This book tells the story of Doug Hunt’s journey to breaking the Guinness World Record for Stilt Walking, told through the writing of Larry Brown and the artwork of Bernadine Van Renne.
Congratulations are due to our own Doug Hunt, Ring 49 Member and current President on the release of his new Book: 55, inspiring journey of chasing down a world record. Doug will be holding a Book Release Bash on Thursday December the 11th at 6:30 pm held in the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre in Brantford ON with prizes, pizza and refreshments. The event is free, and the book is only $25 with proceeds going to Participation Support Services in Brantford. Come on out and support on of our own.
If
you’d like to hear the noises our mouths make and are curious about
what our faces look like when we make those noises, then check out this
interview with Mike D'Ascenzo on The D'Ascenzo Zone Podcast!
Edmonton teams — make your company’s holiday party one to remember! ✨ We’re thrilled to bring our interactive mentalism show to Edmonton this holiday season! 🎅🎁 Come celebrate with us at this incredible Christmas party — it’s going to be an amazing night!
✨ With the support of @TheLosAngelesTribune this historic,
first-of-its-kind event brought together 25+ extraordinary women in magic from
around the world! The night was packed with talent, laughter, empowerment, and
pure magic as Connie and her guests celebrated women taking center stage and
stealing the spotlight in the magical arts. That's no illusion!
Micheal Close's Explorer 1 Teaching the magic beyond the tricks
Has your magic has plateaued in spite of owning shelves of magic books, a hard
drive full of instructional downloads, and drawers full of magic
effects? Enter “Explorer 1: Transform Your Magic” a 6 week online course
offered by Michael Close.
As you are likely aware, Michael is well known in the magic community for his
excellence as an author, a creator, a performer, and a consultant. For
those unfamiliar with Michael’s work, I encourage you to read Jamy Ian Swiss’
2018 article “The Paradigm Shift – Volume One & Volume Two by Michael
Close” at Magicana.
I participated in the beta testing of these classes, in addition to
auditing the first run of the course. The classes methodically cover
foundational sleights with both cards and coins. One of the biggest
benefits to learning from Michael, a performer with decades of experience
under his belt, is that he teaches fundamental material with an
awareness as to how the skills will be applied as one advances their
ability. In other words, the foundational sleights are taught in a
versatile manner, ready for use in more sophisticated situations. This
approach results in accelerated learning – you only have to learn a skill
once!
Michael’s approach to teaching magic, mirrors in many respects, The Royal
Conservatory of Music's approach to the method and practise of teaching
music. (This comes as no surprise given Michael’s Masters Degree in
Music Theory and Composition.)
What do I mean by this? A music teacher will introduce their student
music theory concepts (such as a key signature, and rhythm), and provide them
with a piece of music to practise which incorporates these ideas. As
music students practise with the goal of performance in mind, the teacher will
discuss musical technique, as well as introduce critical analysis of their
student’s efforts.
On the surface, Micheal teaches foundational sleights, along with tricks which
incorporate these fundamental skills. While the tricks are logical a
vehicle to demonstrate the use of the newfound technical expertise, they more
importantly serve as case studies for broader theoretical concepts important
to maximizing the entertainment value of magic performance.
Simply put, the tricks are not the lesson. They are the
springboards that permit Michael to introduce theory that elevates the performance of magic.
Michael presents his well crafted lessons in a manner which is clear and
easy to follow. Nuggets of wisdom gleaned from years of performance and
consulting pepper every session. The classes are a safe and nurturing
environment that puts the students at ease. In these classes, questions
in search of understanding are always welcome.
Michael provides a manageable amount of assigned and supplemental reading,
invoking wisdom from magicians such as Jamy Ian Swiss, Juan Tamariz, Larry
Hass, Jon Racherbaumer, and of course Dai Vernon.
As an added bonus, course enrollment includes exclusive, limited-time access
to the Ask Alexander Digital Library, provided
by the Conjuring Arts Research Center.
In keeping with the music class analogy, during the course Michael said this
about foundational sleights:
“... one of the good things about developing a toolbox of techniques of
sleights that you are competent at, is it makes reading magic books a lot
easier. You're almost like musicians when they sight read a piece. If I
have all my scales and my arpeggios and all these things under my fingers to a
reasonable degree, then as I look at a new piece of music, I can get a sense
of what that piece of music is as I sight read.”
Similarly, if you embrace the theoretical concepts, while also developing your
analytical and critiquing muscles, you will be able to utilize this knowledge
to enhance any magic performance, from close-up to stage.
I
had an overwhelmingly positive experience participating in these
classes. If you’re looking for a way to shore up your sleights, and
elevate your presentation skills, this is the course for you!
To
register, or for more information, visit Micheal's website at MichaelClose.com.
Disclosure: I beta tested and audited the classes as a guest.
The opinions expressed above are entirely my own. I did not receive
compensation for the writing or the publishing of this article.
