Lotta bit of context here. And I'm excitable, so if you were going to sit down with your favorite brandy in a snifter, put that junk in a water bottle to go because we're running!
So a bit ago, my daughter wanted to do a magic trick for Anna and Elsa at Disneyland. She has a trick where you take a snowflake pendant and you magically reattach it onto a chain. Easy. Simple. Fun. Fair. Good? Cool! We're off!
I was going to have her do 'Oil and Water' instead. Or some form of ACAAN; but, you know...
Anyway, we practiced at her own pace. And it was going all right. But as the day approached closer, she got cold feet and wanted me to do it instead. We talked things over a bit and she was very insistent on me doing so.
Oh boy.
I know it's one thing for a little girl to do a magic trick for a Disney princess or two is one thing. Goofy dad doing that is another. But magic IS our thing together and I knew this would be something that would make her happy. And with that in mind, I was off into making a routine for Queen Elsa and Princess Anna.
Little thing, for you guys who have never been to Disneyland, Disney World, etc. You don't get a whole helluva lot of time with 'face' characters--AT ALL. And reasonably so, they visit A METRIC TON of people on a daily basic from all over the place going to see them. So if I was going to do anything like this, it had to be FAST! So, fortunately, this pendant trick is reasonably quick. About a weeks worth of time, I had the script complete and ready to go and well under a minute. Assuming there was enough time after the rest of my family do the meet-and-greet, I would go up and explain that my daughter got a necklace from Arendelle, but the pendant keeps coming off the chain. So I would have Elsa 'freeze' the pendant to the chain which'll fuse it all together. I have Elsa hold her hands in front of her, we do a three count. Pendant goes on chain. Whatever happens after that happens.
Easy, quick, RELEVANT. Big emphasis on relevant (especially the props, it's an actual 'Frozen' pendant), and for the daughter!
Oh, and keep in mind, I haven't performed for anyone outside the family or the dog. So this would be going from hometown to big leagues in a hurry.
So the day actually happens, I have everything ready. But I am not going to push it in case of time constraints. My family does the meet and greet, everything goes well. I see an opportunity and take one step forward towards the Queen and Princess. ONE STEP! Then someone outs me as WANTING to do a MAGIC TRICK.
OH NO! No no no no no no no no! NO! Nuh uh! No! NO!
I hear this and I immediately almost bail. Primarilly because what I was going to do didn't need any sort of introduction--or OUTING. I had the routine set! It didn't require anything except me walking up and going to work. But having to start being IMMEDIATELY outed? Holy balls we're off to a rough start. So now I'm thrown in AND committed. At least there's time now.
So I go up and do EVERYTHING ELSE as planned. I positioned myself for angles and readjusted as Princess Anna stepped in, as well as my daughter and family came by. Adjusted appropriately.
I have Elsa position her hands where I needed them. I had a bit of trouble explaining HOW to have them positioned. She explained that she normally doesn't use her powers, but will use them just a LITTLE bit. So we do a three count, I do my thing, and the necklace is restored. And I THINK I did everything the trick requires me to do as far as 'clean up' goes. I can't remember this detail.
Now, here's the thing. Reactions are positive--as best as they could be. But here's my conundrum, and I knew that this sort of thing would be running through my head. Anna was into it and I think it confused Elsa--or she was trying to figure it out. Gears were turning pretty fast. But again, I MAY have flashed twice during the whole thing, I know once at the very beginning positioning Elsa's hands, and MAYBE during cleanup because I can't remember that detail for some reason--so I'm just going to count it.
I would find out later that I did pretty good. My speaking was on point, but my hands were shaking REALLY bad. I noticed the hand shaking once, but I was busy trying by hardest to keep eye contact. I mean, you can only rehearse SO MUCH, and then the whole scenario changes when you actually get there. But I believe all the mental practice of running through the speaking parts and practice of the trick itself helped. Practice always helps.
But the nerves. Oh man. This was my first time performing ANY magic with a script and a routine to someone else that wasn't family just changed the whole thing. I know that SHOULDN'T change much. But it does. Plus, I know what I did in THAT SCENARIO was completely unorthodox. But I did it at the request of my daughter and I'm not regretting that at all.
So, I learned a few things, got a neat story for my first magic performance experience, daughter was happy that I did it. I did the good father thing; no regrets. I was expecting my first performance under quite different circumstances, but hey, it happened.
