Every summer, Toronto, Ontario, Canada is home to Buskerfest, the largest street performers’ festival on the planet. Yonge Street, the longest and most vibrant street in the world (according to many Torontonians, at the very least!), acts as a stage for this huge fiesta. As the name implies, talented street acts flock from around the globe so that they might share their gift with enthusiastic audiences.

This year, my wife, our close friends from Sorcerers Safari Magic Camp and I traveled downtown and experienced first-hand this frenetic chaos of live performances. Jugglers, face-painters, musicians, acrobats, magicians and more filled the landscape, all trying to perform their best feats so that audiences might put some money in their hats. It’s a sight to behold.

On the afternoon we went, we were lucky enough to catch four different magicians performing on the pitch. While all of them were noteworthy in some fashion, one performance stood out the most for me. I’ve never seen anything like it before and it’s one of those instances where it makes you reflect on your own life.  

Magic Man Andrew Eland, a wonderful comedian and sleight-of-hand artist by way of South Africa, is that act. 

 

During his performance we saw that day, something terrible happened. Not bad like finding the wrong card, but honestly terrible and gut-wrenching in the kind of way that sends shivers down your spine. As a performer, I never want to face this. Ever. Right there, I watched it happen to Andrew… Read more  
http://www.leeasher.com/playground/articles/making_connections_with_your_magic.html