From Westword:
Ariann Black has worked as a professional magician since 1990, and she's a master of her enchanting art form. The Canada-born magician began practicing the art of illusion when she was just four years old, working her way through magic school and onto the world's stage. She's performed on television and now is a staple on the Las Vegas entertainment scene, working to elevate the visibility of women in the male-dominated world of magic. In advance of her two-night appearance at the Theatre of Dreams in Castle Rock this weekend, Black spoke with Westword about her decades of experience as a magician and what it takes to hone your craft.
Westword: What brought you to wanting to becoming a magician in the first place?
Ariann Black: I was about four years old and I had a cousin who would do magic tricks and he would never tell me how they were done. The first time I saw him do a magic trick, I thought it was the greatest thing in the world. He lived in a different city, so I went home and it took me a couple of months to sit down and figure things out. But once I got it figured out, it was about three months later and we went back to visit the family and I showed him what I thought the magic trick was and then he showed me another one.
At four, you don't realize that there is more than one magic trick out there. I was fascinated with the idea that there was more than one magic trick and you could do all sorts of things. When I was twelve, I saw Doug Henning on television, and prior to that I had been told that girls couldn't be magicians. But when I saw Doug Henning and I saw him with his look — he didn't look like that stereotypical magician — I thought, yeah, I can be a magician, too. He really inspired me.
Read more.
