When performing magic at school to friends and people I don't know, I always find myself having trouble knowing when to continue, when to show a trick again, and how to stop. When I finish showing one person or group of people something, they call other people to watch and ask me to do the same effect again(anyone else get this?). Should I repeat a trick for this "new audience?" Also, how do I transition between effects and end a performance? I always find myself in that awkward position where I've performed everything I wanted to show them and want to end it without being awkward.
Performing at School
- Thread starter JustinT
- Start date
The issues you are facing now are the main reasons why it is not recommended to perform in a school setting. I remember facing the same issues when I was in school and I fell into the same trap of repeating tricks for the same audience, with only a few new audience members thrown in. The reason why it is a bad idea to repeat your trick is because the people who ask you to repeat it are likely trying to figure out how you did it by wanting to watch it multiple times. And if you repeat it, they will blurt out "I saw what you did there!" or "Oh! That's how you did it! I won't tell anyone how you did it though". Those two things completely kill a performance for a new spectator that hasn't seen it before. If you like to perform at school, that's completely up to you. These are just a few of the problems you will face as you continue performing. As for wanting to stop, they are not in control of you. You decide when you want to stop. After all, you are volunteering to show them magic, and they aren't paying you to keep going. You decide when enough is enough. Hopefully this helps!
Hello JTangarang! My recommendation to you would be to never repeat the same trick for people who have seen it already( to many times) , because if you do it gets kind of boring. What I do in a situation like yours is I just act like i didn't hear whoever told me to do it again and i move on with a new trick. And you should stop whenever you feel like you should stop, just say something along the lines of sorry guys i have to go and walk away. This will leave them wanting more and coming back for more. I hope this helps and have a good day!
thats so funny you bring this up! Today I was performing in my school, and I did a trick the previous audience had seen, and then we had 2 new members or three. I was performing French Kiss by David Stone, and when I put the deck in my mouth to "roll up my sleeves," since a previous audience member had seen it, he said "oh is this the one where it comes out his mouth." Ruined it.... but the reactions were still awesome! My suggestion, just do it in a different manner. Or say, "ok i will show it to him at the end" that works for me sometimes. Or simply say I cant. I know its tough! To end, just say "thank you guys for your time I got to go now but thanks!" It works for me, hope this helped...
I know that it's hard to move on from a trick that people pressure you to do again, but either act like you didn't hear them, or make up an excuse as to why you can't do it again. As for stopping, the way that I find builds a reputation is if you perform an ultimate showstopper. Such as angle Z, two card monte, or something creative, like, control their card to the bottom, cop their card and have them shuffle, while they're doing that, breath on the card and stick it to your fore head. Things that are unexpected like that blow people away and build a reputation among people.