My biggest Project SMILE class @ MONFORT SEC 2 CAMP

Just finished the biggest Project SMILE class ever!

This was the first time that I conducted a Project SMILE class of such magnitude. The entire Monfort Secondary 2 was taught magic at their school camp held at Camelot campsite.

Our Project SMILE team coined it Operation SMILE. It sure felt that way as we had to set up a huge canvas screen, 2 digital cameras, sound speakers, lights and enlist the aid of almost 40 volunteers over 3 days to facilitate the boys in their learning.
























A big shout out to all the Monfort boys! I totally enjoyed myself teaching you all!

Learning the first trick of the day.Automatic Aces!

Doesn't he look like a pro?

The automatic aces! A big hit with the boys!

Check out their expressions as I teach the vanishing silk trick. *grinz*

The looks...
"I can do it!"

"How did she do it?"

"Where'd it go?"

"Huh?"

I think it's super cool of your school to organize such activities for you.

We've uploaded some more of your pictures into the gallery. See if you can spot yourself and your friends. Click on the link to view- http://www.magicoflawrence.com/mc_projectsmile_gallery_mfss.htm

I know that there are many of you who are really keen to learn more magic. I wish I could've answered each and every one of the questions you had after the camp. Don't stop with this Project SMILE. Go online and learn more magic, and come to our Magic Circle. It'll be held at SCAPE Youth Centre on Apr 25. Trust me, you'll learn a lot at a meeting like this, plus you get to hang out with magicians! It's free entrance!

I'll be there; so you come look me up, k?

Project SMILE 2 - A Healing Touch - in Singapore General Hospital

It's been quite a while since we've done Project SMILE 2. I still remember when we launched it in 2003. Let me give you some background info on Project SMILE 2. Well, Project SMILE 2 is a program that uses magic as a form of rehabilitation therapy for hospital patients. It has gotten widespread support from therapists in the United States as an alternative form of therapy that exceeds traditional therapeutic methods. Today, I was invited to do a presentation at Singapore General Hospital, introducing them to the concept of magic as a form of rehabilitation.

I realize that Project SMILE 2 - A Healing Touch - is a great way to tie in magic with rehabilitation because the use of magic tricks adds fun and motivation to the difficult rehabilitation process for patients.

At SGH, I demonstrated some tricks that could aid the rehabilitation process to about 25 doctors and therapists at their staff meeting. They took the opportunity to learn the tricks for themselves which they found very entertaining and seemed enthusiastic to incorporate this form of rehabilitation into their therapy for their patients.

It has always been my passion to develop Project SMILE 2 - A Healing Touch. I long to see this program succeed, not for us magicians, but for the patients. I sincerely believe it will help them on their road to recovery, plus it'll bring them lotsa fun!

Project Smile 2 is indeed a great tool to synergise our love for magic and our contribution to our community. For all of you, magicians, therapists or caregivers of the sick, interested to get involved in Project SMILE 2, do email us at magiccircle@magicoflawrence.com

VJC Arts Appreciation Day

VJC had their annual arts appreciation day and I was invited to do a 2-hour magic appreciation workshop. I conducted a semi-lecture-style workshop, starting off with a 20 min show. There was great response from the students. They were all very eager to start learning magic. (Man! I wish that my school had magic classes when I was a student! Seems like there are so many more choices nowadays)

While planning this lecture, I wasn't sure what to teach - how much magic would be sufficient. So I decided to cover a wide range of magic - cards, coins, street magic and miscellaneous objects. My guys thought that I was giving them too much to manage. However, as I dialogued with them, I found that many said that they've been learning magic on their own and most have watched many close-up effects on YouTube and Metacafe.

Welcome to the 21st century - Where anything can be found on the web!

Check out the class... Glad that they are so into learning the magic.

Fiddling with the pack of cards that was given to them free, most of my students gave a resounding “Chey!” upon the revelation of the trick. It's a standard response! It's hard for many people, even magicians themselves, to understand that magic need not be complicated to create a magical effect. It's all about the presentation. Like Eugene Burger says "The greatest magic is usually very simple"
To all the VJ students who attended my Magic Appreciation course, let me know how your magic is coming along. Hope that you'll continue to pursue magic as a hobby! You never know where it may lead you.

In love and magic,

Priscilla

Community Service at TOUCH Senior Activity Centre

Today, the Ngee Ann Polytechnic Project SMILE students performed their community service and I believed it was a great experience for all of them.

