Canada's Magic

22 June 2016

Montreal: Le lab magique Jun 29

Catch the last lab before summer break!

Avec:

ARTISTE INVITÉ
Patrice Meunier - magicien fantaisiste

ARTISTES TESTEURS
André Rancour Ventriloquie
Hamza Araqui - cirque
Le testeur surprise

Animé par - Erick Elektrik et Bernard Lebel

From Le lab magique's Facebook page:

Magicana teases next online exhibition

From the Magicana Facebook page:

We've got a secret!
Here is the first look at a new online exhibition we will be releasing in a few weeks. Who remembers watching this?

21 June 2016

Diary of a Sorcerers Safari newbie - part 9

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A camper's notebook.

Day 4: Monday August 17th (cont)*

5pm

After lunch (burgers and lemonade and ice cream!) everyone gathered around a bunch of the adults on benches.

Cook out for lunch!

There was excitement in the air and I could barely see what was going on. It turns out that Daryl eats his pie in a really unexpected way. Who knew?

Great elective choices today: cups and balls, memorized deck, mentalism, rope magic, spoon bending, and dancing canes. I picked the dancing cane and it was so much fun! I can actually make it look like I’m levitating it and making it move. (And it’s so much easier than juggling.) I need to own one.

Dance cane, dance!

Cups and balls.

At performance workshop we played the “questions only” game. You can only reply to someone by asking another question. Much harder than it sounds! It’s supposed to help us to listen and to think on our feet. It’s hilarious. I laughed so much I cried!

Questions only!

9pm
All I remember about dinner was ice cream with chocolate sauce!

The lip syncs rocked. I especially liked Shawn and Lori Farquhar doing "You're The One That I Want" from Greece, and Magic Mike Segal (and Stephanie Kline, Chris Galonska, Jen Segal, and Lisa Close) doing "Mahna Mahnam" from the Muppet Show.

Mahna Mahnam.

It was a super talented show again tonight. Loran did an elegant time themed piece, Mark did some stage stunts, Philip and Jonah and Chris Mayhew were fantastic. The show ended with the Marion and Ted Outerbridge doing a fabulous stage show with big props, fancy costumes and great illusions. Ted has the best disco ball jacket ever!


Loran.

Ted and Marion Outerbridge.

Marion stopped by our cabin to visit. She had amazing stories of touring and performance. She MADE Ted’s sparkling jacket. So. much. WORK!

To be continued ...

--
The 2016 season of Sorcerers Safari will run from Sunday August 7th through Friday August 12th, 2016. For more information, or to register, please visit SorcerersSafari.ca

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* The “Diary of a Sorcerers Safari Newbie” is primarily based on the 2015 camp season. It is an aggregate of many perspectives, and at times includes events from previous years.

20 June 2016

Greg Frewin on "The Peet & Reet Show"

While we're on the topic of Greg Frewin, have a look at his recent appearance on "The Peet & Reet Show."

From The Peet & Reet Show YouTube channel:

Grand champion magician honoured at the 2016 Academy of Magical Arts awards

As a follow-up to this post, read the official press release from the Greg Frewin Theatre:

Hollywood, California - May 16th, 2016 EST - The Academy of Magical Arts delightfully announced Greg Frewin as the 2015 recipient of the Performing Fellowship Award. Established in 1968, the award recognizes outstanding achievement and significant contribution to the performance art of magic. Frewin is the 2nd Canadian in the Academy’s history to have won this award.

"We were honored to bestow Greg with the Performing Fellowship for his great work in his Niagara Falls theatre," commented Academy of Magical Arts President, Randy Sinnott. “Greg has done a tremendous job advancing the Art, and with his creativity and energy and his year round/full-evening show has created a positive image of magic for the thousands that have seen him perform."

Frewin performs nightly at his own theatre in Niagara Falls, Ontario. He and his long-running production have become one of magic's great destinations in the world.

