Day 4 - Morning and Afternoon

The morning started a little later than normal, 8:30 a.m., but probably still too early. The first lecture was by David and Dania, the quick change artists who had headlined the previous evening. Even seeing the changes in a non-performance setting did not detract from the magical effect. We saw how Dania wears 6 or seven layers, weighing a total of 28 to 30 pounds. After the first three changes, where the dresses are actually dropped, the remaining changes occur through the top part of the dress falling and becoming the lower part of the new dress. This means Dania is still carrying quite a lot of weight. David had many tips for those contemplating quick-change as an art, or for those wanting to use it as part of a magic act. David and Dania will shortly be organizing Master Classes for those wanting to develop their quick change routine. For information contact them at costumechange.com.

The Close Up Competition took up the rest of the morning. To enable all attendees to see the finalists, they were required to perform their act four times , each time in a different room. The rooms had been equipped with raised seats, but even with four rooms many had to stand.


In the room where I was watching (standing), the performers came through in the following sequence. Donovan Denscher, of Calgary, Canada, kicked it off for us. He performed a high energy, light comedy routine that included a 'Post-It notes on body' prediction, as well as a 'card to wallet in pants in suitcase' routine that was very clever. Although I do not expect him to win, he was my overall favorite based on his presentation.
Next came the local favorite, Billy Ray the Trailer Trash Magician, of Naples, Florida. Billy Ray takes some classical magic and wraps it in a different 'red-neck' skin, in a very effective way. In his set he basically does a 'card to pocket' and a 'chop cup' routine.
John Born, of New York, performed a 'random card at thought of number', followed by an impressive coin matrix and linking rings, ninja size. His act was straight, i.e. no comedy, with a background of soft music.
The next contestant, Rod Chow from Vancouver, Canada, fully expoited his bubbling personality in a fast paced, money themed act, with bill changes and bill productions; he ended up with a cape of dollars and dollar streamers.
Raymond, from Macau, China, had a more traditional table manipulation act. Coins, glasses appreared, the coins travelled from glass to glass and then he finished by appearing what looked like colored poker chips, but which ended up as a picture of a young lady. His rating may suffer because of his use of lighted cigarettes in the act.
The last performer was MC Chow, and I believe that he is likely to be the winner, based on the audience reaction. He also had a more traditional table manipulation act, starting with a matrix effect using red poker chips. One of these chips was then used to change the faces of a deck of cards from white to red. He then used the cards for some excellent routines, including a 'torn and restored card matrix' and 'Ace assembly', where the Aces magically appeared on the table from apparently empty hands. He finished up with the production of a number of brandy glasses and a brandy bottle.
The winner of the close up competition will be announced tonight at the stage show competition, so look for the result in this blog tomorrow morning.


After the competition, the rotating lecture today was the Chuck Hickock mentalism lecture. Chuck showed us a short version of his show, and then proceeded to dissect it for us. He gave good explanations of what he was doing and why. He starts his act with a magic square, moves into a memory demonstration using postcards from the 50 states and then finishes with a multiple book test type effect, that is very powerful. Mentalists should take a look at his site, http://www.chuckhickok.com, click here for his books and other tools.


The final lecture of the day was a rip-roaring dip in the past from Bev Bergeron. While teaching some useful tricks, he instilled the importance of having a reason for every move in an act. The lecture was livened up with video, from the good old days, and Bev's tales of how he had learnt why not to do what he was telling us to avoid.




Stage show competition description and results of both stage show and close up will be posted tomorrow morning.