Diving Back into Performing Again!

CaseyRudd

Director of Operations
Team member
Jun 5, 2009
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Charleston, SC
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Hey guys! It's been quite a while since I have started a thread that wasn't a Saturday Night Contest (haha); let me explain why.

A few years ago, I was so enthralled by magic that I became obsessed with buying/learning new things constantly. I couldn't learn one effect and be satisfied with it; I had a need to keep learning, and learning, and learning. It sounds great on the surface - always wanting to learn more and more effects, but this is arguably one of the biggest problems you can find yourself in. In a nutshell, the more I learned the quicker I was burning myself out. It came to a point where I was no longer satisfied, and I did not have that giant passion for magic anymore. This ended up weaving its way into the performance side of things, so even performing magic felt like more of a chore than doing something fun. It was the biggest mistake I could have made, and if I could tell my younger self that he was being an absolute idiot, I most definitely would. I suddenly realized that it was in my best interest to take a break from buying/learning new magic, and performing magic (busking) in general.

Throughout my "hiatus" I noticed that my passion for magic was slowly rising, even though I was not buying/learning/performing the newest effect on the market. Deep in my heart I knew the passion was still there, and that one day it would be enough to bring me back into wanting to perform again. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? So throughout all this time working here at theory11, I have worked with and met some amazing people that continued to inspire me and bring me closer to the art of magic that I love. I was learning more, but in the right way. It was all completely natural, and it didn't feel like I was forcing myself to do anything. At this point, I knew it was a matter of time before I was back out there performing. I was getting the magic bug all over again!

Last week, I got contacted by my youth pastor's wife who runs the City Market here in Downtown Charleston. This is arguably one of the busiest parts of Downtown, and funny enough, this is where I used to perform years ago throughout the summer. She said she needed a performer, and wanted me to perform magic around the market venue. I reluctantly said yes, even though I have not done a full performance in years. I knew at some point I would have to dive back out there and try, just to see if it's something that I have been missing for all this time. I had no idea what I was going to do, what routines I would follow an effect with if they wanted to see more, whether or not I wanted to bring props, etc. I realized I was going into this almost blind, as I did not know what to expect the second I set foot in the venue. Before I left my house I gathered a normal deck, another deck for duplicates, a Blank Deck for Jay Sankey's Brainwash, a Sharpie, a large size handkerchief, my business cards, and a bucket for any tips I would receive. I had no idea how I was going to manage to perform for 3 hours using just these props, but I just had the attitude of winging it and seeing what goes.

I get to the venue and set up on one of the tables. I have no sign, just me holding a deck of cards with my tip bucket placed a few feet to the side. As the first few spectators start watching me do my tricks, I can tell that I am still a tad bit nervous and my card handling is okay at best. However, I still managed to easily get through the very basic tricks such as the card changing in the spectator's hands, ambitious card, sandwich plot, John Guastaferro's Mr. E. Takes a Stroll, card transpositions, a multiple selection routine ending with the long distance spinner. And of course, when I was performing for an attractive girl, I did Wayne's French Kiss (That's a no-brainer). Throughout the course of the evening I felt myself become more confident in my performance, and I found myself engaging with the audience much more. Their reactions kept getting better, and I began to see way more smiles and the looks on their faces just explode with amazement. I also noticed that every time someone stopped to check out some magic, more and more people began to crowd around to see. When I did French Kiss, everybody in the crowd could feel the tension grow stronger and stronger as I stepped closer to my spectator. When I unfolded her signed card from my mouth, the place LIT UP with roars and shouts, and the energy was just insane. I could definitely feel that rush and I was genuinely excited for everyone that they were able to witness something truly impossible. Fast forward to my last performance, I had built up a pretty large crowd. I had not performed Jay Sankey's Brainwash yet, so I decided to go for it and do a deck switch, just playing it cool and talking with the audience. I then proceeded to go into the effect and use that as my closer. The reaction I got was absolutely insane. Nobody saw it coming, and the entire crowd gave me a huge ovation as they were in pure disbelief and shock of what had just happened.

It was at that moment that I realized I missed out on something special by not performing for all these years. Just by seeing the reactions, I remembered just how special and powerful magic can be. As I packed up my things and began to walk away, I thought to myself: "Wow, I really just did that. That was so much fun!" I didn't expect to feel that way after I was done, but I did, and I am so glad that I answered yes. I just needed to get back out there and see what I was missing this whole time.

Now that I have the magic bug again, I am being way more careful this time around. I am already thinking of new presentation ideas, new ways of interacting with future audiences, what I can do to make each effect stronger, etc. It's what I should have done to begin with when I started, but we all learn from our mistakes somehow! If anything I am thankful for my mistake because I was able to come back for the right reasons, and become a stronger magician as a whole.

If you have ever been in this type of situation, what did you guys do to "come back"? What prompted you to pick magic back up again? It would be great to hear some of your experiences! I know what I just shared was a little bit all over the place, but I hope you were able to get the idea of what I was trying to say. :)
 
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Reactions: j.bayme
Aug 4, 2014
42
1
Your narration is awesome.
I'm no pro; I just pull off a few small tricks at school whenever I can. Haven't gotten bored of it yet :)
 
Dec 5, 2013
146
2
Boston
I recently experienced something like this. I used to spend all of my time focusing on learning and creating magic, but I didn't really have a place to perform that often. About a year ago, I got really interested in stand-up and comedy (not comedy-magic, just comedy), and a lot of my focus shifted towards that. Instead of writing notes down all day about magic ideas, I was writing notes down all day about things I though were funny. Then about a month ago, I did magic at a couple of charity functions. I had never gotten such a great response to my magic before. I got better reactions than I ever had before, and it rekindled my love of magic. Now I'm back to thinking about magic all the time. Now I'm trying to get a non-paid restaurant gig one night a week. This way I'll have a place to perform on a regular basis.

Thanks for posting this Casey
 
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