Previous to owning and running his own theatre in Canada, Frewin appeared on stages all over the world, including Caesars Palace, Tropicana and Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas, Showboat in Atlantic City, Crystal Palace Casino in Nassau, Bahamas, the fabulous Genting Resort in Malaysia, Kaula Lumpur, Malaysia. He has also appeared on over 35 television programs, including NBC's World's Greatest Magic, ABC's Champions of Magic, CW's Masters of Illusion, and his own three-part CBC special Magic Man: Home for the Holidays.

"It's a great honour to be singled out by the Academy of Magical Arts & Magic Castle," Frewin remarked after learning of the award. "Bringing the prestigious fellowship home to Canada means so much to me, my family, and those who share my vision at the theatre. Moreover, I feel extra special to win because world renowned Illusionist Doug Henning, my childhood hero, is the only other Canadian to ever win this award. I'm in excellent company!"

"Greg Frewin's influence on magic is deep and broad," said Vittoria Wikston, the General Manager of the Greg Frewin Theatre. “He performs nightly entertaining thousands of people from different walks of life, all while creating lifelong devotees of magic in the process. Additionally, Frewin tirelessly demonstrates that if you keep focused, committed and true to yourself then you will attain your dreams. Now that's real magic!"

Among Frewin's awards are 'Magician of The Year' from the World Magic Awards, First Place in the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) competition of professional magicians, The Gold Medal of Excellence, First Place at the Society of American Magicians (SAM) annual magic convention competition, and First Place at FISM, the Olympics of magic.

Driven by the promotion and development of the art of magic, The Academy of Magical Arts is the proud founder of the Performance Fellowship award. Since its inception almost fifty years ago, the AMA has continually been a passionate advocate for the magical arts.

###

For more information about the magic of Greg Frewin visit the official website:
www.gregfrewintheatre.com

And from the Greg Frewin Theatre Twitter feed:

So proud to be the 2nd #Canadian ever to win an @AMA_Magic Performing Fellowship Award! #niagarafalls #theatre pic.twitter.com/LSxD9PFPnk
— Greg Frewin Theatre (@GF_Theatre) June 15, 2016

19 June 2016

How old were you when you got your first magic trick?

Click over to the Perfect Magic blog and let Evelyn know!

From Perfect Magic:

“I bet when Darcy Oake got his first magic trick, as a kid I presume, the furthest thing from his mind was that one day he would be going to London to visit the Queen. Get your kid a magic trick !”

Then I got to thinking that I got my first magic trick when I was 8 years old. My father went to New York and went to Tannen’s (I think that’s where he got it) and when he came home he gave me a Nickels to Dimes trick, made of brass. I can look back and see myself sitting on the blue linoleum kitchen floor, banging away with that bang ring. I wonder if it left marks in the floor. I treasured it and found it amazingly clever, but I don’t remember performing it for anyone outside of the family. They did not have “Show and Tell” in school when I was in Grade 2. If they did, I surely would have brought that because it was something that none of the other kids would have had.

Read more and share your story.

18 June 2016

McSorley & Chung Magic Hour interviewed at Bad Feeling

From Bad Feeling magazine:

Grant McSorley & Derrick Chung are two scholars in engineering and mathematics, respectively, whose 10+ years friendship grew out of a love of magic while working together behind-the-scenes for renowned magicians.

With years of magical knowledge, part of which were imparted by some of the best illusionists in the world, they debuted their first two-person show at the Black Theatre Workshop last Friday and played a sold-out show on Saturday, where they amazed audiences with their twists on the effects that have sparked their own love for the craft. Complemented with their teaching backgrounds, their approach to the realms of the known and the baffling has always been to engage their audiences and pupils.
None of that male chauvinism of lovely assistants as eye-candy, no boxes sawed in half. This is stripped down sleight of hand prestidigitation down to its fundamental basics, performed in front of an intimate crowd reminiscent of parlor sessions during the heydays of vaudeville. Feel like a kid again full of wonderment, this is magic accessible to all!

I had the chance to nerd out with these two about magic & the known realm…

Read more and catch McSorley and Chung at the Montreal Fringe.