“All about Cards” was the theme, and we saw a great turnout! We had more than forty people present for our first official Magic Circle meeting held at our office. Check it out! We transformed our pantry and dance studio into a cosy chill out area with comfy sofas, mood lights, snacks and of course… lots of magic. With the ambience set, everyone was all out to hang loose and talk magic.
For all those who were not able to come, let me give you a brief rundown on the evening. Everyone did great and learnt at least one new trick before coming. Between showing close up magic and snacking, everyone quickly loosened up to the prospects of performing in front of everyone else.
We had a total of thirteen performers that night, including my dad and me. (13 performers on Friday the 13th! How apt *lol*) We had a great variety of card tricks. From automatic card tricks, tricks with different sleights, different ways to force a card, card tricks using gimmicked cards, mental magic. We had them all. One of the perks of the meeting was that most of the performers taught us the trick that they performed. Of course, as we all know… just because we know the secret didn’t mean that we could proceed to performing it. After all the performances, everyone hung around to learn the tricks that they wanted to learn from each other. Really enjoyable!
The first to perform was Addy Ang, our GE props master and one of our Project SMILE mentor. You should have seen his face when he was asked to be the first to perform. He performed Micheal’s Skinner’s Ultimate 3 Card Monte. Even though his hands were shaking with nervousness, he still took the crowd for a ride. Great job! Like many of you, that was his first time performing in front of a crowd.
Next, was our Project SMILE Director Chua Seng Lee. e performed a memorized deck where he got 2 spectators to randomly select a card and proceeded to read their minds. Although nerves got the better of him at one point, he kept his composure and successfully pulled off the trick on his next try.
Reaney Peh performed 2 great effects. The first was a great effect with 12 cards: 4 Kings & 8 indifferent cards, where the Kings were placed in between 2 cards each, and proceeded to vanish from the packs. Not too sure what the name of the trick is cos he bought it from a road side stall. (Who says magic isn’t easily available? *grinz*) The second was a an Ace Assembly.
Gutsy Emily Phua was up next, who performed a great self working card trick. By forming the face of a clock, she was able to know what card her audience had selected. 
Up next, was Nigel Wong, our veteran Project SMILE trainer who demonstrated his sleight of hand by bringing a selected card to the top of the deck and doing a top change, and a
mind reading routine. The twins Konrad & Kendrick Leong then did a back to back performance which made everyone do a double take with their clever moves. Konrad executed another version of cutting to the 4 Aces, while Kendrick performed a wicked triple card revelation based on the ‘one ahead principle’. 
Eugene Lim one of our Project SMILE mentors, was our next performer. He made all of us wait for for ages while he gnawed over his cards till my dad teased him that the trick had better be worth the wait. Finally, he did a very simple yet mind blowing routine where he laid out 5 cards – King of hearts, 7 of clubs, 4 of hearts, Ace of diamonds and 9 of diamonds, on the table. Asked someone to remember one card. Took up all the cards and selects and confidently tosses one card out on the table. He asks the audience to name the card. And lo and behold… the card named is the very card that is on table! Gads! How did he do it? That trick was Dai Vernon’s Mental Force. The effect was so simple yet powerful that it was really worth the wait.
One of the highlights for the evening was to see 10 year old Jorim Sim stand up in front of everyone to perform. He performed a simple card force that he learnt from Addy. Just to let you guys know, Jorim has been helping out as one of our facilitators as well. And it is a blast to see him teaching 
everyone. Betty Sim proved that card magic is not reserved solely for grown men. She deftly displayed the skills of her sons (Konrad & Kendrick), getting 3 volunteers to cut the cards and pick one, then proceeded to name their cards effortlessly.
Daniel Gan, another veteran Project SMILE trainer took the stage next. He performed Max Maven’s killer mental routine. For all of you who do not know what that is, let me describe it for you. Basically, he cuts the deck into 2 piles, gives the audience free choice of whichever piles. Audience deals 5 stacks of cards and selects any stack. Daniel proceeds to name each card in the selected pile. 
Finally, it was my turn! I decided to do 2 card tricks by Eugene Burger. The first trick is called Simple Ten, I challenged 4 audience to cut to exactly 10 cards, though they failed but to their surprise, the 10 of hearts, 10 of clubs, 10 of diamonds & 10 of spades all turned up on top of decks which they cut. The next trick was a Double Reverse Trick where both myself and a spectator chooses a card and places it into the deck. Instantly, the cards are reversed in the deck. 
The charm, wit and professional showmanship of my dad, Lawrence Khong closed April’s Magic Circle meeting on a high note. He conjured a performance that was simply mesmerising. Pulling out both old and new tricks from his hat, sleeves and even shoe! First he unleashed a fast and furious medley of card manipulation – producing single cards, card fans and ended by shooting cards into the audience. Then did his trite and true Ambitious Card routine & ended off with the signed card in his shoe. That’s not it. He later continued with Martin Lewis’s Come-Back Card and Ton Onosaka’s Giant 3 Card Monte.In wrapping up the meeting, Lawrence shared what was on his heart concerning Project Smile. He encouraged all present to consider becoming facilitators and trainers, and to work on becoming better magicians by putting their magic lessons into practice more often.
I was excited to see so many familiar faces from past coming back together. I was even more thrilled that the Magic Circle gathering is revived. Like I’ve said before… All of you inspire me to want to be a better magician. I hope you all share the same sentiments, and together we will all grow in our art of magic. So till we meet again! Ciao!
Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, delights the heart a
And they both take practice!
