Why I love Close up magic

When I started as a magician, I looked at all kinds of magic from stage to informal shows, but nothing called to me like close-up magic and the idea of getting to know and connect with my audience. The magic moment should happen to close up, in front of the spectator's eyes and with everyone involved. There is nowhere for the magician to hide or doubt in the audience's mind about what they have just seen. 

Here are some of my favourite things about performing close-up magic. 

Personal and a chance to meet people

The fact I get to go out and meet people while performing gives me a chance to not only talk to them but also to show them a peace of magic that speaks to them and only to them. Giving them a moment they will never forget and watching them react as they realise what's happened. I love going out to perform and meeting someone and knowing that I have the perfect trick to show them that will blow their mind. It's something that I've worked hard to put into my act and make sure that I select the right trick for the right people. 

Happens right in front of your eyes

There's nowhere to hide. All the magic I do close-up is done in front of people with no trap doors or string, which means I have to think of how my magic will play to the group of people or how it might work as a one-on-one to create something memorable for the people watching at that moment. It also means the audience is more astounded because they can see the magic happening right in front of them. Not only that, but the magic happens to them with them playing an active part in the magic and how it develops across the act. 

People love close-up magic. 

Thanks to great names like a dynamo and David Blaine and Dynamo as well as shows like Britains got talent, more people are aware of close-up magic than ever before; people want to experience it and get excited when I introduce myself as a magician. They know the kind of thing they can expect and how impossible it can seem on TV, and they want to know how it would feel to really experience it when it happens to them. 

It sets an expectation that I want to live up to and get excited about showing in such a way that it will go the extra mile and give them something that over-delivers on what they were expecting. 

uses everyday borrowed objects 

I want there to be no question in the audience's mind about what I'm using. If I use playing cards for a trick, I want them to shuffle and check the cards out and know for certain that the cards I'm using really are completely normal. 

I also love to give things away as a souvenir of them seeing my act or to use borrowed objects that they have on their person, such as coins or wallets. Proving beyond a doubt that they are normal objects that they can take back home with them and marvelling about the time that normal objects became something impossible.

A chance for connection

To end this short list - and I could go on forever- I want to share with you the most personal reason I perform magic for people. Being autistic and growing up, it was always hard for me to show my real self to people; behind the masking and the constant art of being "normal", people think that acting out or being myself as an autistic person can be weird or strange and often gets met with push back. Magic is the medium I use to drop the masking and really get out there, showing people what I love as well as who I am; it gives me a chance to stop masking in a safe and driven environment. To switch the roles around from me not knowing how to act or fit in to them and not knowing how to act and fit in. I can use my magic act to get myself out there truly, and that's wonderful.