First of all, it was a chance for them to perform magic in front of a live audience and, at the same time, be a blessing to the community. It was also great to see Nigel put up a 30-minute show for the elderly. Kudos to Nigel who commanded the stage and did the show in Mandarin! Wow. That made the show so much more appealing to the elderly who are much more familiar with the Chinese language.

It is great for trainers and volunteers like myself to be able to use Project SMILE as a platform to practise our routines. We’re no longer standing in front of a passive mirror or a group of indulgent magic peers. It’s time to put our money where our mouths are and get some genuine oohs and aahs from the audience.

Many of us have gained a lot of invaluable experience during these community services which has helped us to become better performers. Nigel highlighted this today at the TOUCH Senior Activity Centre.

I encourage all current students and alumni members to step forward and perform for Project SMILE community services; it’s a great platform to use our passion for magic to serve the community.

Happy New Year!

I’ve been dreaming! My dream is to perform a magic show grander than anything I’ve ever done yet, a show that will travel the world performing for millions. Well, you know the skies are the limit when it comes to dreaming.

I was reading Cyril Takayama’s and Criss Angel’s bios and it was really interesting to find out how they came up with their unique ideas that has taken the world by storm, giving birth to concepts that have transformed the way people look at magic today.

I realized that they too started with a dream. They were spurred by a vision that they felt, at the beginning, was too daunting for them to achieve.

A common attribute of these great magicians is their willingness to persevere despite everything going against them. This never-say-die attitude is one that I’d like to adopt, not only in my magic, but also in life in general.

I guess, right now, I have to keep working on my magic so that I can hopefully achieve my dream, just like these great magicians!

Tick, Tock

The calendar is ticking off the days till the end of the year. As I look back to the beginning of 2007, I remember Dad telling me, “Pris, this is going to be a lull year for us.”

So much for a lull year… I sure have been busy! In fact, this is one of the busiest years for me. Hah! Lull year indeed.

This year has been very unusual in that I’ve been able to conduct many Project SMILE classes; and I was able to spend time with old and new friends in the Magic Circle. I’m very thankful for that. Through conducting many Project SMILE classes, I have been able to make "serving the community, AND learning new magic" an integral part of my life.

Like most of you who are amateur magicians, I do have regular work to do as well. Yes, it’s magic-related but it doesn’t actually create more time for me to learn magic. I do stuff like managing website content, planning forecasts for Project SMILE, organizing Magic Circle meetings, teaching classes, and working on conceptualizing our new show.

All these magic-related duties can rob me of time that I should spend to learn new magic. I thus end up being more of a manager than a magician.

So how can we approach the challenge of learning new magic?

Step1: Decide That You Want To Learn New Magic

Step 2: Have A Goal
For me, the need to perform new magic tricks at Magic Circle meetings gives me the impetus to learn new magic. If you are attending Magic Circle meetings regularly, hey, you have a ready goal! Every participant must of course bring a new trick to the meetings!

Step 3: Have A Game Plan
I decided to learn ONE new trick every alternate week, which gives me a week in between to practise what I have learnt. Ideally, I would then have four new tricks to perform in front of a live audience at every meeting.

Step 4: Set Aside Time
Like everyone else, I have to make time to learn new magic. This process of setting aside time is tedious. But like cultivating any other habit, once we get the hang of doing it regularly, subconsciously it will become a habit.

I hope that this will encourage more of you to proactively learn magic on your own; and to join us in the Magic Circle.

Is Magic All About Tricks?

I've been thinking, what makes a performer "magical". What gives him or her that certain 'X' factor that allows him or her to shine?

I've had the opportunity to do alot of big illusions with my dad. When I first started out, I was just his assistant aka "dumb blonde". In recent years, I've had the opportunity to be the key illusions in more routines. Yet, I was always feeling inadequate, as though I am not in control of the magic. It could have happened with or without me.

I try to cover it up with slick moves and all my performances look good. But the fact of the matter remains... Deep down I didn't buy it. But as the professionals say, 'THE SHOW MUST GO ON!'

And so it did.

A week ago, Joanie Spina - our new magic director / choreographer was in Singapore working with us on our magic routine. It was intense. We were rehearsing each illusion about 20 times. I was aching like mad. My body really felt bruised and battered. But despite the aches and pain, those rehearsals left a deep impression on me.

I remember how we always emphasize in our magic classes... "The Real Magic Is You!"

Well, Joanie's rehearsals really ingrained that in me. The aura of magic really emanates from us. What do I mean by that?

