{"id":73,"date":"2015-04-09T15:22:22","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T15:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/?p=73"},"modified":"2015-04-09T15:41:03","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T15:41:03","slug":"what-is-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/?p=73","title":{"rendered":"What is magic?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ed Williams and I worked on a course to teach aspiring magicians how to be entertaining.\u00a0 The course was built around our understanding of the nature of magic.\u00a0 We define magic as<\/p>\n<p><em>Magic is the performing art of conjuring in which the performer expresses himself creatively through his performance\u00a0 by creating meaning and context consistently and clearly\u00a0 in his performance through continuous two way communication, which is both verbal and nonverbal, between the performer and the audience that leads to entertainment through suspension of disbelief and deception. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Our definition comprises several parts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u00a0Magic is the performing art of conjuring<\/strong>\n<ol>\n<li>performance art<\/li>\n<li>conjuring<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0<strong>in which the performer expresses himself creatively through his performance<\/strong>\n<ol>\n<li>creative self expression<\/li>\n<li>performance is the vehicle for the expression<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>by creating meaning and context consistently and clearly\u00a0 in his performance (Atmosphere, Consistency, and Clarity)<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Atmosphere -controls the state of mind in which the spectators view your performance. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Atmosphere consists of two elements:\n<ol>\n<li>Treatment\n<ol>\n<li>Theme\n<ul>\n<li>Personalities<\/li>\n<li>Phenomenon<\/li>\n<li>Purpose<\/li>\n<li>Proof<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Presentation<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Performer\u2019s Character<br \/>\nAtmosphere, like interest, must be built up.\u00a0 Without atmosphere there can be no suspension of\u00a0 disbelief and hence no illusion. Atmosphere creates the context and meaning of the magical performance for the audience.\u00a0 This creates the drama which leads to the suspension of disbelief. \u00a0 Magic differs from theatrical plays in that magic has conviction (suspension of disbelief) and deception while theatrical plays have merely conviction.\u00a0 Conviction aids the performer by making deception easier.\u00a0 When belief is suspended, the audience\u00a0 is so absorbed in what you are doing as your character that they have little or no time or inclination to spare for how you did it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Consistency<\/li>\n<li>Clarity<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>through continuous two way communication, which is both verbal and nonverbal, between the performer and the audience<\/strong>\n<ol>\n<li>two way conversation<\/li>\n<li>verbal and nonverbal communication<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>that leads to entertainment<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>through suspension of disbelief and deception.<\/strong>\n<ol>\n<li>suspension of disbelief (conviction)<\/li>\n<li>deception<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Magically yours,<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20050211031312im_\/http:\/\/learn-great-magic-tricks.com\/images\/sig.gif\" alt=\"magic tricks sig file\" align=\"Left\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"excerpt\">Ed Williams and I worked on a course to teach aspiring magicians how to be entertaining.\u00a0 The course was built around our understanding of the nature of magic.\u00a0 We define magic as Magic is the performing art of conjuring in which the performer expresses himself creatively through his performance\u00a0 by creating meaning and context consistently and clearly\u00a0 in his performance&hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/?p=73\">Read more &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","xfolkentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79,"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/79"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.funtymemagic.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}