It doesn’t matter how old you are, magic tricks will still be exciting to watch. ASU students enjoyed a night full of tricks at the AE England building at the Downtown Phoenix campus Tuesday night.
The Programming and Activities Board once again held an open event for all ASU students. When thinking about the typical magic show, the one performed was definitely like no other, featuring a stilt walker, juggler, and LED hula hoop dancer and prop manipulation to open the show.
Health sciences freshman and Programming and Activity Board member Angela Arrizón said the idea originated from another member, Becca Smouse.
“The extra acts such as the juggler, LED prop manipulation, LED hula hoop, and stilt walker, were added in, so that students could enjoy really cool acts as they enjoyed our delicious desserts.” Arrizón said. “Our whole idea of the neon theme was to create a cool environment, stress free for our students to enjoy and something different from all the other events that go on here at ASU.”
The AE England building was lit with black lights that illuminated silhouettes fully enthralled in the magic act being put on by 23-year-old Eric Giliam.
Giliam’s trick that is generally performed at magic shows required his lovely assistant Heidi to climb into a box, be cut in half and disorient her body by breaking the boxes into thirds. Heidi waved to the audience to prove she was still in the box.
The display was shown to the audience by every viewpoint. Giliam then pushed the pieces completely back together, opened the door and Heidi walked out with no injury whatsoever.
Giliam is originally from Alaska and moved to Phoenix. He prepared a trick he learned in Alaska that produced what appeared to be confetti snow. Starting with a piece of gift tissue paper, he folded and ripped it into the form of a snow flake. Once it was complete he completely tore the creation apart, handing a piece to a member in the audience. He then placed the remaining paper into a glass of water, pulled it out and fanned the paper until confetti flung from his hand into the air.
The intense magic trick of the night required an audience member to pay attention to which cup contained a spike under its layer. Giliam turned away while she mixed them up. He then trusted her to tell him if there was a spike under it before he then slammed the cup flat on the table. The anticipation in the air rose as the final two sat before the magician. He then allowed her to smash the final cup and to her relief it was the one without the spike. The audience cheered gleefully to this one.
If you’ve never seen a table levitate on its own, tonight’s viewing could have blown your mind as it did mine. A member of the audience held one part of a scarf along with Giliam for quite some time over a table. After about 30 seconds of waiting the table began to rise. Gasps of disbelief collectively left the awing mouths of the audience. After swishing the table in air for a while, the two lowered it back to the floor and a burst of clapping roared through the room.
At the end of the show, Giliam stayed around to teach students how to trick their friends and strangers with “magic” card tricks. The last trick he taught was ripping a dollar, folding it to unfold the one dollar bill back into its original state.
America’s Got Talent has been a show Eric Giliam has attempted to tryout for but the time was never right. This upcoming season, Giliam believes is his shot. Keep an eye out for him!
Reach the reporter at ryan.santistevan@asu.edu or follow @ryanerica18 on Twitter.
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