This is no ordinary shop, but a special meeting place where amateurs and professionals, young and young at heart, can purchase tricks and props and meet monthly to socialize and discuss magic. down and pay attention, they are not too jaded to appreciate magic. Live entertainment is still a good thing. I enjoy what I call apparatus magic – with the birds and a rabbit; I used to have a girl doing illusions with me.” Hernandez, who has been performing for 40 years, explains, “The kids today are learning magic on YouTube and away from other magicians. When I was learning, the only way you could learn was from other magicians and going to a group like this and actually having social contact. Magic is secondary to the entertainment. Magic is a tool and entertainment is the show. It’s good to have the social interaction.”
“The Masters of Magic” Beginning 7 p.m. on June 1 and repeating each Sunday through August 31, the Magic Emporium will present “The Masters of Magic.” For just $10, families can enjoy an evening of magic and other varieties of entertainment. “We will have quality, professional magicians coming in, with different magicians each week to perform for this family-friendly event; hopefully it will spark some interest in the art of magic,” says Gary.
Kid’s Club
hosts a Kids Club called the Society of Young Magicians the second Saturday of each month, with its youngest regular magician with the stage-name “The Amazing John John (Humphries) having started at just 4 years old. Gary says, “At first I was bit skeptical about how engaged someone that young could become, but surprisingly over the last year he has grown, honed his skills and done a really fabulous job at learning both the tricks and how to present them well. It’s exciting to see kids especially that young really get something out of this experience.”
The Magic Emporium also
AbraCAMPdabra Summer Camp In addition to a monthly club, young budding magicians, ages 7 to seventeen, can practice their skills in The Magic Emporium’s summer camp, AbraCAMPdabra on June 2327, July 21-25 and August 11-15. “It’s a focused, concentrated camp centered on magic,” says Gary. “We teach them a wide range of magic, performance techniques and showmanship and we also have a special day that we teach them balloon sculpting. The camp culminates with an evening show where the children perform the magic they learned for
family and friends.” For $150 per week, campers receive a camp tee shirt, certificate of completion and a magic/balloon kit. In his five years at his Gunn Highway location, Gary has also discovered the magic is being utilized by non-magicians in unique and innovative ways. He says, “We get a lot of educators who come in and ask for magic they can use to engage their students and use as teaching tools. We have several math and science teachers who come in frequently to get magic tricks like optical illusions that they can use to reinforce what they are teaching in their classrooms.” Several magic and balloon groups, like I.B.M., Gulfcoast chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians, and the Balloon Jam, comprised of full-time and part-time entertainers, hobbyists, and new people simply interested in learning more about the craft, call the Magic Emporium home for their monthly meetings and lectures. “We live in a crazy world and the stresses of life are sometimes heavy,” concludes Gary. “Magic can take you back to that moment of wonder and belief that you had when you were a child when you had hopes and dreams and really believed they could come true. I love that about magic. If I could communicate one thing to Carrollwood it would be that we are the best-kept secret in Tampa Bay! We love magic and our community and we’d love to share that moment of wonder.” The Magic Emporium is located at 4429 Gunn Highway in Tampa. They are open Mon. – Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information on magic classes, lectures, shows, meetings, and camps, please call (813) 265 -9263, visit www.TheMagicEmporium.net or Facebook.com/MagicEmporium.
Carrollwood Area Neighborhood News For Ad Info Call (813) 928-6124 or Visit NeighborhoodNewsFL.com
JUNE 2014
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