Guest Author - Kristin Peoples

If you have ever seen a David Blaine television special, you may have a good idea of what street magic is all about. It’s actually not a new term or a new way of performing magic. In the United States, it is said to have started in the 1960s however, the world has known street magic for thousands of years. It is sometimes called busking. It is the art of pulling a crowd into your performance who didn’t pay to see a show. You may see magicians on the street performing tricks and they are not in an auditorium or stage. To them, the world is a stage and these magicians enjoy enticing you into their performance with outstanding tricks and a winning personality.

Street magic can performed anywhere. It gives the perception that you just happened upon someone doing a trick. It seems unrehearsed like an impromptu performance. That is actually not the case. Street magic is usually not unrehearsed or not practiced. These magicians enjoying having you watch them even though you didn’t know you were going to see a magic show that day.

The magician that is drawn to this type of performance will make money. If you have a container for your tips, it will get filled. Here are few things to consider:

Audience Participation
As with any type of magic, you must engage your audience. The more you have the audience participate, the better the response will be. When you begin to perform on the street, look for the people who seem genuinely interested in what you are doing. They will be the ones that stay a little longer than others. They will make eye contact with you and smile.

Length
Keep your performance short and sweet. When you perform on stage, it is much different from a street magic performance. People are in a hurry to get wherever they are going. You will want to pull them in for a few tricks and have them go on their way. Hopefully they will give you a handsome reward for the brief moments of unexpected entertainment.

Sound Check
Make sure everyone can hear you. If they cannot hear you they will shrug it off and not stop. If you have a microphone, that’s great. If not, practice projecting your voice. Move the crowd into you. If someone is a little further out but still seems interested, ask them to come in and join you.

Street magic is great. You will find out very quick what tricks work well with this type of crowd.