Move Your Audience Like Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift is beautiful, has the voice of an angel and amazing passion and talent. Her music tells her story. You learn who she is from her performances. Take a peek at the following video. It’s a live version of her amazing song Dear John. Pay particular attention right around four minutes and fifty-three seconds (4:53). The combination of the lyrics, the pacing of the music, the pyrotechnics and the emotion in her voice make a perfect combination, and the audience completely looses control.
It’s almost impossible for me to watch the clip without being moved to tears by the power of the moment. She elevates the crowd and nails them right in the heart. Be aware that the first 25ish seconds are a blank black screen with background music. Do not adjust your set. Everything is as it should be. Now watch the clip and be moved.
Root:
Let’s remember our roots. This month’s root: Move your audience. When have you ever seen a magician do to an audience what Taylor Swift did to hers? I honestly cannot think of a single performance where I’ve seen that happen. Yet why not? Are we not worthy of such a reaction? I think the answer is yes? We haven’t earned it. We haven’t put the feeling or passion or something into our performance enough to move them.
Branch:
Let’s build our branches. Your challenge: Study the movers and shakers. Search the phrase “powerful performance” on YouTube. You’ll find some excellent results. Further, look for auditions for shows like America’s Got Talent or Britain’s Got Talent and similar shows. You’ll find amazing auditions that completely blow away the audience. Most of them are singers, but that’s no reason not to learn from them.
What you might find
What exactly are they doing to “hit” the audience? What exact moment caused the uproar? How can you apply that to your show? What can you change in your performance to get that level of reaction? I don’t know the answer, and even if I did, it would be different for each of you and for me. My job here is to inspire you think about your magic. I’ve given you some places to start looking to get the juices flowing. There is no reason you can’t get the same reaction Taylor Swift did.
Now go study the classics and go discover your true magical self.