This begins with us actually seeing the magic we perform. And more importantly, let us ENJOY our own performance and appreciate the wonder that it brings forth. It has taken me 6 years as a performer to learn that truth. The truth is that, indeed, we all have something to give; the truth is that the real magic lies within us.

Magician 24/7

‘Magician 24/7’ was a topic that master magician Jeff Mcbride covered in his magic lecture in the first International Festival of Magic held here in Singapore.

Believe it or not, the highlight of his lecture was not the mind blowing tricks he taught us, but his compelling speech on how he became the magician he is today by first of all being a Magician 24/7.

So what is a magician 24/7? Well, many magicians are only magicians when they are performing their gigs but, once they’re out of their tux or off the stage, they’re off the job. Jeff spoke about doing magic every chance you get, whether you’re performing to the taxi-driver sending you to work in the morning, or to your colleagues during lunchtime. Performing to different kinds of spectators allow us to understand what works for us and what would get the best reactions. We strive continually to achieve greater effortlessness in our acts. It sounds paradoxical, but magicians understand what I mean.

A 24/7 magician is always ready with a trick in hand because he never knows when he would be called upon to entertain somebody. A good example would be at a dinner party. If someone there knows that you are a magician and asks you to do a trick for his friends and you do not have anything on you, what are you going to say? “I left my invisible thread and tapered cards at home?”

His lecture made such a deep impression on me that I went home and packed a B’wave (a lightweight portable card trick) into my wallet. It’s been in there since and has never failed me.

That day, Jeff hammered home the message that magic should become second nature to the magician.

So, friends, let’s be 24/7 Magicians, ready any time or day of the week whenever called upon to show our stuff.

The 10 Commandments of Magic (Cont'd)

Commandment No. 7: Look Into the Spectators’ Eyes
To be a great magician or a great entertainer, we need to be able to engage the audience. It doesn’t matter if you have the world’s best sleight of hand, but you have failed if you can’t get your audience to look at it. Engaging the audience is the key. One good way would be to look into the spectators’ eyes whenever you get the chance to. When you have to talk during your show, talk to the audience and don’t just recite a prepared script. If you can’t engage the audience, the audience won’t bother being engaged to your performance. Remember, talk to them. Whenever you get the chance, look into their eyes. Do remember to lock eyes with different members of the audience to ensure that you engage as many of them as possible.

Commandment No. 8: Respect Your Audience
No one likes to talk or interact with a rude person. Similarly, during a magic performance, we as magicians need to respect our audience. No one likes to watch a performance where the magician is rude and uses all available opportunities to humiliate the audience. Remember how we have always taught you the need to make the audience feel good whenever we use them as volunteers? Hence, we always honour volunteers by making it appear that they were instrumental in making the magic happen, even though they didn’t. Even if it is a comical routine, such as the Paper-Ball Over the Head, we never make fun of the audience member even though he is the only one who doesn’t get it. Of course, in this case there is no opportunity to honour them for making the magic happen, but neither do we humiliate the person. If we often put down our volunteers, then people would not want to volunteer for us or even watch our performances even though we may be great magicians. So remember, always engage your audience by looking into their eyes and also always, always, respect your audience. A great magician is not just one who has smooth skills, but one who is “likeable” to the audience.

Commandment No. 9: Never Distract From Another Magician’s Performance
As a magician, do you dream of a perfect audience? Well, start by being a good audience yourself. You can occasionally spot the smart alecs in a crowd. They’d be nudging their friends and whispering in their ears, most likely clueing them where and when to watch for the magician’s secret move. This can be so annoying, right? Partly because they are distracting the other spectators from your act (if you are the performing magician) and partly because, if they guess your secret correctly, they would steal your thunder. Since we are magicians, we would have learned many a trade secret and we probably can guess how the magician on stage is doing his trick. We should respect him by keeping the knowledge to ourselves, and besides, we shouldn’t rob our fellow spectators of the thrill of suspense and the surprise at the end of the act. In such a situation, learn to sit back and enjoy another magician’s performance.

Commandment No 10 – Have FUN!
Loaded with nine commandments by now, you may start thinking magic is pretty grim business. But remember how you entered into this lifestyle? Wasn't it because you were mystified, fascinated and mesmerised by the craft? Master magicians who have been practising magic for ten or even 20 years have one thing in common. Ask them why they do magic and they’ll answer that it’s because they’re still having fun. Yup, having fun while doing what you do is the only surefire way to improve and excel in magic, and I suspect, in any career or enterprise. So, relax and enjoy your craft. And until we meet again, stay magical.

