Learn Free Street Magic Tricks

As the name suggests, street magic is performing magic tricks on the streets. It basically is magic which is performed at a very close distance to a person and can even be performed inside someone's house. It is extremely casual in nature and is performed by using regular day-to-day items.

The best way to perform good street magic is to be extremely relaxed and casual while performing. As street magic is simply an interaction between the magician and the audience walking on the streets, you have to be extremely comfortable with what you are doing.

Street magic is usually performed with a deck of cards. It is not the amount of knowledge that you have that matters, it is the performance which makes more of a difference. How you hold yourself, how you handle the cards, how you talk, what gestures you make while performing ; these are the most important factors in street magic.

The father of street magic is considered to be David Blaine. He is most famous for his card tricks. Blaine is a master of such tricks. The first thing one realizes when watching Blaine with a deck of cards is that Blaine has been working with cards since childhood. Even though he performs relatively simple tricks known to most artists, but the manner in which he performs, it appears to be truly magical in nature.

He performs simple street magic with such ease and finesse, that he simply stuns the audience. In fact some of Blaine's ardent fans are completely convinced that what he does is truly magic and not a trick.

"Harry Houdini Biography" is a leagend of Magic Tricks

One of the greatest legends of the magic world, Harry Houdini was an extraordinary showman. He was an escape artist and performed death-defying stunts. Prior to his magician's career, Harry Houdini was a trapeze artist. Once he started performing magical acts, he progressed from simple escape routines to complex and dangerous ones. One of his stunts was being shackled with iron handcuffs and then being placed in a box which was locked, roped and weighted and then submerged into water.

At that time in the late 1800s, such magical performances were unheard of and were also extremely dangerous for the performer. However, Houdini was least concerned about the dangers posed by such acts and wanted to test his limits. He was once buried alive in a block of ice and it took him years to escape from it.

What Year Did Harry Houdini Die?

Thus, even though Houdini died in 1926, he continues to dominate the acts performed by escapologists and the world of 'dangerous magic' today. Several artists, even today, try to imitate the acts performed by Houdini. Besides giving magical performances, Houdini also starred in several Hollywood movies such as 'The Grim Game', 'Terror Island', and 'The Man from Beyond'.

It is considered that Houdini's acts of magic represented the victory of the human spirit over hardships and difficulty. Breaking the shackles, escaping from a locked box or performing dangerous stunts which could even result in death; are all considered to be a representation of breaking the bonds of poverty, suppression and domination.

The 'father of modern day magic', Houdini not only acted in movies or gave magical performances, but he was also the editor of a special newspaper section which was devoted to exposing and teaching magical tricks. This was called the 'Red Magic Section' and was printed in red ink in the New York World. It became increasingly popular amongst the people but was highly criticized by fellow magicians as they did not want their tricks to get exposed to the people.
However, through this paper, magic as an art form was able to live on. Today, these papers have become a collector's item and are one of the lesser known facets of Houdini's life.

Magic Card Tricks

Performing tricks with cards is great fun. It can be very simple and entertaining for both the performer and the audience. There are a lot of Magic Card Tricks but I will show you just one for this moment.

This is a slightly complicated card trick and requires some skill and a couple of practices before you can perform it in front of the audience. But it is rather impressive and also takes some time to perform it.

Magic Card Trick 1:

Before facing the audience, remove the 4 aces and the numbers 2-9 of any suit. Put the four aces and the cards 2-9 in ascending order on top of the aces. The cards should be in the following order : 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,A,A,A,A.

Now, in front of the audience. Shuffle the deck ensuring that the top 12 cards remain in order. Choose a volunteer from the audience and ask him/her to randomly choose a number between 1-19. Count the number of cards and put them into a separate pile. Then ask the volunteer to add the digits of the number chosen, example, if the number was 17, then 1+7 = 8. Count the answer and put it back in the original deck. Then, flip the next card to show the first ace.

Now, starting with the separated pile, count the cards back onto the deck one by one, the order should be the same with one less ace. Do this two more times. After revealing the 3 aces, ask the volunteer to choose a number from 1-9.

Again, put the number of cards chosen into a separate pile. If he/she chooses 9, then the last card will be an Ace. But if he chooses any other number then ask them to count off the same number of cards as the number on the turned up card. Once again, the last card will turn out to be an ace.