Seemingly out of thin air
A two-hour ride through the impossible and wonderful world of magic and illusion
Bringing back the astonishment for magic to Ilonggos is the ‘World of Wonders,” set at SM CITY Iloilo’s Cinema 6 on October 17, 2009, with two showtimes: 1pm and 6 pm. The show, organized by ideas HAPPEN and KSM Events and Marketing Management, is the Philippines’ first ever major magic show, combining the performing expertise of the country’s top magicians tagged as “The Illusive Group”. This show is for the benefit of mga KAIBIGAN ng mga KABATAANG may KANSER (KKK) and MOTHER BUTLER MISSION GUIDS (MBMG)-Iloilo Chapter.
“We really tailor-made the idea of putting on a show and hand picked the best people for the show. It may not be the perfect group, but it will be the perfect show. Also, we wanted to showcase the idea of different genres of magic in this one show,” said Ron Mariano- creative and stage director for this show and also a part of the illusive group .
In this two-hour ride through the impossible and wonderful world of magic and illusion, the Illusive – comprised of: Rony Mariano, John Benedict dela Cruz, Ruther Urquia, Marlon Ablay, and other magicians known as Aldino, and Alakim will be taking to the stage to perform their best acts for the audience to revel in.
To describe how this group operates, one can conjure the image of a band formed in high school – a number of people with different specialties in the craft coming together and jamming – aiming to do a one-of-a-kind performance – to the tune of their own unique song.
And this group is especially diverse with a youth pastor, a computer teacher, a former member of the Boyoyong clowns, a high ranking member of the Boyscouts of the Philippines, an architect, and a professional in the telecommunications field as members. Still, these magicians “find themselves on equal footing despite their varied achievements in the industry. They merely want to share their passions – what they do best – to the audience,” said Solomon Cu – KSM events Management
Also performing among these magicians is Nap Bargas Perez, who is known as the one bag magician – for bringing all of his props, and sometimes his personal belongings, all in just one bag. He said this was because he has never preferred using the larger props.
Perez is one who has performed the craft for longer than the aforementioned have. Perez’s participation in the World of Wonder is his way of showing support for this new breed of magicians.
“In the past,” Perez recounted “we had to go out of our way to learn the tricks of the trade and to procure props and other materials. There were also only a few of us back then, so we just had to keep on improving our skills without having a guidepost to look up to. It was much harder to get into the craft back then.”
Currently, though, the trend is that there are more magicians who one by one unveil the tricks up their sleeves and they also have more materials available to them. However, it is now much harder for any magician to stand out and be truly exceptional.
For the magicians of current age, they have organizations such as the Magician’s Foundation Inc. (MAGFI) which was established in 1990 and aims to promote and uplift the status of magic as a form of art and entertainment. Organizations such as this hold competitions regularly to keep their members striving for newness and originality in their performances. Three of the Illusive’s members have received the top prize in the annual MAGFI competition.
“They are the best of what the industry has to offer at this time. These are the people who have stepped up to the challenge.
One such person with the distinction of having been named as the Best Magician (in his case, for the year 2004) is the one known as Aldino. A former president of MAGFI, he specializes in stage, close up, and kiddie magic and has performed as a party entertainer since 1993 in almost all of the major five star hotels and restaurants in the country. Without revealing too much, his performance for the World of Wonders show involves classic magic – dealing with doves. Aldino, perhaps, is the one that most gives importance to tradition in the craft as he is intent on showing the audience how it was done by his mentors in the past. His secret to good magic: It’s not in dexterity, it’s in timing. How will he make this age-old performance seem like new? There’s nothing to it, just wait and see.
Adding flair to the magic tricks is key to making the old seem like new, and this is true especially in the case of Alakim. He is the best magician of 2008, and he has finally achieved the title through years of perfecting his craft and one added detail – putting a little bit more of his personality in his performance. In the years prior, he had faced disappointment many times in his struggle to come up with something that he could totally call his own, as far as magic tricks were concerned. Thankfully, this survival expert does not know when to call it quits and it took him several attempts before he was finally able to draw upon nature – which is among his first love – and surprised the crowd with his butterfly act.
