This past year in magic my knowledge and appreciation for magic has grown immensely; having only been in magic for just over a year, I have learned the basics from the basics. I've learned about the ethics of magic, the nature of the commercial aspect of magic and a decent who's who and what's what of magic.
However, these things aside, I have learned what for me is the most important aspect of magic: Its roots, the performing aspect. You see, I come from the performing arts industry, and as such I'm very familiar with acting and so forth. Nonetheless it has only been relatively recently have I realised just how close a link magic still holds with its circus and theatrical roots.
After all, when all is said and done, morals laid down and moves practiced until muscles groan, we go out there, and we entertain people. No matter what the road you've travelled, from the Royal Road to perhaps d+m's road less travelled, you end up in magic, and you end up amazing people, this is your job.
Magic is first and foremost about your spectators, and your audience's experiences. You see, when I first started learning magic from unscrupulous sources, I wanted to know because I thought they were cool. In other words: I wanted to learn them for me. I wanted to learn them for me. So I could laugh in amazement at the clever secrets. But this is not magic was intended for. This is what I have learned. Everything we do leads up to the spectator. And it's origins lie in the theatre which I love so much, and in the film, and in the acting. "J'aime la merveille qu'elle apporte". In my signature - French for "I love the marvel that it [magic] brings." But to whom does magic bring marvel? The spectator.
But performance has many other aspects, and it is only relatively recently that I have begun to appreciate this.
Just last night, I went to see Cirque du Soleil.
I spent the entire night with my mouth open, saying "What the HELL? How is that humanly possible? Holy ****!" Amazement is a wonderful thing. Was it amazing to the performers though? Probably not. They go to work every day to practice those moves. They don't enjoy that amazement just as we as magicians not only do not, but should not, such is our position in the performance. Rather, when the tricks are performed, when the lights go down and the performance is over, we accept the applause. Sometimes the screams. Always, if we do our job, the appreciation.
As I said before, theatre is so closely knit with magic today. Let me introduce a few topics I was thinking about yesterday; that only yesterday had I really begun to appreciate, not just know, I knew these were important parts of magic, but really appreciate their importance. I know these things from performing, but realising their practical applications in magic... That was an experience. That's what magic is, after all, no? An experience. Not just tricks as I originally thought of it; we may not feel amazement, but we feel an experience.
However, did I learn this all last night? No. I learned it from my experiences this past year. My foundations have allowed me to appreciate this, and Theory11 has been instrumental in helping me to appreciate these things. Only with this strong base, of the basics, of the morals, can I hope to appreciate the following things in the context of magic, for me, card magic mostly.
I have learned about teamwork and trust. Teamwork with who? With your cards. With your instruments of magic. It may sound silly, but it's true. You and the cards must work together. When we perform sleights, not just pull them off, but really perform them in the most economical way possible, that is teamwork because you facilitate the other, without which there would be no cards. Even if your magic branch is mentalism, then your mind, your words, your audience, they are all a part of your team. And you must trust them. Yesterday, in Cirque du Soleil, several gymnasts jumped backwards off a structure at least 15 metres tall into a waiting trampoline. That's trust. They knew it was there. They had to trust themselves, and their practice. And they had to trust their partners to catch them again. A girl, pirouetting off a bar ten metres in the air. Triple somersault, to be caught by their partner.
The importance of misdirection. In the first scene I described, I was looking on stage. Suddenly, the lights flashed on, and there were two trampolines there. What the ****? I didn't see them. There was a lay of smoke only a foot high. And from that smoke a performer managed to hide and jump out. The thing is also, misdirection does not necessarily mean "look right, and I'll do something left." It can be more subtle. It can mean, "Look at the top card, because then you won't focus on the bottom card changing. If we focus on only one part of something, we think we do but we do not in fact take in everything on every part - for example, a deck of cards.
Comedy. There are many debates in regards to comedy. This is my personal opinion, but from last night's performance, I have learned that comedy works - but that comedy is very very difficult. Comedy requires timing. Comedy requires precision. The performance would not have been remiss without comedy. But it simply offered another perspective; ditto for magic.
Recovery. During one phase, a girl missed a jump. She then missed the next jump. As a performer, I know the feeling - you feel absolutely gutted. Magicians who go out and perform will know this feeling also. But recovery is so important. You would not have known it from the smile on her face. You have to have trust, and discipline, and ultimately - when the lights went down on that phase, the audience loved her all the more - sending her their love, feeling for her, and screamed perhaps loudest for her, because she had failed. This would not have happened if she had broken her concentration, broken her professionalism. These things are of the utmost importance simply because of your role as a performer. And you know, it works, this is the best approach to a mistake.
Ease - The ease with which you perform. The thing is, things are more amazing if they appear more easy. A casual flick, rather than a complicated effort. More amazing than the moves themselves last night at Cirque was the grace and elegance and ease with which the performers performed. A woman in blue, spiralling down from the ceiling on ropes and with two strands of silk. So beautiful, so elegant, because she was at ease, and in control all the time. Control, the awareness of every aspect of performance. This is an element of performance at its best.
I have not learned all of this yesterday. It has been a continuing process; only through my past experiences have I been able to appreciate their place through yesterday's Cirque du Soleil. Not overnight - over a year, and Theory11 has been one of the main sources through which I have been able to fuel this process. More than its tricks, more than anything else, the community has built up this foundation and allowed me to appreciate all these elements and progress this far. Theory11 isn't for me a magic supplier; for me, it has more value in its community, from which it is easy to learn what a beginner should learn. From which it is easy to develop in the magician many people can be. Theory11 is here, it is active and it is no small aspect of the source of my interest in magic. As I said, it is a continuing process - and Theory11 sustained it.
In short, if there is one collective thing which I have learned that is most important this past year, it is this: The place of the magician, spectator and all the design elements of magic, culminated in the context of the performance of magic. When all is said and performed, this requiem will live in the memory of the spectator, because they should be our focus.