Category Archives: performance

Feb4

magic all around you.

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One hundred years ago this month, the magician P.T. Selbit ushered his assistant into an upright wooden box, sealed it, laid it flat, and got down to business, sawing the box right down the middle. The show, according to magic experts, was the first time a performer ever sawed someone in half. Why has this trick survived, when so many others haven’t? If you ask magicians, NYT writer Alex Marshall spoke with six — they eventually land on one answer. “It’s just the simplicity of it,” said Mike Caveney, a magician who’s writing a history of this trick. “Magicians say a good trick is one that can be described in a few words, and ‘sawing a lady in half’ is very few words,” he added. As for being the assistant, “When you’re doing it you’re not a passive person,” one magician said. “It’s claustrophobic, and quite noisy, but such fun!”

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” i believe your reality is what you make it, what you choose to see, and what you choose to allow yourself to do.

there are possibilities all around you – magic all around you – no matter what situation you’re in.”

-keke palmer

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Story credit: Alex Marshall, NYT- Image credit: Nolan Pellitier

 

Jul8

the circus arrives.

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to avoid crowds, montreal’s circus festival will pop up in random places

Over the course of this week, some lucky residents in Montreal will be entertained with surprise circus acts that will pop up around the city at undisclosed locations.

The outdoor performances are organized as part of Montreal’s annual circus festival and are taking place from July 6 to 12 at random locations around the city in order to avoid huge crowds from gathering and maintain physical distancing.

As artistic director of Montréal Complètement Cirque, Nadine Marchand explains, a truck called the “Bonheur Mobile” will roll up to alleys, parks, streets, and squares in Saint-Michel, Anjou, St. Henri and the Quartier des Spectacles (to name a few) over the next week.

Ten Quebec circus performers will come rolling out and put on an hour-and-a-half-long show for any unsuspecting Montrealers who happen to be passing by or looking out the window.

Apart from breathing life and joy into the city, the festival has also been organized with the goal of providing work for the artists, as many have been out of work and unable to perform or tour due to the pandemic and it’s not clear when their industry will be back up and running.

Those lucky enough to happen upon one of these surprise performances are asked to stay on their front steps and balconies to avoid getting too close to others.

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“the circus arrives without warning.”

-erin morgenstern, the night circus

 

 

 

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story credits: marilla steuter- martin, cbc news, daily optimist magazine