Jorge Blass: "Magic connects us with our childhood"

SUNDAY JANUARY 16 / 7:00 p.m. Pilar Bardem Auditorium. Advance: 10 euros. Show day: 12 euros. Sale: tickets.rivasciudad.es website and auditorium box office (Thursday and Friday, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., and days with performances from one hour before).

NOTICE: the show was scheduled for Saturday, January 8, but has been postponed to Sunday, January 16 for reasons of the artist's health.

*****

Jorge Blass (Madrid, 1980) is one of the most prestigious international magicians. With a formidable ability to surprise the viewer, Blass closes the Rivas Christmas calendar on Saturday, January 16 at the Pilar Bardem auditorium. In this show lasting almost an hour and a half, the illusionist, an outstanding student of Juan Tamariz and friend of David Copperfield, has put on "the best" of his magic, which has evolved from the "classical and conventional" towards a style linked to technology and interaction with the public.

How is the show with which Pilar Bardem de Rivas arrives at the auditorium?

It's my vision of 21st century magic. There will be a lot of interactive illusions with the viewer, who will even be able to participate from the seat. No matter how old you are, it is a show for all audiences. What I promise is that the people who come will see a very reinvented magic, with technology or mobile phones. There is a trick that is inspired by Amazon. There's the snow storm that floods the theater, which is one of my favorite tricks, and there will be games that happen in the hands of each of the spectators. In an hour and twenty of show, I have put the best of my magic, from sleight of hand numbers to mentalism numbers, with participatory numbers and with the children in a leading role. It's a very family show. Magic has a power of amazement that does not matter if a child is with his father or with his grandfather, because they all end up with the same astonished face.

His ability to always surprise the viewer is admirable. How do you get it?

Above all, reinventing myself a lot. The worst thing about magic is that you know what's going to happen. We always have to play with surprise. I like the word illusionist more than magician and the surprise for an illusionist is essential. Let's say it's what keeps the magic alive, what makes the viewer surprise themselves with things they can't even imagine.

Do you also prefer to talk about illusion instead of tricks?

Yes, without a doubt, we generate illusion and that is why we are illusionists. The trick word is fine too and we use it sometimes, but I like the illusion better. The number of teleportation produces a bit of vertigo. How much work is behind it? There are many years of work, effort and trial and error. For any of the games that make up the show, you have to fail a lot and try again. You make a mistake and you return to the starting square. It is also a task of not giving up and keep trying. Little by little things come out, although there are numbers that resist and are still in the notebook, but little by little things are happening.

David Copperfield has become interested in him.

Those are big words. Yes, I was very lucky. He called me on the phone and I freaked out. He said to me, "Hello, I'm David Copperfield." And I thought: it can't be. Yes, it was him and he wanted to buy the rights to do the teleportation trick in the US and the truth is that I was amazed. Since then we have a very good relationship. I travel to Las Vegas frequently, visit him and collaborate on ideas. It is a luxury to have a new friend named David Copperfield.

What has been the evolution of Jorge Blass's shows up to this last show?

At first, perhaps, I did more classic and more conventional magic and, little by little, I have been creating a style that has to do with innovation, technology and interactivity. For me it is very important that the spectator is not a mere spectator, but that they are part of the show, that they participate and that we get to connect in a special way. And then creating illusions that are really novel, that when people see them they are really surprised and it is something that they have never imagined or seen before. Thats the secret.

I think confinement helped him think about this show.

Of course, because the theaters closed, the tours were canceled and I confined myself at home, I began to think and generate new ideas, new effects and that has been shaping a new show that is more interactive than before, because in that time of confinement had no audience. Everything had to be done remotely and that has generated a new way of doing magic, something that we could not even imagine before, doing magic at a distance. You're not in the same room as the viewers, but the magic can still happen. There is a lot of that in the show. There is a trick called the puzzle of our lives that emerged in full confinement, that I recorded in my house and suddenly it went viral. It reached more than eleven countries, with millions of views, and that piece is now part of the show and now earns much more and makes much more sense when you have the audience in front of you than on video or remotely. Yes, we have adapted and I feel that magic, after confinement, has transformed and evolved a bit too.

Maybe we all need a little illusion, after all this.

Undoubtedly. The truth is that, in this, magic is a winning horse because it manages to connect us with our childhood. You see a good magic trick and it turns you into a boy or a girl immediately. You re-imagine, to fantasize, it leaves you a little disarmed in terms of logic or reason and that is very healthy. Only magic is capable of making us feel like a boy or a girl again.

How has it been formed?

Beyond magic, have you needed training in performing arts, improvisation, interpretation...? I started in magic at the age of twelve with Tamariz and I learned a lot from him. Then I went to the US, I studied at the drama school and I learned many techniques of the actors. Then I studied Psychology at the Autonomous University, which was also very good for me, because magic is pure psychology. And I've always done clown and improvisation courses. They are tools that must be trained. Anyone who gets on stage should never stop training. It's like medicine, you have to be constantly recycling yourself and learning new ways of communicating. Each performance is alive, this is not a closed play, this is something that changes, that transforms and we have to be open and flexible to that.

What has Juan Tamariz meant in his career?

Juan is the one who discovered magic for me. As Drexler would say in that song he did for Sabina, it changed my whole life. The gift Juan gave me changed my entire life. I discovered magic thanks to him and I owe everything to magic: my life, my profession, my passion... Juan continues to inspire me. He doesn't perform as much live anymore, but he's still more restless than ever. He is writing a lot of books, he is meeting with us… he is our master Yoda.

And the tricolor rope?

It was my first magic trick. Encarnita, from the Magia Estudio store, recommended it to me when I was twelve years old. It was a prediction of what would happen next, with an announcement of some lines of communication that I made and that gave me a little opportunity to take the leap to meet the general public.

What did the traffic accident he suffered in Vigo in 2017 mean for his career?

It was very hard, I was hit by a car at night, with a drunk driver. He broke my ulna and radius. In the operation they put plates, screws, tendons were affected and that could affect mobility and I was unable to move my thumb for several weeks. I thought that I would never be able to do sleight of hand again, make objects appear from the air, which is one of my specialties, because digital skills are essential for that. Fortunately, I recovered. It was not irreversible. The other day I was in Vigo, I reconciled with all the spectators, it was very exciting.

In addition, he has linked his work as a magician to solidarity, through the Abracadabra Foundation. What does it mean for you?

For me it is magic with capital letters. It is a group of magicians that about 17 years ago we began to do magic in hospitals and now we are more than 140. Regularly and throughout Spain, we go to hospitals, we share magic with children, adults and the elderly, who also need it. We share with them memorable moments that are never forgotten. Just yesterday I went to the Niño Jesús Hospital and what they give you is much more than what you can give them. Although we cannot magically cure them, we can improve their mood, we can accompany them and make them experience magical moments when they and their families need it most.