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Waves of magic, world of illusions

20 March 2005, 18:00 PM
LIFESTYLE
By Fayza Haq
20 March 2005, 18:00 PM
Benoit performing a magic
Benoit Rosemont presented a magic show at the Alliance Francaise recently. He took to magic when he saw fascinating magic performances in fairs in Paris. At first he did not go to a teacher but learnt from books of magic in his bedroom. "Later, I met a professional magician, Paul de Rhuys, who gave me some professional books to study from. I met him in Paris. Incidentally, Rhuys's wife was working with my mother as a nurse. When I took magic up as my career, my father at first objected, as he would have preferred to have continued with the business profession, which I had studied formally. I worked for a year to please my parents but quit after that, having told my family that I wanted to be a serious magician," says Benoit.

Benoit bought his first book on magic in a supermarket. When he met his teacher 14 years ago, he received the more advanced book on magic. "Magic is manipulation and ability of dexterous fingers. The illusion makes the viewers see what can't be. I don't do spells like cutting the lady into half or bringing a lion into a cage from nowhere. Mine is simple, light entertainment for the evening like taking the rabbit out of the hat, multiplying of flowers, making fragments of silk or paper come together as one whole piece, getting different pieces of strings link up as one whole. I can make people think that I can read their minds by telling which card one had taken out of the deck. Similarly, I can take a sheet of paper, tear it into small bits and make it come whole again. I don't do big illusions."

Talking about whether he can make a living as a magician, Benoit says, "Ten years ago I asked this of a magician and he answered, 'It depends on what you mean by a living'. I will say that I have a reasonable existence. I performed for many months on the boats plying between Moscow and St Petersburg; I gave shows for the Alliance Francaise in Mozambique, Sudan and the Czchek Republic. I'm here on the invitation of the French Embassy on the occasion of Francophonie, promoting the French language, as I speak quite a bit during my magic show. Although people may not understand what I'm saying, they are able to see the performance. If you see a film in French and don't understand the language, you don't understand anything but in this the words are just a backdrop, along with music."

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Asked about the difference between black magic and his own brand of magic, Benoit says that black magic is usually connected with something evil and powerful, whereas his type of magic is harmless entertainment.