Entering a magic competition

Hi Everyone

It’s been a while since I posted on here so thought I would update you all on some of the latest things that I have taken part in. This blog is about competitions, as many of you will be aware I was a part of the York society of Magicians and every year they hold a competition night for the group.

Personally I do not care for competitions or watching them however I am a person who is always trying to improve what I do whether it is in my show or just to widen my own knowledge on tricks. As the saying goes “it’s good to have competition as it pushes you to do better” so 3 years ago I thought I would enter myself into one at the society.

First year: I remember I dressed up as my magic elf character Bubbles and performed a routine that I use during the Christmas season. I thought this was a good idea at the time but the competition was in February so I was a little out of place :D. Despite the fact I was performing Christmas Magic in February I came 3^rd which is a good start but I learnt that you cannot perform the standard set you would usually do to a normal audience. I decided I would give the competition another go the following year just to see if I could do any better.

Second year: Learning from the downsides that happened in my first year I put in a little more thought on what would work better for an audience full of Magicians. You should know the audience is like no other at a magic competition, it is literally a room full of magicians with an ego and arms crossed looking at your hands, watching every “move” and waiting for you to flash something you shouldn’t because they know the origin of the routine you are doing even though you have changed the layout and style ect and know what they are looking out for when you’re performing it. I put together a routine and came 2^nd which is better than the first year but still I want to push myself further and try for 1^st place. Unsure of how I am going to do this as soon as the competition is over I begin taking note of all my tricks and which ones I can do that come into the categories we get judged on so I can start putting together an even better routine to blow the judges mind the following year.

Third year: So I was determined this year I would aim for 1^st place and with that in mind I tried to put together a routine they call in the magic world a “magician’s fooler” that worked well for me. After years of performing to normal audience members (non-magicians) I remembered how they liked to be entertained mostly and used that technique in my routine as well as fooling the magicians I was performing to. Lucky enough it worked and I came 1^st so now I am York’s no1 close up Magician, lol. A great little title to add to my website etc and one that makes me glad I pushed myself into entering the competition in the first place.