Street magic actually falls into two genres; traditional street performance and guerilla magic.

Traditional street performance

The first definition of street magic refers to a traditional form of magic performance - that of busking. In this, the magician draws an audience from passers by and performs an entire act for them. In exchange, the magician seeks remuneration either by having a receptacle for tips available throughout the act or by "passing the hat" at the end of the performance. Busking is the practice of doing live performances in public places to entertain people, usually to solicit donations and tips. ...

Street magic most often consists of sleight of hand, card magic, and occasionally mentalism, though the ability to draw and hold an audience is frequently cited by practitioners as a skill of greater importance than the illusions themselves. Sleight-of-hand, also known as legerdemain, is a technique of close-up magic in which small items are concealed in and around the performers hands, sometimes by the use of misdirection, to enhance the illusion being performed. ... Lance Cpl. ... Mentalism is an ancient theatrical performing art typically including apparent demonstrations of mind reading, psychic powers or various other supernatural or paranormal phenomena. ...

Anthropologists chronicle this form of street magic from approximately 3,000 years ago - and there are records of such performers across the continents, notably Europe, Asia/South Asia and the Middle East. While it is a very old performing style, its history is not particularly well documented in print. In his diary, Samuel Pepys mentions seeing magicians performing in this fashion and one can see street magicians in depictions by Hieronymous Bosch, William Hogarth, and Pieter Brueghel. Chapter XIII of Reginald Scot's "Discoverie of Witchcraft" (1584) describes magic tricks of the type performed by buskers in the 16th century. Anthropology is the study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity through the examination of historical and present geographical distribution, cultural history, acculturation, and cultural relationships. ... The performing arts include theater, motion pictures, drama, comedy, music, dance, opera, magic and the marching arts, such as brass bands, etc. ... This article is very long. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ... This article is about the geopolitical region in Asia. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Samuel Pepys, FRS (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, famous chiefly for his comprehensive diary. ... Hieronymus Bosch; alleged portrait (around 1560) Hieronymus Bosch, also Jeroen Bosch, ( 1450 – August, 1516) was a prolific Dutch painter of the 15th and 16th century. ... William Hogarth (November 10, 1697 – October 26, 1764) was a major English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited as a pioneer in western sequential art. ... Pieter Brueghel may be: Pieter Brueghel the Elder Pieter Brueghel the Younger, his son This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Practitioners

New York based artist and magician Jeff Sheridan is regarded as one of the pre-eminent U.S. street magicians to emerge from the U.S. surge in street performance artistry which began in the late '60s. He authored the 1977 book, Street Magic and allegedly was one of the performers who inspired and taught the young David Blaine after Blaine saw Sheridan perform in Central Park (Blaine supposedly asked Sheridan to work with him on his television special but Sheridan declined). Even more recently, Jim Cellini (aka Richard Sullivan) and Gazzo Macee (aka Gary Osborne) have garnered accolades from magicians for their contributions to the art. NY redirects here. ... Jeff Sheridan (b. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... David Blaine (born David Blaine White on April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA) is an American illusionist and stunt performer. ... A Central Park landscape Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres or 3. ...

Guerilla magic

The second category is more appropriately called "guerilla magic" in that it is a relatively recent style of performing magic illusions where the magician performs a single trick or two in a public space (such as on a sidewalk) for an unsuspecting, unpaying audience. The desired effect of this "hit and run" style of magic is to give the audience a feeling that what they are seeing is impromptu, unrehearsed, and experimental. It is, however, highly debatable whether magic should be performed for people without asking or without being asked to do so. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Practitioners

This style of "street magic" is associated with David Blaine (who literally started the phase) and more recently, Criss Angel and was largely developed to play well on television beginning with the 1997 ABC television special David Blaine: Street Magic. Many magicians respect Blaine's choice of material and give him credit for creating an image of the contemporary magician distinct from other magicians in recent television history, such as David Copperfield or Doug Henning. Some "old school" magicians may dispute whether any such category as guerilla magic even exists, since it is primarily associated with only one performer. David Blaine (born David Blaine White on April 4, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City, USA) is an American illusionist and stunt performer. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) operates television and radio networks in the United States and is also shown on basic cable in Canada. ... --124. ... Doug James Henning (born May 3, 1947 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, died February 7, 2000 of liver disease) was a Canadian magician, illusionist, and escape artist. ...

See also

• Daniel Madison
• Criss Angel
• David Blaine
• Cellini
• Jeff Sheridan
• Harry Anderson
• Barry Jones
• Stuart Macleod
• Roadmage
• Cyril Takayama
• Luca Volpe
• Wayne Houchin
• Brad Christian
• Daniel Garcia
• Paul Zenon