Direct from Woodyland, it’s Woody Aragon!
Woody Aragon is not just an outstanding card magician and technician he is above all an incredibly entertaining magical performer. Mr. Aragon has appeared on international television programs in Spain, Germany and the United States. He has just been nominated ‘Parlour Magician of the Year’ by Hollywood’s Famous Magic Castle.
His many awards include:
* 2005 – Spanish Champion of Card Magic
* 2006 – Awarded the prestigious Ascanio Award for the Magician of the Year
* 2011 – 1st Place McMillan’s International Convention Award (London, UK)
* 2011 – Award of Merit International Brotherhood of Magicians
* 2011 – 2nd Prize in Card Magic at the FISM North-American Championships
* 2011 – The Society of American Magician’s “People’s Choice Award” and “Excellence in Close-Up Magic Awards”
Woody’s latest book, A Book in English, was the top seller magic book for 2 years and has been getting rave reviews from magic reviewers the likes of Jason England, Eric Mead, Wayne Kawamoto and the book is considered one of the best magic books of the year
Quotes about Woody:
A constant student of the ‘Escuela Magica de Madrid’, Woody knows the importance of the theory and the composition of good magic structure. He administers the concepts of Arturo de Ascanio, the devious ruses of Juan Tamariz, the perspectives of Camilo Vázquez and the theatrical conflicts of Pepe Carroll. Woody Aragón is the personification of the Spanish school of thought. – Miguel Puga, FISM World Champion of Card Magic
Woody has always surprised me and I admire the constant flow of ideas that, if you look carefully from above, you can see moving under his scalp. Ideas for incredibly practical sleights (his “Separagon”), ideas for effects, methods (the genius of his “Human Scale”, a version worthy of a standing ovation, which I have seen many audiences give Woody as they are amazed and full of wonder after seeing him perform it) and ideas for the structures of acts and shows – Juan Tamariz
Woody Aragon will present his full show – A BALD FACED LIAR in The Melba Spiegeltent at 9.30pm from Tuesday July 3 to Saturday July 7
Woody will also present A LECTURE IN ENGLISH at 3.30pm on Saturday July 7 in the Melba Speigeltent.
(We have three 3.30pm international guest lectures during the Festival this year – Saturday July 7, Sunday July 8, and Saturday July 14. Mark them in your diary now. Plus an international magic workshop on Thursday July 5!)
Quotes about the lecture:
Excellent lecture, fooled me badly, thanks Woody !!!!!!!!! – Kéli
Just finished watching Woody Aragon’s lecture. Bravo! Great performance and material. – Ray Kosby
I caught this lecture… it was definitely one of the best ones I have been to so far (speaking as someone who has attended lectures for decades). It was nice for those of us who attended to enjoy such an intimate setting with a wonderful close-up performer like Woody.– James Marshall
Just incredible! Wow! Best lecture I’ve been to in awhile – Jeff Eline
Woody’s magic is absolutely brilliant and what a performer! One of the most likeable magicians I have seen in years. Of course I know this when I saw him win all of those awards at last year’s SAM Convention in Pittsurgh. Naturally he received a standing ovation. It was a real fun evening. – Dennis Haney
Just saw Woody Aragon for the first time at the Magic Castle last night, and he exceeded high expectations. He gives life and depth to spelling tricks like no one else, his 10-card poker deal is as good as any, and he fooled me with things I’ve read about in his great Book in English. I was skeptical that 25 minutes of cards where the only move is a single double lift could compete with an act that makes more use of sleights but was completely disabused of that skepticism. He’s an object lesso in the importance of effect over method. Utterly enjoyable and a real revelation; I came out better than I went in. He belongs on any list of the handful of greatest close-up workers, and as is obvious from afar he is radiantly likeable. – R.E.Byrnes
The lecture:
+2 hours about card magic, including the presentation of his new book on the memorized deck “Memorandum” and some highlight from his best-seller “A Book in English”
Theory about structure of tricks and shows.
Very bad English (he says that he learned it in Lennart Green’s videos)
Innovative moves and principles.
And, most of them, very easy to follow, to understand and to do!