Yours Magically,
Daniel Khong

The 10 Commandments of Magic (Cont'd)

Commandment No 4: Act Normal

In all our classes, the trainers say, “Think natural” and “Act normal”.

We know there’s always a secret move in every trick. The definition of ‘secret’ means that others shouldn’t know it is being done at all. How is that possible, you ask.

Simple, we must look natural while carrying it out.

One good example is palming. We’ve learned how to do a basic finger palm. If your hand is clenched tight into a fist or open with your fingers extended, doesn’t it look abnormal, and therefore suspicious? Our hand’s natural position is a semi-closed fist and people know that. Do anything else and it’d look ‘fake’. People will find it fishy.

Another problem many budding magicians face is the ‘blink’. It’s a natural physiological reaction to blink our eyes when we tense up to make a move. We can’t see ourselves blinking, so we think others won’t as well. Even if the audience doesn’t spot anything, we need to control this habit. Why? It doesn’t look natural.

Magicians aim to convince people that the impossible can happen. To be truly convincing, we need to perform the trick naturally to give the impression.

Commandment No. 5: A Bigger Action Covers a Smaller One

This commandment essentially refers to misdirection. Misdirection can be defined as a form of deception in which the attention of the audience is focused on one thing in order to distract its attention from another.

It is human tendency to focus more attention on a larger action than a small one. Think of it this way: we’ve all seen cheesy action movies where the hero points past the villain’s shoulder and the villain obediently turns around to look, allowing the hero to sneak in a punch or to make his escape.

Magic largely revolves around the manipulation of this human tendency, but of course with a greater level of subtlety. You don’t often see a magician pointing behind the audience and shouting “Look!” so that he can surreptitiously roll an elephant on stage. As said, in magic it’s done subtly.

If you recap what you’ve learnt in all the magic lessons so far, you’d realize how, in many tricks, we use a larger action to cover a smaller action. The smaller action is usually the “secret move”. Being a “secret” move, it should obviously remain a secret to the audience.

For example, in the trick where we use a magic wand to call up a coin from two empty hands, we use the larger action of turning our entire body to cover the secret move of transferring the coin together with the wand to the other hand.

Another example would be the Professor’s Nightmare (also known as Rope Trio), during the part where the magician lets the audience inspect the ropes and, under cover of collecting back the medium length rope, the magician proceeds to execute his secret move of forming the cross on the long and short rope.

Equal care should be put into practising the misdirection as well as your secret move. The key to mystify the audience is to make your cover-up action look natural and spontaneous. This takes practice! The more nonchalant you are, the more natural the move would appear and the more the audience would be unable to catch the smaller, secret move.

Commandment No. 6: People Will Look Where You Look

When I was in primary school, a teacher told us to try a simple experiment to prove his theory that people around us are “kaypo” (busybodies). In the experiment, we stood in a cluster in the middle of the school quadrangle and kept our heads turned to the sky for several minutes. The result was that fellow students started moving towards us with their heads tilted to the sky. Some asked what we were looking at but most just scanned the sky curiously, trying to figure out what had drawn our attention.

That experiment indeed proved that people are quite “kaypo”, but it also proved that people will look where you look. Even in daily life, like holding a conversation with someone, if you stare at something other than the person you’re conversing with, the person will gradually start to wonder what you are looking at and turn to look in the direction you are staring at.

I can’t explain it, I didn’t study the human brain or psychology or whatever, but here’s my take on it. Generally, when we focus our eyes on something, it’s in preparation to make an action on the object.

Understand this human behaviour and you are on your way to incorporate it into your magic show.

This is what the audience thinks. When the magician is looking at an object, like his rope or his wand, the audience thinks that he is going to make his magic with that object, so they focus all their attention on the item as well. A miracle can happen in the blink of an eye, so they don’t want to miss it.

Once again, it’s a perfect opportunity for magicians to exploit a human tendency. Pretend to focus on an unimportant object so that we draw their attention to the object, thereby distracting them from the crucial part of the trick. However, this means that we, too, must not look or even risk a glance towards the direction of our secret move. This is harder to pull off than it sounds!

Are you executing the secret move? Look somewhere else! This will throw off the audience as they wouldn’t be looking at the spot where the secret move is happening.

I’ll use the Professor’s Nightmare again as an illustration. During the counting portion of the trick, imagine if you stared at your hands while you were switching ropes. Immediately, the audience will be clued that something important is happening there. Look somewhere else! Be subtle and nonchalant.

