Hey everyone. I am a close up artist however yesterday for the first time I performed some stage magic for people at work in a talent show. Although I won the talent show, I was very nervous and I feel my routine needs a lot of work. You will be able to see I am very nervous, I drop things, things don't go right, my routine still needs work etc etc. However I guess that's what the Café is for, to get advice. You don't need to tell me what mistakes I've made, I watchced the video many times and have seen I made many, but is there anything you can add...ie what I should add to the routine or take out or do to make it flow nicer. Please go easy, this is my first stage performance..and although in rehearsal everything goes well, this isn't always true on stage. Even though after its over something doesn't go as planned, it was quite funny. I will take this video down soon because I don't want it to be up forever for everyone to see.I just want the Café community to see it and give some feedback. Thank you.

Durgy

http://youtube.com/watch?v=30ahZVM5LfU

edit: ok I uploaded it as a private video but changed it to be public so anyone can see it however for some reason youtube still considers it a private video? link doesn't work...perhaps it'll work in a little bit. anyone have experience with this?

I can tell you put a lot of time into your performance. But I'm sorry to say it needs a lot more time for you to run it smoothly.

To me it looks like you have two options. #1 is being a comedy magician. I like how the audience was laughing at your mistakes. They probably thought you did it purposely. You may want to put soom planned mistakes in the act to get them to laugh more. And dress a little goofy. Maybe you are gifted into being a comedy magician.

#2, if you do not want no comedy in your act, you have a lot more to practice. You will have to get rid of being too nervous and focus more on the sleights. Your outfit does not seem right. Before practicing the whole act, try practing in segments until each section is smooth. Record yourself on video while practicing so you can see what the audience sees.

Thanks dynamike.

Yeah I did record myself before the show to see what it looks like, but I guess just performing for the first time on stage puts my stomach in knots. Im fine with close up, I have my saturday night restaurant gig tonight I will have no problems entertaining the crowds but stage is a whole other planet. I will defintely take your advice into consideration...naturally I am a goofy guy, perhaps you are right, make the performance a little more goofy, with more of "me" in it...as opposed to trying to do a serious routine.

Durgy,

Good job, bro. I commend you for taking the plunge on stage. The audience seemed to like you, I enjoyed it, and hey, you won! Keep practicing, and by all means, keep performing! My sincere best wishes to you!

Ron

Hey Ron, thanks for the wishes, I'll defenitely keep practicing.

One question based on dynamikes comments. Saying my outfit doesn't seem right doesn't really help...Why doesn't it seem right? What's wrong with it or what would you change? Do I have to wear tails in order to be recognized as a magician? Help me help myself. Thanks

Durgy

Honestly for you first stage show, not bad. Couple of quick suggestions.

The white silk hanging out of your pocket has to go. It just looks weird, besides, it will be much more impressive to produce. I understand why you need to go to that pocket (without going into great details) but the candle can be picked up while putting away the cane. Put the silk around your neck, magically produce, but not hanging out of your pocket.

If you are going to produce that many candles, perhaps a candelabra to display them. Something to hold the cane as well.

I would recommend changing the music. Its old and every magician in the world has used it. If not change it, at least work on the effects happening on the high points in the music.

Billard balls moves were fine, just slow down. Each move should have been more deliberate. Whether it was nerves or just too fast, it needs to slow down.

Once you become more comfortable with the tricks, stage and movements, you can start working on fine tuning it..Finding a theme, working on transitions, reasons why things are happening, etc.

Good luck

Durgy,
Good Job.

For your first stage performance I wasn’t expecting a flawless routine. I liked how you didn’t get flustered when you dropped your prop and made it into a funny situation for the audience. Your audience seemed to be pulling for you. These types of venues are great to perform. The reality is that when you are getting paid the audience is not so quick to be forgiving, but for now that is something down the road you will need to worry about.

Suggestion:
1) White scarf hanging out of pocket seems out of place because as a spectator my eyes keep looking back at the white scarf as you did the first effect. As Erich suggested make the scarf appear instead of taking it out of your pocket.
2) I would suggest contrasting colors with the scarf and candlestick.
3) Give reason for transitioning from fire to cane to balls to cards and to dove. As a viewer I enjoyed each effect but felt I was being led down a disjointed road to the finale.

