5 Key Skills and Traits that Great Magicians Share

Performing magic is a difficult art to master. I am not just referring to learning that secrets that are behind the “tricks” we perform. I am referring to qualities that make some magicians who are technically proficient but who never have the audience in their hand and magicians who are less skilled but who know how to enthrall the audience. Ideally, a magician should have both the technical proficiency required and those other skills that make the performance. However, but all things being equal some do not. So, what are some of the qualities a great magician should possess that go beyond technical prowess? Here are a few of those skills and traits.

• Creativity: A large part of being a magician is developing a unique set of feats that are unique and that the public has never seen performed before. Magicians often take tricks that have been performed by others and turn these performances on their head so to speak. As a strolling magician and Manhattan mentalist, I can tell you that this is a particularly challenging thing to do when people are only an arm’s length away. In other words, the best magicians set expectations from the audience and then he/she defies them.
• Confidence: Wallflowers do not usually make good performers in general. Being a magician is all about performing in front of others and having the confidence in your abilities to showcase them to others. This is especially the case when the setting is as intimate as close-up magic is.
• Courage: Closely related to confidence is courage. However, it takes whole other level of courage to perform in front of people. Again, it is even more important that close-up magicians be courageous. After all, we must approach strangers and engage them in order to do our magic. A stage magician usually has people come to see him or her. 
• Ability to think on one’s feet: As you can probably imagine, everything does not always go right during a performance. Thus, it is critical that a magician be able to turn what would otherwise be a tiny crisis into an opportunity to further enthrall the audience.
• Personable: Finally, a magician should be able relish interacting with the public. When I am performing, I like to engage as many people around me as possible and encourage them to interact with other spectators.

These are just a few of the qualities that make up a great magician. It takes years of practice and interacting with the public to be able to captivate audiences. My act utilizing everything I have learned about performance from both the technical end of things to the interpersonal side as well.