As you can see, we magicians recognise and exploit human tendencies so that we can make something that is logical appear magical.

By the way, pointing past a person’s shoulder and shouting “Look!” only works in B-grade movies.

The 10 Commandments of Magic

I have such good feedback about Daniel’s Ten Commandments of Magic that I thought I’ll reproduce it here for those who haven’t read it yet. Daniel has captured the ten fundamental rules which we, the cast and crew in Magic of Lawrence and Priscilla, all adhere to. Of course, these commandments are not sacred and you won’t be condemned if you violate them! But trust me when I say that they are worth following.

Commandment No. 1: Never tell how the trick is done

Why is this a crucial factor in magic? You see, the reason magic entertains is because of its ability to intrigue and to mystify its audience. Once the audience has knowledge of how a certain magic trick is done, their perception towards the trick is forever altered.

I speak the truth when I say that after all these years of being exposed to many aspects of magic, I seem to become numb to magic acts. When I view a magic show, I find myself looking out for secret moves, trapdoors and hidden items, rather than just sitting back and enjoying the show. It becomes more of an analysis of the techniques rather than an enjoyable entertaining hour.

So, to keep your audience intrigued and mystified by magic, don’t tell them how an illusion is done! Keep them in suspense and this in turn will fan the passion they have towards magic. You never know, one of these people may some day be the next Copperfield.

Moreover, letting people into our trade secrets would ruin the market for magic and cost us our jobs. So, please do us a favour and keep mum!

Commandment No. 2: Practise, practise practise!

Since your first magic lesson, your trainers would’ve persistently reiterated the importance of practice. Practice is essential to improvement; as the saying goes, “practice makes perfect’.

Ever been caught in a fix when you’re performing a trick and you forget what to do next? Or how about struggling to recall what you’re supposed to say halfway through your magic routine? Perhaps you pulled off an illusion brilliantly in one performance and flopped the very next time you did it. Just because we know a trick well doesn’t mean that we will remember it for the rest of our lives.

These are all the result of lack of practice.

Magic should be practised to a level of proficiency where one does not need to look at one’s hands to perform a trick. The magician should be able to perform a trick without looking at it or even thinking about it. Every single detail has already been thought through and performed exactly how it should be done.

So how then do we practise? Use a mirror. Constantly practise and polish your moves in front of a mirror so that you are able to spot any mistakes that you make. Of course, we may very possibly miss our own mistakes, so another alternative is to find a buddy who would be comfortable to help you spot and give you constructive feedback on how to improve on your magic.

Once you’ve got all the moves down and you’re comfortable with the routine, you’ll need to move on to practising in front of a live audience. Nothing beats performing to a live audience as that is when you have a chance to test people’s reactions to the way you have interpreted and performed the trick.

So please remember, Commandment No. 2 also includes practising before a live audience.

Commandment No. 3: Never Repeat A Trick During A Show

Some magicians describe a repeat trick as a suicide move.

What makes a trick so special the first time a spectator watches it? The element of surprise.

That’s why we tell our students never to reveal the effect before performing it, for example “My next trick involves this red silk which I’ll place in my left hand and then vanish.” Do that and the surprise is gone.

Similarly, performing the same trick again alerts the audience. Your misdirections and big covering actions won’t be as convincing the second time around and people might spot how the trick is done or notice things they didn’t see the first time. With their guard up, they’d be searching for suspicious moves. They may not catch your “secret” move, but why take the chance?

Take my advice -- quit while you’re ahead. Mystify them and stop there. Sure, they’d plead with you “Do it again, pleez!”, but think: if they expose your secret, we’d not be helping ourselves as magicians.

Commandment No 4: Act Normal

In all our classes, the trainers say, “Think natural” and “Act normal”.

We know there’s always a secret move in every trick. The definition of ‘secret’ means that others shouldn’t know it is being done at all. How is that possible, you ask.

The answer is simple -- we must look natural while carrying it out.

One good example is palming. We’ve learned how to do a basic finger palm. If your hand is clenched tight into a fist or open with your fingers extended, doesn’t it look abnormal, and therefore suspicious? Our hand’s natural position is a semi-closed fist and people know that. Do anything else and it’d look ‘fake’. People will find it fishy.

Another problem many budding magicians face is the ‘blink’. It’s a natural physiological reaction to blink our eyes when we tense up to make a move. We can’t see ourselves blinking, so we think others won’t as well. Even if the audience doesn’t spot anything, we need to control this habit. Why? It doesn’t look natural.

