What is Magic?

First and foremost, magic is an Art Form.

In some ways it is similar to what you would find in a Museum.
- Paintings and sculptures by the masters of the past can be appreciated for the beauty that was created using paint, brushes, and a canvas or marble, a hammer and a chisel. Taking these simple tools, the masters added their imagination to create the art that so many can now enjoy.

Or, you may think of it to be more like what we see in the movies today.

Spacecraft or Superman traveling at the speed of light.

With magic, people and objects float in mid-air.

Movie magic can only be seen on the screen - in 2 dimensions.

A painting or scultpure can be seen closeup and in person - and you can appreciate the work the artist put in to making what appears before you.

Magic, on the other hand, can be seen closeup and in person as it happens. A full 3 dimension experience.

With magic, you can stretch the immagination to the limits of what is believable by the audience.

Consider this - Who is to say that something is NOT possible?

In the 1400's, people thought that the earth was flat - and that if you sailed past the horizon, you would fall off. A trip the moon? - Without a doubt, impossible.

Today's magic could be tomorrow's reality. And upon this notion, the belief in magic is formed in the minds of the audience.

We want to believe that the magician has found the secret of levitation or dematerialization.

If you've ever seen a good performance of the dancing cane, you'll understand how the audience could believe that it floats - that the magician has access to an extraordinary power that is not available to the ordinary public.

We - the audience who enjoys magic - want to believe it's magic.

- This attitude is covered in another post on "Knowing your Audience."