much easier.


My first peice of advice for you is to start performing is to start off performing to friends and family. This wus my first step before I started performing on the street because it helped me out a bit with conquering this fear of performing on the street. This helped out when ever I wus performing I would just pretend tey are my family or friends and take it back to that state of mind and pretend I am just performing to my friends and/or family.


So by now you should be comfortable performing infront of your friends and/or family. Now it is time to start getting ready for the street's and strangers but before that I suggest picking up a few books or DVD's on how to manage your audience and how to pick the right spectator. I can't exactly recomend any good DVD's or books because I have learned from a bunch of different resources and one good one is Street Theatre.


Ok, you have so far learned how to perform infront of people (friends and family) and manage your performance so all goes well. Now I think you are just abut ready to go perform. The on thing I have to say is to be ambitious and just get out there. It will be intimidating but slowly and surely you will be oer it know seemingly no time at all. Now, when I wus performing on the streets for the first time I did not know how to pick my spectators so alot of the spectators were really mean, rude and basicly you could call them a heckler. After time I learned how to pick my spectators and who to ask if they would like to see some magic. I developed one little guideline I follow and that is to pick spectators that are happy and joyful (ex. a group of people looking like they want to have a day on the town or somone that is maybe just out for a nice walk). I try to avoid the people who look like they are in a bad mood or in a rush (ex. somone that is in a rush or somone with there head downlow). No matter how much I love performing and would love to se you all perform but asking these people or performing to those type will just bring your self-esteam and make you feel that performing on the streets on the streets isn't fun but when it really is it i just on how you find your spectators.


You are set, with these basic guidelines you will be able to start performing on the streets with a basic knowloedge and I am sure after expereince you will know hat works and what doesn't work for you out on the streets. I wish all you magicians starting to hit the streets with the best of luck and continue to bringing the magic to people.

Other Advice

I would like to say, for a while it's a total, ok, I'm going to do it....some time today... ok in 5 mins.... ok 10 mins.... etc etc.

You really have to push yourself into the position of having to perform, when I wanted more performance time, my school had a "spring festival" so I said instantly I would love to have a booth, so they signed me up and I had to be there, so I went totally reluctantly, and I neded up doing great. You have to convince yourself that you'll do fine, and you will. As long as you know your well practiced enough, and feel comfortable talking and performing sleights at the same time (a big give away that your well practiced), when you can do that without messing up, without hesitation, then your ready.

So it's a huge hill to climb, but once you get to the top, it's easy cruisn'.

P.S. I couldn't find a place to put this in the actual essay so I thought I would make this.

Closing Notes

Thank you for reading my post and I hope it helped you out and maybe gave you some useful and helpful tips for the beginner and maybe the advance. If you ave anything you would like to add just hit me with a pm. I also enjoy reading everyone's reply's so hope to hear from you all soon. This is also a theory 11 exclusive :).

P.S. You will see more of these around here soon enough from me some better some worse.
 
Avancer

Avancer

Sep 1, 2007
667
2
Toronto, Canada
www.eraticfx.com
great addition, nice to see some thoughtful articles, great idea and a good read. I agree with performing for freinds/family first, it's a great way to start and build up confidence and find which flaws you still have.
 
A

AllanLuu

Banned
Aug 31, 2007
545
1
32
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Avancer said:
great addition, nice to see some thoughtful articles, great idea and a good read. I agree with performing for freinds/family first, it's a great way to start and build up confidence and find which flaws you still have.
Click to expand...

This is a new forum and a new found hoem for me I must leave my mark in it so people don't just think of me as some person just posting.
 
Dana Hocking

Dana Hocking

Aug 30, 2007
195
0
Very nice post AllanLuu. I'm really starting to think that we're gonna need an "essays" category on this forum.

To give you a preview of some of the advice Wayne touches on in Distortion, I would say to steer clear of the brute force method of performing street magic (you know, when you just go up to everyone you see and ask if they want to see something until someone says "yes"). Go somewhere that is full of people enjoying themselves. For example, a farmer's market if your city has one, Pier 39 (where Distortion was filmed), or any other place like that.

Then, just relax. Hang out and enjoy the event. Bring a friend and make performing a few tricks while you're there a secondary goal. Wait for the right group of people who are smiling and look like they're having fun. Approach them in a friendly way, look like you're having fun as well (because you should be), and introduce yourself. Take the time to listen to their introductions and then let them know that you're a magician and that you'd like to show them something incredible that won't take up much of their time.