Magicians aim to convince people that the impossible can happen. To be truly convincing, we need to perform the trick naturally to give the right impression.

DVD Review

“Pack Small Play Big – All Purpose Show” by Dan Harlan

Finally, a DVD that presents to you how to do a mini show. The tricks performed by this master magician are suitable for an intimate audience of less than 15 people.

What I like about this DVD is that Harlan not only performs and teaches the tricks, he also provides pointers on how to pack for your tricks and the steps to take to ensure tricks flow logically into each other. He provides an insight into how to prepare and pack for the show.

Harlan injects comedy into his routines. I was truly enthralled by how the tricks transition smoothly into each other. The audience, as well as myself, was lapping up every moment of it. I could not take my eyes off this DVD.

I like all of his tricks and if I have to choose, I would choose the Cut and Restore Rope trick as I was truly mesmerized by his routine. He brought laughter to his audience with this trick and the routine was natural. I was captivated and nearly falling out of my seat from laughter.

Another trick that impressed was Lester. This is the trick on the disappearing and appearing balls. The instructions to this trick are easy to follow and the routine is magnificent. He shows you how to palm the ball in a natural manner. The patter he provides fits the routine to a tee.

This is a must watch video for any amateur magician trying to put a simple act together. Those doing their Magic 2 course simply MUST get their hands on this as it will help them to improve on their technique that they have learnt in class.

Enjoy the show, and then prepare to learn the secrets revealed. Soon, you too will Pack Small, and Play Big.

By: Brandon Tennakoon

DVD Review

“The Exciting World Of Magic” by Michael Ammar

This is a great DVD for all beginners. Watch amazing magic effects performed, then clearly explained by Michael Ammar, one of magic's most renowned performers and teachers.

He not only teaches you the magic, but also takes time to give you a tour of the magic world and where to find resources, conventions, magazines, plus professional advice about all the things he wished he had known when first starting out in magic. I find this very magnanimous of him. I am inspired to mentor younger magicians by his example.

You can always count on Michael Ammar to teach you the best magic the best way. Most of the magic is not hard to learn and do, but it will absolutely astonish anyone you perform it for.

Gene Grant’s version of a classic card trick called “Out Of This World”, created by Paul Curry, is taught on this DVD. I learned this trick a long time ago, and had forgotten what a killer effect it had till I watched this DVD.

There are other kinds of fabulous magic taught with ordinary items that can be done anytime, anywhere. If you want to learn magic that you can pull off under almost any circumstance, and absolutely floor your audience, then this is the video you want, because it's OUT OF THIS WORLD!

You'll be ready to amaze people just minutes after watching. So come down to our Magic Circle meeting to watch this latest DVD.

My recent 'street magic' experience

Talk about coincidence! Just after I've been reading and airing my thoughts on Street Magic. I get to do my own old school street magic performance. Scheduled as a performer at the TCS Take the City Walk 2007 - Celebrate Singapore, Celebrate Family, I had gingerly prepared for a half an hour stage performance. Due to rain, the Padang was really muddy. Especially the area directly in front of the stage. There was no way anyone could watch my show or any other performance unless they stood, like, 30 metres away.

I decided to perform in the middle of the Padang, on the cricket patch that was covered up so nicely with a big green canvas. (Not a very glamourous performance!) Families gathered round to to watch the show, sitting and standing less than 3 feet away. I quickly changed my show line-up to work the crowd. All's well that went well! Everyone had loads of laughs and loads of fun.


Thank God for the friendly audience. A big thanks to all the friends that came to support me during the show! Couldn't have done it without you! :)

Yours,
Priscilla

Take the City Walk

I was so busy, I haven’t spoken about our novel time at the “Take the City Walk” on 28 July.

This walkathon is a fund-raising event to support programmes for the needy and disadvantaged under the care of TOUCH Community Services. Where Project SMILE graduands came in was the carnival at the finishing line of the Walk.

The students were tasked to perform magic at the carnival as a part of the programme. The carnival had the right atmosphere to test the skills and creativity of this batch of Project SMILE students. It was noisy, there were a hundred things going on, and our 'street magicians' had to compete with a balloon castle, a free popcorn queue and game stalls offering attractive prizes.

But were they intimidated? No way! They carried themselves like professional street magicians (although I knew quite a few of them were nervous!) They mesmerized the crowd with their pocket card and rope tricks. Pretty soon, they were swallowed by a huddle of brand new fans, who clamoured for more. After tantalizing them with promises of more magic treats, they rallied the carnival participants to watch the stage magic show by yours truly.

