Hocus Pocus is the Focus

By the time most students enter college, skepticism has replaced heartfelt belief in magic. Senior and magician Salil Bahandari, however, is training students to step forth to challenge this skepticism of their classmates however. Bahandari's innovative ExCollege course "An Introduction to Magic: Performance and Technique" opens up the world of illusion to brave students who believe that they can create magic for others.

The course deals mostly with close-up magic, using sleight-of-hand techniques with card and coin tricks. "Everything we use in the class is an absolutely normal or are ordinary objects," explains Bhandari. "The whole point of the class is so that you can go out, pick up an ordinary object and entertain people; have a crowd gathered within five minutes."

Emphasis is placed particularly on presentation techniques and effectiveness. Bhandari teaches his students that the most important part of magic is its entertainment value. Freshman Jesal Shah explains, "The words we use and the misdirection we use make magic a real performance. We're supposed to be entertainers, not just magicians."

"Magic is for entertainment purposes only," says sophomore Will Roscoe. "It's not to win money. It's all about deception and leading the viewer to the wrong place." Bhandari teaches that the magician must be in complete control of the audience in order for a magic trick to be effective or believable.

Class time is spent practicing the technique of misdirection -- a medley of psychological and physical tricks to prevent the audience from catching on to the magician's deceptions.

"The performer needs to learn how to direct other people to do things," explains Bhandari. "I try to help my students take control of the audience. If you show that you have control in the beginning, they're a lot less likely to do something according to their own will during the trick.

Practice and performance time in class gives the students a chance to improve their skills and to raise their confidence. "It's a good way to get better at public speaking," explains Roscoe. "If you're shy, it makes you able to talk to people you don't know."

Bhandari agrees that magic is an effective aid in confidence building and public speaking. "Magic is one of the best ways to increase self-confidence because all the attention is directed toward you when you're performing something entertaining," he explains. "It helps people become more confident because they know at the end of their presentation they'll get a positive response if they've done it well. I know I'm going to astound them in the end."

Techniques as simple as eye contact and verbal misdirection are actually two very effective ways to deal with skepticism and lack of cooperation from the audience, says Bhandari.

Leichman considers skeptics to be a personal challenge. "Skepticism makes me try harder to pull [a trick] off, because skeptics are the best people to impress."

Most people are rather susceptible to magic and misdirection, however, says Bhandari. "People enjoy seeing things that they don't believe. People enjoy seeing mysteries," he said.

Bhandari, a Texas native, discovered his interest in magic in the ninth grade, when his parents brought him to a David Copperfield show. "I saw the show, and I asked my parents how he did it. They said, 'Oh, it's an illusion.' I was never satisfied with that answer, so I decided to go find it out for myself," Bhandari recounts.

After his junior year at Tufts, Bhandari decided that his love of teaching and his love of magic should be combined and put to some use on the campus. "I realized that there weren't many magicians on this campus. I don't want magic to stop here after I leave," Bhandari explains. "So this class was my way of allowing magic to continue on this campus, hopefully for several years after."

Many students in the class explained that Bhandari's evident talent in various performances influenced their decision to try his class. "I've always wanted to learn magic, and I've tried in the past with books, but I never had the motivation to really pursue it," explains sophomore Steve Leichman, one of Bhandari's students. "I've seen Salil perform in the past, and I've seen how good he is. I figured that between him and the rest of the class, I'd be able to improve."

Because their magic is so astounding, Bhandari and the magicians in his class are often met with many requests to disclose the secrets of their tricks. In anticipation of this dilemma, Bhandari had his students swear an oath of secrecy over their textbooks. "If you break it," says Shah, "I guess you're just shunned by your fellow magic colleagues."

On Tuesday, Bhandari finished up his lecture, wished his students a good week, and miraculously put a salt shaker through a solid wooden table. Even the skeptical can't help being curious. But of course, he is sworn to secrecy.