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Authors: Dynamo
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me figure out how to use the space on stage better and how to project my voice from my diaphragm rather than my throat.
Not only did he give me his time, Kevin also invited me to join a workshop with final-year students from RADA. The workshop taught me that you have to live outside yourself when you’re in front of an audience – you’ve got to lose your ego and not be too self-conscious if you want to give yourself in a performance. You’ve got to be in the moment as a performer. It can be hard for me – for anybody – to really expose myself like that. You may have a huge amount going on in your private life, you may feel ill that day, or you may just be in a bad mood. But onstage, you have to learn to handle your emotions and control what people see.
It was such a great learning curve. The idea had been well-intentioned but I quickly realised that I shouldn’t put anything out– even if just for friends and family – that I wasn’t completely confident in. I really appreciate that Kevin took the time out to explain where I was going wrong. It’s still something I’m working on, to be honest, but I hope I’ll be able to do a live show with more success very soon. I have a lot of ideas and I have the advice from Kevin to guide me. It will happen one day.
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CHAPTER 5
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THE HEROES OF MAGIC
I WAS NINETEEN the first time I went to New York. I arrived in the Big Apple as ‘Steven, the-Hip-Hop-Magician-Kid-from-Bradford’ and left not only with the respect of my peers, but also with a brand-new name.
It was 2001, and I had been invited by the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) and the Society of American Magicians (SAM) to attend a four-day conference. It was, as usual with anything magic-related, shrouded in secrecy, so I can’t reveal too much. What I can say is that ordinarily, there are two separate magic conferences a year that take place in different parts of America. Because it was the centenary of the SAM, founded by the great Harry Houdini, the society had decided to team up with the IBM for the first time and hold a joint conference in New York as a celebration of the release of their joint Houdini commemorative stamp. It’s essentially a conference similar to that which you might get for music, art or business – but for magic. There are talks, seminars, demonstrations and shows. Because the IBM and the SAM had joined up this particular year, I knew that the cream of the crop would be descending on New York for those four days. I figured if I could get myself a spot performing there, it could have a great impact on my career.
if you have a dream, then New York is the place to make it come true
I wangled an invite through a magician friend who I’d met on holiday in Las Vegas earlier that year. Although I was welcome to attend, I would have to pay my own way out there. Luckily, even though I was young, I was doing OK and had built up some savings through my croupier job in the casino in Bradford. I made £795 a month and, living rent-free with my great-grandparents, I either ate Nana’s cooking (which was the best in the world) or had free meals at work because I worked nights. I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke, and I didn’t have a phone bill because no one had mobile phones back then. On the rare occasions I had to buy myself food, I’d go to my favourite curry house in Bradford, where you could get a meal for two for £5. It was almost impossible for me to get rid of my money so I was saving around £600 a month. Not only did I not have anything to spend my wages on, but also I made sure I saved because I had a goal in mind, an ambition to achieve.
I went to America four times that year alone, paid for by myself. I would go to Las Vegas to see the latest developments in the magic shows; I’d pop to LA for the odd gig and, towards the end of 2001, I took the opportunity to go to New York.
GETTING ON THE plane I felt a nervous rumble. I’d been to America before
Not only did he give me his time, Kevin also invited me to join a workshop with final-year students from RADA. The workshop taught me that you have to live outside yourself when you’re in front of an audience – you’ve got to lose your ego and not be too self-conscious if you want to give yourself in a performance. You’ve got to be in the moment as a performer. It can be hard for me – for anybody – to really expose myself like that. You may have a huge amount going on in your private life, you may feel ill that day, or you may just be in a bad mood. But onstage, you have to learn to handle your emotions and control what people see.
It was such a great learning curve. The idea had been well-intentioned but I quickly realised that I shouldn’t put anything out– even if just for friends and family – that I wasn’t completely confident in. I really appreciate that Kevin took the time out to explain where I was going wrong. It’s still something I’m working on, to be honest, but I hope I’ll be able to do a live show with more success very soon. I have a lot of ideas and I have the advice from Kevin to guide me. It will happen one day.
----
CHAPTER 5
----
THE HEROES OF MAGIC
I WAS NINETEEN the first time I went to New York. I arrived in the Big Apple as ‘Steven, the-Hip-Hop-Magician-Kid-from-Bradford’ and left not only with the respect of my peers, but also with a brand-new name.
It was 2001, and I had been invited by the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM) and the Society of American Magicians (SAM) to attend a four-day conference. It was, as usual with anything magic-related, shrouded in secrecy, so I can’t reveal too much. What I can say is that ordinarily, there are two separate magic conferences a year that take place in different parts of America. Because it was the centenary of the SAM, founded by the great Harry Houdini, the society had decided to team up with the IBM for the first time and hold a joint conference in New York as a celebration of the release of their joint Houdini commemorative stamp. It’s essentially a conference similar to that which you might get for music, art or business – but for magic. There are talks, seminars, demonstrations and shows. Because the IBM and the SAM had joined up this particular year, I knew that the cream of the crop would be descending on New York for those four days. I figured if I could get myself a spot performing there, it could have a great impact on my career.
if you have a dream, then New York is the place to make it come true
I wangled an invite through a magician friend who I’d met on holiday in Las Vegas earlier that year. Although I was welcome to attend, I would have to pay my own way out there. Luckily, even though I was young, I was doing OK and had built up some savings through my croupier job in the casino in Bradford. I made £795 a month and, living rent-free with my great-grandparents, I either ate Nana’s cooking (which was the best in the world) or had free meals at work because I worked nights. I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke, and I didn’t have a phone bill because no one had mobile phones back then. On the rare occasions I had to buy myself food, I’d go to my favourite curry house in Bradford, where you could get a meal for two for £5. It was almost impossible for me to get rid of my money so I was saving around £600 a month. Not only did I not have anything to spend my wages on, but also I made sure I saved because I had a goal in mind, an ambition to achieve.
I went to America four times that year alone, paid for by myself. I would go to Las Vegas to see the latest developments in the magic shows; I’d pop to LA for the odd gig and, towards the end of 2001, I took the opportunity to go to New York.
GETTING ON THE plane I felt a nervous rumble. I’d been to America before
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