With such a tough opening act in their magic career, I would certainly say that this batch of Project SMILE students graduated with flying colours. Don’t you agree?

Project SMILE in China

I am taking stock after the Shenyang trip.

This trip had been a huge challenge to me. I had never taught a Project SMILE class on this scale before, let alone in Mandarin! Help! As most of you know, Chinese is NOT my forte (and that is putting it mildly?)

Well, I SURVIVED! I not only survived the trip, but to my surprise… I actually enjoyed myself. I managed to teach two out of three c1assroom sessions and anchored an entire community service in Mandarin. But I didn’t do it by myself. I had a kick-ass team of volunteer magicians who helped me every step of the way. (You guys were awesome!)

I remembered how, in 2006, TOUCH Community Services International (TCSI) and Liaoning’s Provincial Communist Youth Party partnered to bring Project SMILE to Shenyang. As Chairman of TOUCH, my dad personally taught magic to 50 of their varsity students.

It was such a successful collaboration that they not only invited us back to teach magic; they also invited my dad to be a guest speaker at Shenyang Technological University and Dongbei University. This is one of the rare occasions whereby China has given an outsider the liberty to speak to their youths about life values.

Wow, I gotta stop a moment to appreciate the immensity of this privilege -- we were allowed the extraordinary opportunity to speak into China’s next generation.

In retrospect, this trip has been very meaningful to me on many levels. Not just Dad’s speech to the varsity students, but through the entire Project SMILE. From the experience of serving the community, our students were able to understand how they as individuals can make a difference.

Their act of kindness of performing magic and spending time with the elderly during the community service segment brought immeasurable joy to the elderly, so much so that it evoked strong emotions in the students themselves.

I always knew that Project SMILE is a great way to get people involved in serving the community, but this particular Project SMILE has taught me that EVERYONE OF US CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Yours Magically,
Priscilla

Qian Qian Shou

It's great to be back!

I've just finished conducting a two-day intensive Project SMILE for 150 students at the Thousand Linking Hands (Qian Qian Shou) 2nd Shanghai Summer Camp in July. Man, was it challenging to coach in Mandarin! Despite this, I enjoyed every moment teaching the Shanghai students!

The slogan for this mission is very poetic and evocative.

Linking Hearts Linking Minds Linking Hands
心 心 相 印心 智 相 通心 手 相 连

Qian Qian Shou (千牵手) is a project spanning three years that aims to bring a thousand youths from Singapore to Shanghai to serve the various communities across China in 2008. This is our second year conducting the Shanghai Summer Camp. This camp prepares the youth for the culmination of 千牵手 in 2008, by training them in both Service-Learning and Project SMILE.

Qian Qian Shou (千牵手) aims to impart the heart of serving the community to all participating youths. During the camp, they are guided to plan Service-Learning projects, which will then be executed at various locations with the help of the host social service groups.

Magic was introduced as a tool to engage the community, but it made a greater impact than we initially thought. Last year, the campers were trained by my dad whom they called "Kwang Lao Shi". He had shaped an ordinary piece of tissue into a flower and presented it to one of the campers whose birthday was on the day itself. This participant was visibly touched by the gesture; she not only received the tissue flower with tears in her eyes, but she understood the underlying message of the flower, which was that she was special.

Many of those trained in Project SMILE last year came back as trained leaders to spearhead their group's Service-Learning projects. First-timers at this year’s camp were brought through two days of intensive Project SMILE lessons. But they learned fast, with the help of their magic facilitators.

It is evident that last year's camp had instilled in the participants a desire not just to serve the community, but to excel in it. And the excitement is building up to the final camp in 2008.

"The Service-Learning training helps us to prepare fully for the projects. The 6 steps to victory over social ills also equip me to build a community (of like minded volunteers) for service. This is the key to success.”
Leon Lee, Shanghai Participant

"I learnt Project SMILE in 2005 back in Singapore, and I didn't expect to be a magic facilitator... I was very stressed. But on the first day, after I revised and listened to Priscilla's teaching again, I managed to recall my past lessons and helped my group. I feel that, as I teach others, I learned the tricks better myself."
Sze Yung, Group Magic Facilitator

Armed with their newly acquired skills, the students are all set to serve the community through their meticulously planned Service-Learning projects complemented with their magic tricks.

We take our (magic) hats off to these new members of the Magic Circle who have bravely taken up the challenge! I'm sure they will do us all proud!

