Have you ever seen the magic documentary "Make Believe"?
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| If you can't come in first place... |
For those who have not, it captures the magic convention competition scene in it's death throes. These kids were basically the last generation in the magic competition scene, at least in North America.
There was a time when acts "came up together" in the competition circuit. Imagine seeing Juliana Chen, Jason Byrne, Greg Frewin and James Dimmare all vying for a shiny paper weight to put on shelf that said they were "the best"TM.
These acts would see the others other perform, most would be friendly towards each other, and even offer words of advice and encouragement (at least from various reports I've heard). As they would get booked at gigs they might suggest some of these other acts for next year or to be on the same bill. It was, an albeit small, community with many of what we now know as top pros of their time.
I feel the camaraderie has moved overseas as other countries like Spain and Korea have taken to magic as a serious stage art.With conventions like FISM Asia, the competition is a little more stiff with some heavy innovations in what one can get away with in a manipulation act. There is also more emphasis on things like character and originality than we foster here in North America.
So what happened? Well, many of the prestigious competitions here are either
gone or their luster has faded. Desert Magic Seminar and the Golden Lion
Head's award (celebrating originality) are defunct. The international
conventions such as SAM and IBM are often used as stepping stones to
FISM but the performing level of the contestants has dropped over time due to the lack of opportunities to hone an act.
The internet is a bit to blame as well as is typically the case. While new info can be seen and shared instantly, you also don't have to wait a year to see your friends and the new stuff they've been working on. There is also a much bigger emphasis on being seen by as many people you can instead of crafting an act and skill set that will carry you across the globe.
As usual it's not one thing that kills an idea, it's a slow build of many factors. Until another "prestigious" opportunity arises that provides notoriety, (as well as monetary gain), it's going to be some time before we see another magic competition scene like the ones we had before.
F in the chat for magic competition.