So a bit ago, my daughter wanted to do a magic trick for Anna and Elsa at Disneyland. She has a trick where you take a snowflake pendant and you magically reattach it onto a chain. Easy. Simple. Fun. Fair. Good? Cool! We're off!
I was going to have her do 'Oil and Water' instead. Or some form of ACAAN; but, you know...
Anyway, we practiced at her own pace. And it was going all right. But as the day approached closer, she got cold feet and wanted me to do it instead. We talked things over a bit and she was very insistent on me doing so.
Oh boy.
I know it's one thing for a little girl to do a magic trick for a Disney princess or two is one thing. Goofy dad doing that is another. But magic IS our thing together and I knew this would be something that would make her happy. And with that in mind, I was off into making a routine for Queen Elsa and Princess Anna.
Little thing, for you guys who have never been to Disneyland, Disney World, etc. You don't get a whole helluva lot of time with 'face' characters--AT ALL. And reasonably so, they visit A METRIC TON of people on a daily basic from all over the place going to see them. So if I was going to do anything like this, it had to be FAST! So, fortunately, this pendant trick is reasonably quick. About a weeks worth of time, I had the script complete and ready to go and well under a minute. Assuming there was enough time after the rest of my family do the meet-and-greet, I would go up and explain that my daughter got a necklace from Arendelle, but the pendant keeps coming off the chain. So I would have Elsa 'freeze' the pendant to the chain which'll fuse it all together. I have Elsa hold her hands in front of her, we do a three count. Pendant goes on chain. Whatever happens after that happens.
Easy, quick, RELEVANT. Big emphasis on relevant (especially the props, it's an actual 'Frozen' pendant), and for the daughter!
Oh, and keep in mind, I haven't performed for anyone outside the family or the dog. So this would be going from hometown to big leagues in a hurry.
So the day actually happens, I have everything ready. But I am not going to push it in case of time constraints. My family does the meet and greet, everything goes well. I see an opportunity and take one step forward towards the Queen and Princess. ONE STEP! Then someone outs me as WANTING to do a MAGIC TRICK.
OH NO! No no no no no no no no! NO! Nuh uh! No! NO!
I hear this and I immediately almost bail. Primarilly because what I was going to do didn't need any sort of introduction--or OUTING. I had the routine set! It didn't require anything except me walking up and going to work. But having to start being IMMEDIATELY outed? Holy balls we're off to a rough start. So now I'm thrown in AND committed. At least there's time now.
So I go up and do EVERYTHING ELSE as planned. I positioned myself for angles and readjusted as Princess Anna stepped in, as well as my daughter and family came by. Adjusted appropriately.
I have Elsa position her hands where I needed them. I had a bit of trouble explaining HOW to have them positioned. She explained that she normally doesn't use her powers, but will use them just a LITTLE bit. So we do a three count, I do my thing, and the necklace is restored. And I THINK I did everything the trick requires me to do as far as 'clean up' goes. I can't remember this detail.
Now, here's the thing. Reactions are positive--as best as they could be. But here's my conundrum, and I knew that this sort of thing would be running through my head. Anna was into it and I think it confused Elsa--or she was trying to figure it out. Gears were turning pretty fast. But again, I MAY have flashed twice during the whole thing, I know once at the very beginning positioning Elsa's hands, and MAYBE during cleanup because I can't remember that detail for some reason--so I'm just going to count it.
I would find out later that I did pretty good. My speaking was on point, but my hands were shaking REALLY bad. I noticed the hand shaking once, but I was busy trying by hardest to keep eye contact. I mean, you can only rehearse SO MUCH, and then the whole scenario changes when you actually get there. But I believe all the mental practice of running through the speaking parts and practice of the trick itself helped. Practice always helps.
But the nerves. Oh man. This was my first time performing ANY magic with a script and a routine to someone else that wasn't family just changed the whole thing. I know that SHOULDN'T change much. But it does. Plus, I know what I did in THAT SCENARIO was completely unorthodox. But I did it at the request of my daughter and I'm not regretting that at all.
So, I learned a few things, got a neat story for my first magic performance experience, daughter was happy that I did it. I did the good father thing; no regrets. I was expecting my first performance under quite different circumstances, but hey, it happened.