Yours Magically,
Priscilla

STREET MAGIC LINKS

"Street magic effects have to pack small and play big... High-impact, raw, real magic.”

Check out the following links to learn more about street magic -

• http://streetmagic.info/
• http://www.1streetmagic.com/street-magic/street_magic.htm
• http://www.goodtricks.net/david-blaine-street-magic-tricks.htm

For all your street magic needs, go to http://www.ellusionist.com

Wanna watch clips of magic? Youtube has everything. Best bet is to look for specifc magicians or routines that you wanna see. Or if you have alot of time.. slowly watch all the home videos of people performing magic. There was one kid who perfromed the ACR that was quite good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AveqS9Lbq0o

Another great site to find magic clips are on http://www.metacafe.com/

Evolution By Jeff


For all of you who want to learn how to do card flourishes and look really slick,

check out these clips -

SIMPLE SYBIL CUT

TOMAHAWK CUT

CRAZY CUTS

Guess I kinda went OTT with the clips. What can I say... I've always liked flourishes.

That's all for now!

STREET MAGIC (I)

After writing the article in the newsletter, I realize that it might not be enough and further explanation might be needed. So here goes…

There is a big difference between performing STREET MAGIC and a STREET MAGICIAN. All magicians can perform street magic. But that DOES NOT mean that all magicians can be street magicians.

Sounds chiem doesn’t it? ;)

Let's deal with one thing at a time. Nowadays, the first thought that comes to mind when you mention Street Magic is… Self Levitation. Well at least I did! When I first learnt magic, I thought street magic the ‘cool’ version of tricks. Style of performing: fast & furious.

Hence the first few tricks that I learnt involved using ravens and loops. First card magic I first learnt was the Ambitious Card Routine (which by the way… is now known as ACR). Other than that, I only bothered learning all sorts ‘tricks with cards’ like card cuts and flourishes. I thought that the magic had to be visual and instant, be it cards, coins or anything else.

I still remember the first time I did a ‘Street Magic’ shoot. It was in 2002, where my friend Ferris and I did a street magic shoot for HTV. We shot around the Esplanade and along Orchard Road. By then, I learnt that eveb quick flashy effects needed some sort of build up in order to create a visual miracle for your spectators. However, the choice of magic performed was really based on what we thought was ‘cool’. I remember working coin tricks, card tricks, mental magic and even tried David Blaine’s self levitation.

This is how I stereotyped street magic. Nothing wrong with that! Many still perceive street magic as such, especially with so many local magicians now on TV.

Check out this clip. The magician not only performs good visual card effects, but teaches them as well.


Magic Exposed

DOES CLOTHES MAKE A MAN? in our case.. does clothes make a magician?)

In the corporate world, we always hear the term ' Dress For Success!". And as all youths know, IMAGE COUNTS!

Let's say you're quite a good magician. You have a decent repertoire with some great effects. You’ve practiced it thousands of times, perfected it in front of the mirror and now are ready to take your act to the streets. Ok... maybe not the streets but you are ready to perform a 15 min segment for a small group of people at an informal gathering.

But wait....what are you going to wear???

You say “What?, who cares what I am wearing?”.

Let me tell you something, image and presentation is everything. What is the first thing people see when you start performing?? It’s you of course! First impressions last. You only have one chance to make a great first impression even before you do your magic. You might think, I can wear anything to do my magic trick and it will still amaze them. You're probably right! A great effect is a great effect! But with a littlle style and imaging, you can take your performance to a whole new level.

Imagine with me.
2 cars side by side. Both have the same high powered engine same sport suspension. The first car is dull mustard in color. The interior is basic grey. Very functional in its look. The second car is a shiny orange in color and looks stylish inside. There are some titanium-effect trims on the dashboard with the top patterned so it almost resembled carbon fibre. Feels expensive.
Now, which car would you instinctive go and look at first? Let me rephrase that... Which car will your friends go and look at first? *grinz*

Get the picture right?

Likewise, if you are dressed in just your regular clothes (jeans & t-shirt or pants & short sleeved collared shirt) and performing tricks, yes you will still probably get great reactions. But consider the possibilities if you stepped up your dress code slightly. Now, I am not saying that you have to wear branded clothes nor spend alot of money on your imaging. Just be aware of what your are wearing and what you want to portray. It can determine the type of impression you leave behind.


~ A rule of thumb I always follow: Don't dress for the occasion, instead dress slightly better than what the occasion requires. ~