scholar    •    magician    •    consultant

The new issue of Circus: Arts, Life & Sciences is now available!
This journal is open access (you can read it for free) and publishes articles in French or English.
See what articles are included and check out your favourites online.
Many thanks to our guest editor, David Munro from @nicaaustralia
Cover photo from the NICA Nanjing Cultural Exchange Project 2011
Beautifully Imperfect
Photographer David Wyatt
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Un nouveau numéro de Circus: Arts, Life & Sciences est disponible en ligne !
Cette revue est en accès libre (vous pouvez le lire gratuitement) et publie des articles en français ou en anglais.
Voyez les articles inclus et découvrez vos préférés en ligne !
Un grand merci à notre éditeur invité, David Munro de @nicaaustralia
Photo de couverture du Projet d’Échange Culturel NICA Nanjing 2011
Magnifiquement imparfait
Photographe David Wyatt

Over the weekend, I performed at a lovely party celebrating the double milestone birthdays (60th and 70th) of a couple here in California. The literal definition of milestone, of course, is a marker placed on a route that shows how far one has traveled. As I setup and performed my magic show, I learned how the couple met, a little about their international travels and heard some wonderful stories about their friends and family. I also reflected on my own magical journey.

I’ve been putting extra love into the narrative and the sonic quality of my magic performances this year. I’m sharing more of my life story in the show as well as refining the sound and the music that I use. These aspects require extra time and greater investments in equipment to get right, but spectators notice them. As I brought in all of my gear to the party, I overheard one of the guests talking to friend: “Wow, a magician. I’ve been watching him setup. This guy knows what he’s doing.” The show was a hit and fun to perform too.

As I said my goodbyes and packed everything up, I received the thank you card that you see in this photo. Some of the family also wouldn’t let me leave without taking some delicious things to eat. They gave me a nice tip too. As I travelled home, I was filled with gratitude to have met these people and to have been part of such a meaningful celebratory moment in their lives.

Here’s to the magical milestones in life. Let’s celebrate them and be grateful for them.

Woohoo, the Enchantments shows performed this weekend received coverage in the Press Democrat today. These shows were a fundraiser for the North Bay Circus Group, and the Arlene Francis Center in Santa Rosa where circus jam is held every week from 6-9PM. Click on the photo to read the article online or check out the print copy when it comes out this Sunday. Shout-out to Charles Swanson for writing this story and to Chad Surmick for his photographs. Here’s to magic and the circus arts in Sonoma County.

See you soon, San Francisco! I’ll be performing magic at the 22nd Annual Edwardian Ball this coming weekend. You can get tickets to this amazing party here:

https://www.edwardianball.com/shows-and-tickets

The Edwardian Ball is an elegant and whimsical celebration of art, music, theatre, fashion, technology, circus, and the beloved creations of the late, great author and illustrator Edward Gorey. Set in a re-imagined “Edwardian Era,” this multi-city, multi-media extravaganza has grown over time from an underground club party into an internationally recognized festival of the arts, now operating with the blessing of The Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.

Free registration is now open for the first ever Greater Bay Area Working Group on Circus Gathering. This event is a collaboration between Stanford University, the Montreal Working Group on Circus, Circus: Arts, Life and Sciences, Kinetic Arts Center, Club Fugazi, Circus Center and you! The goal is to create new exchanges between circademics (i.e. academics who study circus), circus artists, and the Greater Bay Area Community. Space is limited so click here to register if you wish to attend.

Schedule of Events:
Thursday, December 8th
9am-12pm – Stanford University: Keynote by Patrick Leroux and Research Presentations by GBA Working Group Members
12pm-1pm – Stanford University: Hosted Lunch
1pm-2pm – Break & Travel (participants are responsible for their own transportation)
2pm-4pm – Kinetic Arts Center: Circus Research Presentations for the Local Circus Community
4pm-7pm – Break & Travel
7pm-9pm – Club Fugazi: Dear San Francisco by the 7 Fingers (this requires a ticket purchase)

Friday, December 9th
10am-12pm – Kinetic Arts Center: Panel on Bay Area Circus — Past, Present and Future
12pm-4pm – Break & Travel (participants are responsible for their own transportation)
4pm – Circus Center: Tour of the facility
Break for dinner (choose your own adventure)
7:30pm – Circus Center: Winter Show (this requires a ticket purchase)

For any questions, please contact the organizing committee: Joe Culpepper <joe.culpepper@gmail.com>, Stephanie Greenspan <sgreenspan@samuelmerritt.edu> and Adin Sidney Walker <adinw@stanford.edu>

I’ve arrived in Toronto for rehearsals of “The Magic Table” with Marcin Kedzior. We’ll be performing this for the FADO performance art center at 401 Richmond Street West (4th floor) at 7PM on Saturday, September 24th. Tickets for this On the Table / Off the Table performance series are free, but you must register for a ticket here if you will attend. Hope to see you there!

Do you love optical illusions? Are you a maker, artist, hobbyist or performer? I’m excited to be teaching an in-person magic design workshop in Sebastopol, California, on August 13, 2022 at Chimera makerspace:

I’ll be sharing tips, tricks and resources that I’ve used to make magic prototypes for Cirque du Soleil, an illusion installation for Burning Man, and other art that has allowed me to travel the world.

Click here to reserve your spot

This workshop is limited to 10 participants to ensure quality, hands-on instruction and a safe environment.

FISM 2022 is in full swing in Quebec City right now. It’s exciting to be attending the Olympics of magic for the first time.

The FISM World Championship of Magic has been held every three years since 1952. This week over 2,000 magicians from all over the world are here to perform, teach, or share magic in one way or another. It’s lovely to be here, to be reconnecting with old friends, and to be meeting new ones.

Since this is my first magic convention since the pandemic began, it’s also an opportunity for me to practice masking and taking other COVID-19 precautions while still participating in a larger professional gathering. If you are in Quebec City and would like to see one of the shows this week or would like to attend one day in particular, various FISM 2022 passes are available online.

Many thanks to Renée-Claude Auclair, Pierre Hamon and the entire FISM team for all of the work they put in to make this event happen!

Earlier this year, teacher Colin Throness invited me to judge a magic-themed poetry and fiction contest for students from eight different alternative high schools in Montreal. This is such a wonderful initiative created by him and other members of the Montreal English School Board community to encourage and reward young writers. We announced the award-winning entries on June 22, 2021 during an online ceremony. I performed a magic show for the students and teachers on Zoom as part of the event. A free PDF version of the complete collection is available for download on the Alternative United website. Here is the forward to the collection: