Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Art Works in 2010!

Happy New Year! Hope you're feeling inspired to do great, truly artistic magic this year.

I've been giving lots of thought to continually finding ways to make my magic seem more spontaneous and natural. I find what it really comes down to is simply being in the moment. Paying attention. Paying attention to the spectators, paying attention to your surroundings, paying attention to how you feel in each moment. And acting accordingly. Even if your magic is tightly scripted, and you perform it with the same wording every time, how you deliver that script should absolutely NOT be the same... EVER.

While you may in fact find elements of your delivery and timing that tend to work the best, and you tend to deliver them more or less the same each time, nonetheless, you must remain open to what feels most appropriate in each moment when you are actually performing. There can and should be at least subtle (and often not so subtle) differences in each performance.

What we're really talking about is communication. The root of the word "communicate" means "to have union with", to connect with another human being. Are you connecting with real people on a real, human level, or are you simply "talking at" your "spectators". If you're simply following your script, on autopilot, with the exact same delivery every time, that's what it amounts to.

While this is especially true of close up magic, it's also true of all other types of performance, even "silent" magic performed to music. Are you "present"? Are you in the moment? Are you paying attention and relating to your audience as real human beings, and not just "spectators"?

Keep this in mind next time you perform.

And hey, here's an update on the Art Works campaign and follow up to NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman's visit to Peoria. ArtsPartners just announced the release of this new video highlighting the arts in Central Illinois. (Included below.) And this weekend I'm attending a meeting of arts advocates to begin putting forward the participation and "working together" that Chairman Landesman suggested.

Art works!

Labels: , ,