The essence of magic
American master close-up magician Albert Goshman has described the performance of close-up magic as patting the audience's belly and giving them the impression there's a baby in there. This is where the attraction of performance lies, and why the audience will be less picky. Lu agrees completely with this, believing that the key to a magician's "mystery" lies in being able to direct the collective mind of the audience.
"We don't need to try and distract the attention of the audience anymore-it's no longer about what they can actually see-but instead we need to control the direction their minds take, i.e. what they're thinking." What magicians rely on is this: slyly memorizing the positions of a few cards, then using communicative psychology (or various performance methods that make it look like nothing of particular note's going on and it's all completely innocent) to lure the audience away from thinking about the reality in front of them and into what the magician wants them to think.
For example, when a magician performs the "Brainwave Deck" trick, he first shows the audience a deck of cards with blue backs, then asks a member of the audience to think of a card, and then asks them to call it out-for example, the ace of clubs.
Then the magician takes the deck of cards out of the box, fans them out on the table with their backs showing, except for one face-up card-the ace of clubs.
But are those cards really "magical"? Can magicians really see into people's minds and tell what they're thinking?
Of course not. In fact, this is little more than an example of the magician using psychological methods to direct what the audience is thinking. Next time, look closely and you'll see that the back of the ace of clubs is red, rather than blue-the magician is using two decks to enable to him to trick the audience even as they watch.
Lu explains that magic is like theater, and like any great theatrical performer, a magician has to have the power of persuasion.
As every magician knows, the most crucial thing to being a good magician has nothing to do with tricks or props, but everything to do with showmanship. They have to bring together their way of speaking, the rhythm of their actions, and their expressions into one cohesive style. If someone lacks this, no matter how refined their technical skills, no matter how amazing their props, they won't be able to draw the audience's attention, let alone suck them into their performance.
For example, says Lu, on television top Japanese magician Mr. Maric once made over 100 penguins disappear from the Antarctic ice, had a special guest lift a car up with just two fingers, and controlled the direction goldfish were swimming in with pure willpower, not only leaving the laypeople in audiences amazed, but also frequently baffling professional magicians. Since the crew involved in these tricks have to sign non-disclosure agreements, the Internet is full of attempts to figure Mr. Maric's tricks out, but the vast majority of these attempts rely on layman's methods, rather than ones magicians would use.
"The fundamental spirit of magic isn't about being skilled with techniques or props, it's about working to make the audience happy," Lu Chen emphasizes again. Since people inevitably break out into a smile when they see something inexplicable happen, magicians are able to help people rediscover that sense of childlike wonder at the world that gradually dissipates with age, touching people's hearts with their performances. This is one of the reasons magic has lasted for millennia.
Since becoming a professional magician in 2000, Lu has strutted his stuff on stage around Taiwan and around the world. This photo shows the poster promoting a performance in Miami's Olympia Theater as part of the International Brotherhood of Magicians' 2006 annual convention, of which Lu was a part.