It’s a kind of magic
Do you believe in magic? Is the question that looms in the air. In fact after just witnessing a series of performances at the latest edition of the ‘Knight of Illusions’, even the most skeptical of those in the audience were left amused.
Danny Cole Pix by M.A Pushpakumara
The exclusive evening of illusion, organized by “Hash Three” kicked off at the Movenpick Hotel recently with its main highlight being Danny Cole an international award winning magician. Our host for the evening was Yasas Gunaratne, an illusionist himself and the founder of ‘Knight of Illusions.”
Yasas’ main aim has always been to change the perception of magic in Sri Lanka and elevate it to an international standard. According to him, magic in Sri Lanka hasn’t evolved because it was never considered a respectable profession.
When he started ‘Knight of Illusions’ back in 2001, the biggest hurdle was that magic was always considered a form of kid’s entertainment. In fact at the time when he had invited a few people for the show, they would reply telling him they’d send their children along. He had to then explain that this was not a kid’s show. Yasas’ main aim with the show was to identify local talent and introduce them to the corporate world. Which is why he invited a few of Sri Lanka’s upcoming talent to perform at the show.
First up was Arun Moli who was a finalist at ITN’s ‘Youth with Talent’. Arun was the first magician to become a finalist in the programme. But what’s special is that after that programme people started looking at magic in a special way. Arun was performing to a skeptical audience who kept questioning his every move. Yet by the time he had finished the round of applause said it all.
Thilina Egodage, also an upcoming illusionist took the floor next. His trick, although seemingly simple to the eye tooka year to perfect. Shuffling a Rubik cube, he tells his audience that he would solve it whilst it is in the hand of another person. Randomly picking a member from the crowd, he hands him the cube and places it in an empty bag. Lo and behold with the snap of a finger, he had the volunteer pull out a perfectly solved cube.
A medical student by profession, Thilina had no background in the field, till he got into it in 2015. He tells us he’s completely self taught.
During his trick an audience member began questioning his act. Thilina tells us later on, that sometimes you want people to question your act. Because it shows that all of them are included.
Budshana Kalapuge describes himself as a magician who loves to combine his craft with some humour. True to his word, he soon had the crowd in stitches as he attempted to get Siri teach him a magic trick. Shrugging off the skeptics, Budshana’s focus is to give his audience that comedic element. So even the someone who does not believe in magic would go home with something to talk about.
Arun Moli, Yasas Gunaratne, Danny Cole, Budshana Kalapuge and Thilina Egodage
Finally the time came for Danny Cole, the star of the evening. Danny has performed at the Magic Castle, Hollywood and had also managed to fool Penn and Teller on their show. His tricks for the evening involved simple everyday items such as a clothes hanger and his coat etc. (This was mainly due to the rest of his luggage already being packed). Despite the simplicity of his props, Danny’s creativity managed to elevate his tricks to the next level. If they weren’t fooled before the audience was certainly fooled now .
Magic as a reality entertainment is what Sri Lanka is looking at right now and this is just what Yasas looks to keep building on.