scholar    •    magician    •    consultant

About two weeks ago, I sat down with Nantali Indongo in a studio at the CBC building in Montreal to discuss why magic continues to fascinate us. In advance of the interview I was asked to choose four songs that represent different parts of my life, which was both a fun and difficult exercise. Imagine being able to choose any of your favorite songs that will be played on a CBC radio show that anyone can link to and listen to, at anytime, all over the world. What a special opportunity to speak about my love for the performing art of magic, some of the people who continue to inspire me, and some exciting projects. Nantali, Amanda Klang, and the entire CBC team were lovely to work with and I’m happy with the resulting episode. (<– clicking this link, or the image above, will take you to the interview). Below, I’ve included links to some more specific information that you may want to reference while listening to the show and links to some other favorite versions of the songs you’ll hear in the episode:

Song #1 — Nina Simone, “I Ain’t Got No – I Got Life”, ‘Nuff Said (1968),

• Montreal’s National Circus School (NCS) is a state-recognized, degree-granting circus schools with a professional program.
• The NCS is also home to CRITAC (the Centre for Circus Arts Research, Innovation, and Knowledge Transfer).
• I wrote a visual essay for The Walrus about the Allan Slaight collection and conducted preliminary research for the McCord exhibition Illusions: The Art of Magic.
• Here is a link to the ten-episode web series, Houdini and Doyle: World of Wonders.
• For more about Philip Astley and the history of the bullet catch illusion read Jim Steinmeyer’s book The Glorious Deception and Katharina Rein’s recent article “Rupturing Illusionism: The Bullet Catch.”
• For more information about Cirque du Soleil’s C:Lab, check out this video and others.
• I am inspired by the experimental and avant-garde magic of the following artists who are mentioned in the interview (and many more too!) . . .
  • Kalle Nio,
  • Cie 14:20,
  • Derek Delgaudio.

Song # 2 — Blackalicious, “Deception,” Nia (1999),

• Grand Illusions, is still bringing joy and wonderment to people every day. Shout-out to Steve, Leora, and Don Johnson.
• Workers #3, by Michael Close, is a specific magic instruction manual that I remember reading when I was 14.
• For more about the importance of respecting diverse cultural traditions of magic rituals, conjuring performances and proper terminology:
  • See the discussion for the anglicized word “fakir” and the Hindi word “jadugar” in Reception and Adaptation: Magic Tricks, Mysteries, Con Games (213-214).
  • See the introduction to issue 16.2 of Early Popular Visual Culture — “Toward a Historiography of Stage Conjuring: Are We Entering a Golden Age?”
    • See fellow circademic and Concordia postdoctoral fellow Tracy Ying Zhang’s article “Enchanted Masculinities: Gender, Modern Magic and Nationalism in Early Twentieth Century China” (among others).
• David Ben, Julie Eng, and the charitable organization Magicana are constant sources of inspiration and learning.
  • Here are a couple of their projects I’ve been lucky enough to be part of:
    • Researching and writing for The Life and Magic of Stewart James web exhibition,
    • Presenting at 31 Faces North,
    • Volunteering with Magican’s My Magic Hands program.
• Here’s a previous post about Jazz, Technique and Oliver Jones.
  • More on
  • David Ben’s mentor Ross Bertram.

Song #3 — Oliver Jones, “Hymn to Freedom,” Live in Baden Switzerland (feat. Ed Thigpen & Reggie Johnson),

• Patrick Boyle
• FISM 2021, the olympics of magic, will be held in Quebec City,
• Three world-class magicians to based in the province of Quebec:
  • Luc Langevin,
  • Alain Choquette, and
  • Gary Kurtz
  • For more, please see Giovanni Luliani book Les Magiciens du Québec.

Song #4 — Neil Young, Guitar Solo No. 5, Dead Man soundtrack,

• The Annual Show of the National Circus School at the TOHU here in Montreal May 29 to June 9, 2019.

Song #5 — Karim Ouellet, l’Amour, Fox, (2012)

It’s a good day when the industrial partner you work for as part of your postdoc invests in a magic entertainment company. Sophie Haigney’s article for the New York Times reveals some of the thinking behind this acquisition. The Works Entertainment has produced shows like The Illusionists and Circus 1903, which feature a variety of magic disciplines (a comedy magician, an escape artist, a manipulation act, a stage illusionist, a mentalist, etc.). This model fits Cirque du Soleil’s variety act model, which contrasts with solo shows like David Blaine’s, Darren Brown’s, and Michael Carbonaro’s recent celebrity magician tours. Looking at this development in the entertainment world from the other direction of the sale is also interesting: The Works Entertainment has never only produced magic shows. Simon Painter and Tim Lawson’s production company also has Cirque Noir, Cirque Adrenaline, The Unbelievables, Cirque Paris, and A Magical Cirque Christmas under its belt. As the genres and disciplines of live entertainment continue to mix, overlap and mash-up, the amalgamation of these two companies and their magic/circus productions makes sense.

If he were a magician, Daniele Finzi Pasca might be Michael Skinner or René Lavand or Juan Tamariz. He has the elegant touch of Skinner, the soul of Lavand, and the unconditional love of Tamariz.

Last night I saw Icaro, a virtuosic one-man show by the Swiss-Italian circus artist, clown and storyteller Daniele Finzi Pasca. He finished writing the show, which he wrote for a single spectator, during a short period spent in prison for conscientious objection. That experience, along with Pasca’s earlier humanitarian work with terminal patients in India, may explain the tenderness and intimacy of this show as well as the aesthetic approach of the Finzi Pasca company.

Theatre of Caresse is the phrase that embodies Pasca’s creation and performance philosophy. The book of the same title, a collection of interviews articulating this school-of-thought, is epitomized in the heart-to-heart style of Icaro. In the show that I saw a spectator was gently made more and more comfortable onstage, established a camaraderie with Pasca, and, finally, embarked upon an imaginary journey of recuperation . . . and escape. The theatre of the caresse is a lovely contrast to Artaud and other’s so-called “theatre of cruelty” without being its opposite.  Having lived with and watched performances by two current Finzi Pasca members (Quebecois musician Andrée-Anne Gingras Roy and Argentine juggler Marco Paoletti), I’d already been introduced to the soul and aesthetic style of Pasca’s performance work through their collaborations with him. So, it was a special treat to sit in the front row last night and watch the founder putting his own philosophy into practice (and sometimes only a few feet away).

I don’t want to spoil any other surprises that occur in Icaro, but I will say this:

If you’d like to see a master of vulnerable performance, physical clowning, and human connection, go see Icaro. And if you’d like to go deeper, read Theatre de la Caresse.