“Human beings need to be amazed by the impossible, by what they cannot understand.”

“Magic is an ancient art with more than 4,000 years of history; The first magicians were in ancient Egypt, and in the nineteenth century they were brought to major theaters and became respected. We are the inheritors of the great “shows” of the golden age of magic, the nineteenth century, especially Jean Eugene Robert Houdin -Not to be confused with Houdini-; Robert Houdin was a watchmaker who created machines and had a show that he performed in his own theatre. He was the initiator. Of course, we have evolved a lot. The magic we do now is adapted to our time, which is much more advanced, with technology as an important part, with interactive games… but we are the inheritors of that.

But the essence has not changed. Play with the audience. “With perception, with reason… make the audience experience things that cannot be explained. It is true that magic has evolved greatly in technology, form, and presentation, but… Passion What he produces is the same thing that he has been producing for hundreds of years, and it is something related to man; Man needs to be fascinated by the impossible, by what he cannot understand, and magic is that; “It is the moment of disconnection from reality, surrendering to something that does not make sense but is happening in front of you.”

The challenge facing the magician today is to surprise the spectators. «The scope of attention has changedNow it’s only a few seconds. I’ve been watching shows for 15 years, and I used to do magic a lot less than now. In one program, I could do ten or twelve magic effects, and now there are more than thirty magic effects at the same time. The rhythm is more fluid and the performances are more dynamic.

Audiences, social networks, the development of society… all of this has transformed magic. Jorge Blas gives an example. “Twenty years ago we did that Magic with pigeons Now it has become impossible; The public has developed a sensitivity and no longer likes it. Or cutting a woman in half, or trapping someone and stabbing them with swords or spears… there are games I will never think of playing anymore.

Jorge Blas explains what he wants to achieve with the film “Ilusionarte”. “It is a journey to the essence of magic; A Declaration of love for magic And respect for the stage, affection and gratitude for the audience. It’s not a show with great tricks or machines. It is the essence, I, with my own hands, create many illusions and effects; Some are classic, others are very technological and new, but they want to impress the viewer with emotion.

Spectators

“We do – he continues – interactive numbers… Interaction is very important, at different moments people participate from their seats, and for me this is a new path in magic: the spectator stops being an observer and becomes Live part of the show. We give them some cards, and they also play with their own phones… When magic breaks the fourth wall, moments of great emotion occur. The most daring can go on stage. “I ask for volunteers, but I do not expel anyone by treachery.”

Jorge Blas prefers to be called cheater To the magician “It seems to me more correct, because magicians are also esotericists. It is more correct, more beautiful, and fake. “It’s – he jokes – like a cook or a chef… Illusionist lets you make the ticket a little more expensive.”

He says the best thing about being an illusionist is “seeing the faces of the audience. When you’re on stage, you’re playing a game and you see their faces change, and it changes them. And at the BBC, they did a study that said that to kids Time stretches in an incredible wayTheir day is much longer than that of an adult. And when I saw it, I thought that it is precisely magic, it takes us back to childhood because in an instant all the established rules collapse. You can’t cross the wall, and you can’t fly, but magic breaks those laws. Magic makes us innocent again for a moment, and moreover, we surrender willingly. “We deceive with the permission of the public.”

Jorge Blas also goes back to childhood when he sees a good magician, “For example, my teacher, Juan Tamarez». He remembered that he started when he was twelve years old. He studied psychology, but at the same time he performed and began traveling. They gave him the Monte Carlo golden baton “and I started traveling the world and doing television…and the truth is that I didn’t stop. But it must always be present in you the first time you are moved, because only in this way can you move others.

Although it is more comfortable In short distancesJorge Blas has put up big numbers as well. “One time we moved a family in the Metropolitano from one side of the field to the other during the first half of a match. That was the time I performed in front of the biggest people, because there were 80,000 people, and it was a challenge. I’ve done great things on TV shows and some of my shows also have great illusions, but I like close-up magic better. And theaters like the Pavon, which is a candy bar, are spaces to get the emotions better than a sports palace or stadium.

What is most important to the imagination, Technology or psychology? “Both, but I would say more psychology, because there are games that have no technology at all, and on the other hand, it’s all about psychology; Playing with the mind, with perception, makes you see things that did not happen and forget other things that did happen. There are many neuroscientists who study magicians. They study what happens in the human mind when they see a magic game, and this helps them explain things about our brain, which are mistakes that magicians regularly use.

“You have to be open to it,” adds Jorge Blas improvisation; In fact, in this show some spectators come on stage, sometimes they are children. That’s when everything changes, because with a baby you never know where things are going to go. But this is the part I enjoy the most because every day is different and forces you to be careful.

This takes him back to his beginnings. “When I started I was twelve or thirteen years old; My main source of income was Communion and birthdays. Later, as a teenager, at the age of 17 or 18, he performed in places such as Berlin cabaret also Galileo Galilei; He was performing Tuesday at 1:30 a.m., imagine. I went out and found an audience of mostly drunk people and I had to do half an hour… when I was 17 or 18 years old. And that was a battle. Get a description. That was a great experience, of course. Later I acted Magic vault And in places where people actually went to see magic. But it all stays on the hard drive and helps you when you find yourself in a difficult situation.

You have to be Learning constantly… “Constantly, yes. You have to think, above all, what might surprise the audience, and what you have to do to show them something they haven’t seen before. This is the challenge, we are looking for new things, creating new paths… so that people leave the theater a little changed.

Jorge Blas concludes by talking about “the good times that magic is experiencing in Spain.” “It’s true that Las Vegas is the capital of the world in that sense. There are more products out there, there are magicians like David Copperfield, David Blaine, Penn and Teller…But after Las Vegas, Madrid is the city with the largest number of magic shows, both small and large. The festival we do at Price brings together 30,000 people every year. There are places like Teatro Encantado, Grada Mágica, Galileo Galilei… which regularly schedule magic shows. And they reward us abroad. Last year they gave me an award from the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood for the best stage magician of the year, and this award has never been given to a magician outside the United States before.