Erik Tait
Do you have advice for magicians who aim for that kind of feedback?
I perform at a restaurant called Town Hall twice a week. It’ s the testing lab for my act and new products from Penguin Magic. When you see me demonstrating products on the website, they’ ve already been tested and worked out in front of live audiences. I recommend everybody find a place to be their“ lab,” too.
Did starting with juggling lend itself to a quicker acquisition of sleight of hand?
Erik Tait
" If I mess up, magic isn’ t going to die. Magic has existed for 3,000 years and survived all kinds of exposure. "
Yes, it also changed my relationship with sleight-of-hand and magic. Doing powerful magic came to me much later as I formed my own philosophies and opinions. Juggling is all about pushing the technical boundaries and limits of what you can do and developing muscle memory to perform without thinking. Many people talk about entering a flow state, and as a juggler and magician, laying down muscle memory is essential.
Coming out of juggling, I was attracted to unusual and difficult magic. I constantly keep cards in motion, whether cardistry or practicing sleights with a deck, so they come naturally with little thought while performing.
This helped me mold my performing philosophy: what I do isn’ t magic; it’ s a demonstration of skill for which the audience has no explanation. In my standup show, I even say,“ People think magicians don’ t do the trick twice because we’ re afraid you’ ll figure it out. I couldn’ t care less if you figured it out. You’ re not six. I’ m not crazy. None of this is real.” I acknowledge that the audience is entering a suspension of disbelief. Everything they see is a skill.
Photo by Taylor Wong
I present things in a way that gives the appearance of having power, but I never claim it’ s not sleight-of-hand. This allows me to present something as a skill or magic without explicitly acknowledging it as magic. I act as if everything I’ m doing is completely normal and part of the natural physical realm, even though it’ s not. The audience doesn’ t have an explanation because I won’ t tell them how it works.
This mindset frees me to take risks. If I fail, it’ s not the end of the world. If a magician fails, their powers have failed, but if someone demonstrating a skill fails, it’ s like a baseball player getting a strike. They just missed. If I mess up, magic isn’ t going to die. Magic has existed for 3,000 years and survived all kinds of exposure. Occasionally screwing up a double lift isn’ t going to hurt it. To be clear, I disagree with exposure, and I think many people who expose things are not doing it right or for the right reasons. But it’ s important to acknowledge that mistakes happen. It’ s okay to fail. Keep going. Swing again. Hit the ball next time.
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