Miss Direction

When a magician waves his hand and says, "This is where the magic is happening." The real trick is happening somewhere else. Misdirection.

The quote above is from the movie Now You See Me. While watching it the other day for the first time since it was in the theaters, I finally got to really take in the movie. One of it's main themes is misdirection. The key to magic. Without it, well there wouldn't be "magic".
Now we assistants are usually blamed for all misdirection. Most people say oh sure, put any girl in a skimpy outfit and the magician can sneak an elephant onstage. While this could be true, I guess, that's definitely not how we do it in our show. I don't need to rely on my body to change where someone is looking.
There are a million different ways to keep attention away from what's really going on. Everyone knows that something sneaky has to happen, they just don't know where or when. And it's my job to see that it stays that way. Now that's not to say that I do all of it, Brandon does it too of course. But it is easier to rely on each other to cover for one another than to do it all alone.
Misdirection is a skill. I don't care what anyone has to say opposing that. The beauty of misdirection is you should never see it. It should be invisible. If you noticed a magician or assistant trying to make you look somewhere else, then obviously they failed. As a performer if you accomplish this, it's one of the satisfying feelings in the world. But on the opposing end, if they fooled you, it's one of the most frustrating things in the world. I'll never forget how many times during seeing Penn & Teller's show out in Vegas that I was just like holy crap, when did I look the wrong way? Or in their case, the right way.

As humans, we can't help it. We like order. So we naturally do what we're told. Whether it is someone actually "speaking" to us or not. The way that we misdirect could be a number of different things. But of course, all are natural. Our body language, facial expressions, a wave of the hand. All of things can cause redirection and misdirection. Where I look, you look. It's only natural. I look so fascinated by what Brandon is doing, you automatically want to see what I see. You want to feel what I am feeling. It's all part of the experience.
I'm not gonna lie, it's one of the harder parts of doing magic. Trying to concentrate enough on what you're doing, while not looking like you're doing what you're doing is extremely difficult. I'm working on my first silent solo magic piece and I have to do what magicians call "stealing". So obviously I have to use misdirection. And it's not easy. I can't check it or watch my hands. It's all about using a bigger motion to cover a smaller motion. Or just being gutsy. That can work too.

"It's so overt it's covert" -Robert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes

I'm not trying to give away some big secret here, I'm pretty sure everyone knows something sneaky is happening. It is magic after all. You watch it to be fooled, something has to hide the action of the trick so it can be magic. My misdirection has definitely improved over the years, maybe one day we can work up to full elephant status.

 

Outside Inspiration

Recently, well March 27th to be exact, I celebrated my magiversary. Four years I have been doing this! Absolutely crazy! As I think back over my time in magic, I think about how I have developed as a performer and who/what helped me with that.
Inspiration can come from really crazy places. Movies, books, pictures, art, music. Whatever helps you discover what you need to be or do. Being a magic assistant I often do a lot of dance, but also acting. Not necessarily talking, but often the facial expressions can speak louder than words.
In one routine in particular, I have to looked scared. I had the hardest time trying to figure out the right expression. I am a visual learner. I've never been super creative with coming up with my own stuff. That's why Brandon has to show me choreography so then I can copy him. Same with facial expressions. I needed to look scared so where did I go to for inspiration? Kristen Stewart. Yes, haters gonna hate, I know a lot of people don't like her but I do. She is perfect to look at for a scared face. Or a face in pain. I mean let's be honest, those are her best. Whether you like her or not, that was the perfect place for me to look. I've gotten a lot of compliments about my facial expressions for that routine so I think it was worth it!

Of course there are a million movies out there they give me little things to help like the way I flick my wrist or hold a pose. Then there's super awesome movies like Now You See Me that really helps my character develop.
TV shows can also help. So You Think You Can Dance is the most amazing thing ever to look at for beautiful dance technique and being fluid on stage. Even The Walking Dead has inspired a few things.
Then there's the subject of music. Honestly who doesn't get inspired by it? And sometimes I just use it as a confidence booster. Everybody has those couple of songs where they are just like heck yes this is me. It puts you in such an awesome mood and you feel on top of the world like you could do anything. I freaking jam out to "My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" by Fall Out Boy. I seriously feel like I could take over the world with that song. Although that's probably not a good idea.
Brandon's inspiration is Michael Jackson. Honestly he was and always will be one of the greatest performers of all time. He wasn't just a singer or a dancer, he was an entertainer. That's always been our goal with our magic. We don't want to be just magicians or illusionists, we want to be entertainers first and foremost.
Everyday little things inspire us, change us, make us better people. It will always be that way. I hope to continue growing as a person and an entertainer for years to come. Then one day, hopefully I can inspire someone too.