People want to see magic. That's our natural response. We're curious. But that response can get overridden when a stranger asks if we want to see something. By approaching people who already look like they're having fun with their friends and by letting them know that you won't take up much of their time, you give their natural curiosity a chance to kick in.

Wayne does an incredible job at this. Everywhere he performs, his presence is magnetic. People just crowd around him because of the way he handles himself. If you own any of his DVDs, consider re-watching the performance section and analyzing what works about the way he performs.

Dana
 
A

AllanLuu

Banned
Aug 31, 2007
545
1
32
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Dana Hocking said:
Very nice post AllanLuu. I'm really starting to think that we're gonna need an "essays" category on this forum.

To give you a preview of some of the advice Wayne touches on in Distortion, I would say to steer clear of the brute force method of performing street magic (you know, when you just go up to everyone you see and ask if they want to see something until someone says "yes"). Go somewhere that is full of people enjoying themselves. For example, a farmer's market if your city has one, Pier 39 (where Distortion was filmed), or any other place like that.

Then, just relax. Hang out and enjoy the event. Bring a friend and make performing a few tricks while you're there a secondary goal. Wait for the right group of people who are smiling and look like they're having fun. Approach them in a friendly way, look like you're having fun as well (because you should be), and introduce yourself. Take the time to listen to their introductions and then let them know that you're a magician and that you'd like to show them something incredible that won't take up much of their time.

People want to see magic. That's our natural response. We're curious. But that response can get overridden when a stranger asks if we want to see something. By approaching people who already look like they're having fun with their friends and by letting them know that you won't take up much of their time, you give their natural curiosity a chance to kick in.

Wayne does an incredible job at this. Everywhere he performs, his presence is magnetic. People just crowd around him because of the way he handles himself. If you own any of his DVDs, consider re-watching the performance section and analyzing what works about the way he performs.

Dana
Click to expand...


Have a few of waynes DVD's and I will check them out later when I got some free time, I always notcie that when I see him in his preview for a new trick he always has a big croud.

I guesse Wayne is a people's person, then again, shouldn't every magician be?
 
A

AllanLuu

Banned
Aug 31, 2007
545
1
32
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Hey guys, first off sorry for the double post but I just had an idea.

What about a contest for the beginners on the forum, something liek a prize every month for the person that shows the most growth in the street performance. the upload a video a week and we anaklyze there progress and the person who grows the most will win somthing.

But instead of making thuis a one time thing why not make it somthing we do every other month or somthing?
 
S

SilkenRazors

Sep 1, 2007
11
0
Personally I've found quite a few places that people tend to really want to see some magic.

First and foremost, outside the movie theater. You typically get a lot of teenagers from 13-16 or so. Although the males sometimes tend to heckle you in order to impress their girlfriends, they're easy to deal with as long as you include them in the performance and not try to "alpha male" the situation.

Another place I perform a lot is in the shopping district of town on the weekends. People there are having a good time shopping, and since they're already in the mood to spend money, my tips sometimes outweigh the cost of gas to get there. :)

Basically, find somewhere that people are either waiting for entertainment to start since they're already in the mindset to be entertained, or somewhere that they are enjoying themselves already.

The Farmers Market idea is fantastic. I've never performed at the one in Kansas City, but I assume it would be a good place to do it, and with a little set up a "bill in anything" routine would be a blast.
 
A

AllanLuu

Banned
Aug 31, 2007
545
1
32
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
SilkenRazors said:
Personally I've found quite a few places that people tend to really want to see some magic.

First and foremost, outside the movie theater. You typically get a lot of teenagers from 13-16 or so. Although the males sometimes tend to heckle you in order to impress their girlfriends, they're easy to deal with as long as you include them in the performance and not try to "alpha male" the situation.

Another place I perform a lot is in the shopping district of town on the weekends. People there are having a good time shopping, and since they're already in the mood to spend money, my tips sometimes outweigh the cost of gas to get there. :)

Basically, find somewhere that people are either waiting for entertainment to start since they're already in the mindset to be entertained, or somewhere that they are enjoying themselves already.

The Farmers Market idea is fantastic. I've never performed at the one in Kansas City, but I assume it would be a good place to do it, and with a little set up a "bill in anything" routine would be a blast.
Click to expand...

Bill in ruit would be great for the farmers market seeing as how there is alot of fruit and stuff like that.
 
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