Question about 'Street' Magic

[darosa.justin]

Hi guys,

Let's say I'm planning of performing in the street sometime...

My preference would be to kind of stay in one place and just slowly gather a crowd.

How would you suggest I do that?

Next, I also believe it is in my best interest to maybe create a 10-15 minute routine, so I don't get stuck thinking of stuff to do.

Do you agree with that and the time length?

This is kind of off topic, but I live in Hong Kong. Here, the main language is Cantonese, but I can only speak english fluently.

I'm planning on performing in areas where there are a lot of tourists/english speakers. Wait...I just solved my own problem...

Hopefully you can help me out anyway!

 

[Frank]

Hey, darosa.justin.
You say you're going to perform in tourist areas...well that's solved right there. If you find a small group of people sitting around chatting, go over, ask if they want to see some cool stuff! If they aggree, go ahead and perform. Other people will see you and the crowd, and they'll come over and gather with you.

Yes, it is always good to have a nice routine so you aren't stuck thinking up tricks to do. I usually perform an ambitious card routine to get the people started, end it several different ways each time, then I perform some sandwich effects. This all together is about almost 9 minutes. I actually perform some Dan and Dave material, too. Since the release of the Dangerous DVD, I'm also incorperating some of D+M's things into my routines. I suggest you get his DVD if you haven't - it will help you with routining!

 

[owen.christian]

If you find a small group of people sitting around chatting, go over, ask if they want to see some cool stuff! If they aggree, go ahead and perform. Other people will see you and the crowd, and they'll come over and gather with you.

Good advice.

 

[adjones]

What you're talking about is called "Busking", which is basically what Gazzo does. It's not going up to people and asking if they'd like to see magic, its gathering a crowd, doing a good show, and getting tips at the end.

I highly recommend you look into Gazzo's products for this, and watch buskers such as him, and others on YouTube... there are tons of videos of buskers.

http://www.penguinmagic.com/gazzo.php

There's pretty much all of his products. Also, he has a busking pouch available from Penguin that he makes by hand, according to your standard; but it's like $600, so you may want to wait for that.

 

[Rmana]

If you can flourish at all, it usually gets people to watch... It's kind of like juggling, people will stop to watch you, and then you ask if they want to see some magic and you're in.

I say it's good to have a bunch of tricks ready so as long as people are watching and interested, just keep going... it's hard to say that 10-15 minutes is right (it is a nice amount of time) but if someone is in a rush or if they want to hang around for awhile, then let them.

I've never really gone out searching for a crowd, but I often just sit around my campus and flourish and stuff and people will ask me for a trick and I do it, and am often rewarded with money or a cup of coffee... or just the satisfaction of doing a good performance.

So yea... don't try to force it and just keep at it because sometimes people want to see you and sometimes they don't. If you've seen Wayne Houchin's Distortion, you'll know what I mean about how sometimes they dont'.