Your clothing did not bother me since you were performing this for your work friends. These days your outfit is considered formal attire at many businesses. As I know, when I dress casual not much is expected from me but if I am in a business suite most people expect nothing but professionalism. So, dressing for the situation is important.

Overall, Good job.
~John

I thought you did a great job! Especially for a first time on stage!

I agree about the music, that's got to change.

I also agree with John's suggestion of providing a certain kind of reasoning between effects, so that you have a sort of transition. It makes the act flow nicely and gives it a more wholesome feel.

I personally thought that your clothing was fine, but perhaps some may consider it to be informal as you did not wear a tie.

Oh, and don't worry about props dropping, that's just gravity reminding you it's still working.

Take care brother,

Logan

P.S. My fave. part was when your dove took off at the end, thankfully it didn't do so during performance time!

Thanks everyone!

This is the kind of feedback I need. For example, I will defintely wear the scarf around my neck and perhaps steal the candle when I put the cane away as Erich suggested. And yes, the candlebra will make sense if I am producing 3 candles.

It is defintely true that if one day I plan on being able to perform a similar act for paying customers, it will need to be a lot more improved. Again thanks for all the constructive criticism. I will take any other advice or comments you can give.

It has been suggested I need to make it flow a little bit more. ie. why am I going from cane to candles to balls to cards etc. Can anyone give an example of how I might try to make it flow a little nicer?

Again thanks for everything, this is why I love the Café!

btw, hopefully everyone got a kick out of the end. hehe.

Durgy

The candle ugot from the scarf, then you dissappeared it and made it appear again, that made it less magical I thought. you must believe ur self that you really are plucking the cards from the air

any ways well done, that was some good work you did for your first time

Pretty good for a first try. Really good start.

My critiques.

Music is overused, but it is a good peice of music notheless.

Not enough eye contact with the audience. I found myself looking where you were looking and was expecting certain things (I watched with my 8 yr old son and he pointed this out).

The card productions were a little boring. Diminishing returns happened. The number of time single cards that were produced in the same manner is not so much the problem but the speed or lack thereof is. Pick up the pace and it should be more exciting.

The dove production was a little odd. Need to work on making that smoother.

You did seem to have a certain rapport with the audience which was good.

Need a better way to clean up the cards at the end. It kinda was a little awkward waiting for people to give the final round of applause.

Good job for your first effort on the stage. I think there were WAY too many cards produced the exact same way. Either vary techniques, or just produce fewer cards. Your back is to the audience for too long also. The dove steal was a little obvious, and it looked like you had a problem opening the harness. Those are small problems that will probably get better the more you do the act.

I think you need to wear something a little flashier. The music that you used has been used by 100's of magicians. Is it from a royalty free source? I'd probably go for something that really suits your personality. Of course you shouldn't use something that is copyrighted. You might want to try a small local band in your area. My new promotional DVD will have music by my friend's funk band. There are also several computer programs that make it pretty easy to compose your own music, even if you've never played an instrument before.

Good luck!

Yes the music is over used and I like it aswell. As a magician the entire time that song played all I could picture was greg frewins Dove act

All I could picture was Cirque du Soleil, but that's me.

Ah yes, Cirque.

For your first shot - great job. You clearly spent a lot of time practicing and the audience enjoyed the show.

Does it need work? Of course. So does my show. And I've been doing it for 6 years.

Just keep trying and DO NOT let yourself get discouraged. You've clearly put more work and effort into this act than most people *cough*here*cough would.

Robert

Good job. Took guts and you entertained your audience. I do agree with Cheety about the candle and what others said about the cards. But you did some things well and I can see a lot of potential in your program. Keep at it.
~Keith

Durgy,
Vinnie Laraway just posted this link on a great performance from Luchen who is a Café member. I hope this helps.
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......tart=0#4

~John

Hey, yeah I just saw that video of luchen.

I posted in the thread mentioned above but I'll say it here as well. I sure hope my act can be at the same level as Luchen's one day...but until that day, I will keep practicing. Thanks everyone for the positive attitude. To be the honest, I did spend time trying to figure out how to put the act together, what to do in it. What should go where and when. And I will never forget my first performance, ever. Again thanks for all your comments, I will take all the help I can get and feel free to PM me if you would like to say anything specific.

Perhaps one day I can post a link of my act once it's improved and I'll post this act again and hopefully I can show you a big difference.

Durgy