Vanish Magic Magazine Dangerfest SPECIAL EDITION | Page 9

Ben Robinson with Lowik Vgz Translation: If you learn from your mistakes, your act will be better. You won’t make the same mistake(s) again, and if you do, you have not been paying attention. (I recently saw a magician in the Midwest do a very poor presentation concluding with a Sword Through Neck that not only injured emotionally, but got the front door to the club broken when the angry patron left.) When your knife ricochets because it is made of a certain gage of steel and you threw it like a baseball instead of like a knife, you better pay attention. People who make stupid mistakes in knife throwing can get injured. You don’t want to walk around Dangerfest barefoot, even though a guy lovingly referred to as “The Dirty Barbarian” did. About that Dirty Barbarian. One of the unique features of Dangerfest aka “a knife throw” (if you are not familiar with the term) is that said Barbarian was brought to the US from France by demand. Generous souls who crowd-funded thousands of dollars and euros to introduce our brother to his American tribe. Consider him a Guest Artist. Lowik Vgz, 29, is a soon-to-be a superstar in his native France. Appearing as a model, athlete, X-Game-talented, badass knife thrower, that seemingly can do anything, and a Special Ed. teacher, are just a few of his incarnations. It is Lowik’s attitude of “can do” that first inspired me to speak to him regularly. He was included singly to do a video representation of an arcane knife throw that is included in my new book, Hiding In Plain Sight. While that may seem like a bold commercial, it isn’t. Actually, Lowik and I met because of an idea expressed in two different places (New York and Burgundy France) at the same time. Sort of two minds that both thought of something, and then while we did not know each other, we found one another on line, and began a collaboration. I’d never met him in the flesh before Dangerfest. Just a small miracle of those who attend this insanely amazing confab. “Hiding In Plain Sight” World Premier “Hiding In Plain Sight” is available from Amazon. While Dangerfest is a story of knife-throwing, “magic” and good will, this is also a story of mind and attitude. The notion of competition that exists in most sports is changed positively by the producers and attendees of Dangerfest. Everyone wants everyone to win, get better and develop the knife throwing mind. We hunger to see this done SPECIAL | 2020 9