LECTURE REVIEW
Wow! I have held back a little on writing the review to this lecture as it completely blew me away! Just to put it in context, I am 43 years old (just look older) and saw my first magic lecture when I was 15 – Woody’s lecture was the greatest lecture I have EVER seen, both in mind blowing magic and also entertainment. Others had obviously already heard just how good Woody was as it was a record turnout for the Fylde Mystics with people standing at the back. Woody started with a great routine involving an imaginary ring on everybody’s finger which drew huge laughs and got everybody relaxed from the start. And from there he proceeded to blow everybody away with routine after routine, I have never seen so many magicians as mystified as we were at this lecture! Once we had all recovered from the amazement we had seen Woody then broke it down and talked through how he does things and more importantly, why he does it. Some great stack decked routines, sleights when needed and some wonderful subtlety. He ended by performing a poker routine in which some people lost their valuables, at one stage they could even see cards in advance and decide if they wanted them – they still lost! Woody started his explanations by saying he looks for three things in his act:
1. Being a gentleman magician – kind, the sort of person people would want to spend time with.
2. Impossible magic
3. Bring emotion to his act.
He certainly brought those 3 points together perfectly, we have seen some great lectures at The Fylde Mystics but at Woody’s lecture I have witnessed someone raising the bar to new levels.
LECTURE REVIEW
Spanish Magician Woody Aragón is amazing.
We tried to think of a better superlative but were stumped. Imagine Winnie the Pooh braced against a tree tapping his little furry skull and murmuring “think, think, think.” That image fits both the writing of this review and witnessing the work of this great magician live at The Magic Apple Day of Lectures at the beautiful Sportsmen’s Lodge located in Studio City, California this weekend.
Mr. Aragón began his lecture with one of the most impressive displays of card magic we have ever witnessed. We love to be fooled, really fooled. Mr. Aragón’s simple, charming approach to the presentation of magic fooled us so thoroughly that we immediately lost our ability to think like a magician. We no longer looked for technique or moves. We became fully engaged as an audience member – a lay person seeing magic for the very first time.
As we have often noted in these pages, Oil and Water is an effect that seems to have run its course. It has been done, sold, demonstrated, taught and performed more often by often less than accomplished magicians than most any other trick. Mr. Aragón performed easily the most magical version of this effect that had – before this weekend – lost all of its magic.
We feel some false assurance in our assumption that we know everything there is to know about everything. A subset of our omniscience is all magic sleights. We may not be able to perform anything more difficult than a riffle shuffle or a very loud and obvious pass, but we know about the moves. We can detect a second deal at fifteen paces and can tell you when a palm is about to occur.
Yet, Mr. Aragón used very few sleights to accomplish his magic; and those he did use were well within our mastery.
How, then, can he do what he did? How can he visually, slowly and repeatedly separate the reds from the blacks in a small deck of eight cards? And, more importantly, how can he cause the same separation of the remainder of the well-shuffled deck from which he borrowed those eight cards?
At the end of his presentation, he began his lecture. This was one of the first lectures we have attended where we actually learned brand new ways of thinking and performing magic. Often we do not think or really perform when doing magic; at least not well and almost never at the same time. But Mr. Aragón’s lecture has made us a convert to this idea of thinking about the magic trick from the perspective of the audience and accomplishing what needs to be accomplished as part of a well-considered routine.
His movements and interaction with the audience are casual and spontaneous. His reaction to tricks that have apparently failed or his volunteer’s misunderstanding of his instructions seemed genuine. Yet, like a great chess master, it was all part of a plan.
Sure, we think about our performance and try to mystify through distraction and presentation but we had not taken it to the level Mr. Aragón has mastered.
He is a delightful character on stage and wins the audience’s support with his charm all the while executing the very do-able manipulations to accomplish true miracles.
We purchased his multi-DVD set and have set about to practice his routines. But unless we can also perfect our Spanish accent and learn to be charming, we will remain only an admirer of his talent.
As competitive as we are, we are okay with just being a delighted fan of a great magician. It is a nice place to be. We are thankful to The Magic Apple for bringing us to this place.