“Magic is how you present yourself on stage and how you get your audience involved in your trick,” said JB dela Cruz, currently one of the young and hip artist magicians in the country who have discarded the image of the rabbit and top hat magician. His specialty is in close up and stage magic, constantly interacting with the audience during his performances. Typically, his acts include mind reading and comedy magic. As a versatile corporate magician (or one who performs for corporate clients more often than not,) there is a certain difficulty that he has, to get through the defenses of tough audiences and get them to participate. As such, he has been teased by his peers as the most serious magician.
Meanwhile, Rony Mariano or Ron, takes a slightly more scientific approach to his craft. If he were put on the shoes of someone in the audience, Ron is one who is on the constant look-out for the secrets behind each trick. Every illusion for him is a problem, and because of this he believes that there is a solution for every single one. There is almost nothing that his creative mind cannot fathom. Equipped with this knowledge, he makes sure that he keeps others stumped and amazed by his own tricks. An innate inquisitor and inventor, many of the items that he uses in his magic performances are made by his own hand. “My work place looks sort of like a warehouse with all the items and tools I have in there,” he said. And the things he has created thus far, many have only dreamed of imitating.
On the other hand, as seen with Ruther Urquia’s take on the craft, magic is not merely the creation of tricks. Sometimes, magic is to seemingly impart life to an inanimate object. Not commonly associated with magic locally is Ventriloquism, and this is Urquia’s specialty. “Do you know about Jeff Dunham?” he asked, as if to give an idea of what is it that he does onstage. If that doesn’t make things clear enough, then it is best that his constant companions be introduced. There’s Titoy, a child, Larry, an ex-seminarian and marriage councilor, and Oskar, a baby orangutan trained to speak human language. Through Urquia’s magic, the audience is given a chance to converse with these personalities – producing funny results. “Most may not believe this, but it’s true that the puppet develops his own personality. Sometimes even I get surprised by Titoy’s retorts.”
Finally, for Marlon Ablay or Bibo, a member of the Inner Magic Club and named the Top Mime Magician of the Philippines, no words are necessary to draw you into his sphere of enchantment. The combination of his many experiences, Ablay’s Bibo persona is the combination of a mime, a clown, and a magician. Naturally a silent person with an intense desire to make those around him happy, especially children, Ablay is also doing away with the common image of the magician in a tuxedo. All he needs is a little bit of make-up, a clown suit, and the tricks up his sleeve to become a conjurer – minus the intimidating look, of course. It is already hard to communicate, and it is even harder to communicate without words, but for Bibo it is all in a day’s work to make his audience wear the same expression that this clown’s face wears – infinite joy and happiness.
So if anyone needs a little bit of perking up to start the next year right a little bit of magic just might be what the doctor ordered. “In these times, we believe that everyone needs a little bit of magic in their lives. And with the support of those who have watched us, we can continue to evolve and do better in our craft.”
See you all on October 17! For ticket inquiries contact us thru the following nos. (0918)9080962 or (0920)9258040 or (033)3963330 or (033)3370170. We can set pick-up points for you or have them delivered anywhere within Iloilo City for free! Ticket Prices are: 350, 250, and 150.
The Illusive – World of Wonders provincial invasion is brought to you by ideas HAPPEN and KSM Events and Marketing Management. With their Media Partners: THE NEWS TODAY, CABLE STAR, GMA, 93.5 CAMPUS RADIO, ILOILO EVENTS MAGAZINE AND MEZZO MAGAZINE; their major sponsors: FRESKA, UNCLE TOM’S RESTAURANT, DELTA STAR CORP., ONE LOURDES DORMITEL, ZTS RENT-A-CAR; and their minor sponsors: ILOILO SUPERMART, MARYMART CENTER, TERRAZA GRILL, MANG INASAL/DECOS, PEPSI, CMC SIGNS & SYMBOLS, CMC WORLDWIDE TRAVEL AND TOURS, CRAVE BURGER, CARLSON DIGITAL PRINTS, HARDER ART PRINTS, VJS AUDIO & LIGHTS, JIGO MAMBO, Q SOLUTIONS PRO AUDIO RENTALS AND CHOWKING MARYMART.