Nigel Francis Magic |
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I specialise in Close up Magic, which as the name implies, is performed up close and personal.
Many people are familiar with seeing magic performed on TV, but to see it performed live and inches away from your face is another experience entirely. Even as a seasoned professional, I still go to magic conventions all over the country, so I myself, can see it performed live.
Do you remember as a child sitting in front of the television watching Paul Daniels and his Guests perform their stuff, I do.
After this series finished several years went by without any magic being broadcast on the television, then a few years ago all of a sudden we got "Penn and Teller", "David Copperfield", "Paul Zenon", "Derren Brown", "Monkey Magic", "The Masked Magician", "Undercover Magic", "Max Magic", "David Blaine" and of course more recently the new series on channel 4 "Dirty Tricks".
This has once again catapulted the "Art of Magic" very much back into the public eye.
Many commercial organisations across the country now are hiring magicians as a "Matter of Course" for their Banquets, Trade Shows Fund Raisers and Product Launches.
They are fully aware it is a great ice breaker and most importantly it gets people talking, which as a result ensures deals get done in the business world.
The number of people hiring Magicians for wedding receptions and private parties has literally skyrocketed over the last few years.
Of all the various types of entertainment out there people are realising that the "Art of Magic" is not only highly fashionable at the moment, but brings the highest level of direct and sustained interest, providing a unique and very memorable entertainment experience for their guests.
Magic has been a constant feature of my life since the age of 12. As all children do I went through numerous phases trying various sports and hobbies but of all the things I did. I never lost interest in Magic.
I was going through the fishing phase at the time, which lasted a whole three days by the way, when I went on a day trip to London with my mother.
On arrival I was given a choice. Either I could go with my Mother for the day to visit some elderly friends of hers in Finsbury Park, whom I distinctly remembered from a previous visit smelt of mothballs and looked like they had been mummified, or I could get a Travelcard and go walkabout in London by myself.
After considerable deliberation lasting at least 5 seconds (1 Second for the decision itself and 4 seconds to make it look like I had arrived at this decision responsibly) I decided on the latter option.
I first accompanied my Mother to the location in Finsbury Park so I knew where she would be and promptly legged it before my Mother had time to realise how totally irresponsible it was to send her 12 year old son around London on his own.
On my way to the Underground station at Finsbury Park I came across a fishing tackle shop and went in to purchase a reel (fishing line) for the makeshift rod I had acquired the week before. This would prove to be the start of something that would follow me for the rest of my life.
I vividly remember seeing the shop keeper hand me my change but it was not there. Once again he handed me my change but this time placed it on the glass counter. I heard it clink on the glass but once again it was not there. What followed was a stunning display of digital dexterity with coins as they moved from one hand to another changing from copper to silver and finally growing in size to a jumbo 3 inch diameter coin, which I would never forget
The difference between this and a magic trick in the normal sense of the word is that a trick usually requires a hidden gimmick/gaff or secret of some kind to achieve the objective. Sleight of hand does not. You are the gimmick and you use the principals of Psychology and Misdirection to achieve the objective.
In other words it is a true skill and it usually provides the most powerful visual impact with the least amount of props.
I soon came to realise that this type of magic also provides the performer with the highest amount of job satisfaction albeit requiring a huge amount of practice.
The following day I went straight to the Central Library in Sheffield where I spent the entire day reseaching what I had seen demonstrated the day before in that little shop in London.
I found the Sheffield Magic Shop (“Magick Enterprises”) in a tiny unit on Howard Street. There was a very strange man behind the counter with wild frizzy hair and a beard called Russell. (The man not the beard) This man showed me video demonstrations of a Magician called “Walt Maddison” and I purchased several of these packet tricks.
I would spend days going through the routines learning new card slights. Every Saturday I would visit the magic shop and demonstrate what I had learnt and buy the next one.
I then attended my first Magic Convention and saw my first “Manipulator” A field of magic performed on stage silently to music.
This man was called David Charles and he performed slight of hand magic but instead of close up he performed on stage using Coins Balls Thimbles and Linking Rings.
He was incredible. He had won numerous championships with his act. The following Saturday I went down to the Magic Shop to discuss the convention and found to my amazement that David Charles was a close friend of Russell.
A few weeks later I was travelling to Nottingham every Sunday to take Private Lessons off David Charles himself.
Unfortunately Manipulation does require a Stage so is not much use in a close up environment so I would spend most of my time performing close up. For this reason my first love of magic has always been coin magic.
Coin magic is however quite rare in that it is considered difficult. In the words of David Roth (One of the worlds leading authorities on coin magic) “Coin magic is perceived by magicians as being too technically demanding”
Despite this fact it still remains my favourite area of magic for several reasons. With coin magic there is a lot less effort required on the part of the spectator. There are no card values to remember. This means that everything that happens with coins is purely visual and as a result, in the hands of an expert, appears to be the closest thing to real magic.
Coin Magic also bridges the language barrier everyone knows what a coin is. Cards on the other hand vary considerably from country to country.
I perform primarily a mixture of coin and card magic with a few ring and ball effects thrown in for variety.
Tel:08451082467 Mob: 07958 320338 Fax:N/A Email:nigel@nigelfrancismagic.com
Copyright © Nigel Francis Magic 2010
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