Since the last blog post I’ve attended two wonderful magic conferences – in Blackpool and South Tyneside. It’s a great opportunity to see some of the best magicians in the world perform and teach some of their own effects, as well as catch up with friends I only get to see at these conventions.
One of the featured performers at Tyneside was the brilliant Spanish card magician Dani DaOrtiz (pictured) – a student of the legendary Juan Tamariz. Dani, like his mentor, has an incredible knack of fooling his fellow magicians and some of the things I saw him do I simply can’t explain.
Having studied magic for over 25 years, this doesn’t happen very often these days – but when it does, it reminds me of why I became a magician in the first place: to be able to create a sense of amazement and wonder. There are many people who don’t like not being able to explain something and they find magic extremely frustrating. But to me, when I see an effect that I can’t reconstruct, it’s a pleasant, almost child-like experience.
A couple of weeks later, while filming a new DVD with Big Blind Media, I met Ryan Schlutz, from Orlando, Florida. He’s a very clever card magician whose work I really enjoy. Shortly after I arrived, he proceeded to fool me with several of his own magic creations. Like a couple of weeks earlier with DaOrtiz, I was astounded. Ryan is a very nice guy and kindly shared the routines with me later that evening. Not only is it nice to experience astonishment, as a working magician, it’s actually quite important to be reminded what it feels like to be a non-magician and remember why I started doing magic to begin with!
Iain Moran is a leading UK close-up magician, performing at corporate events, weddings and parties all over the world.
