“Wanna know how to do that?”

The answer was a roar of anticipation from the captivated crowd. Jamy Ian Swiss, a master of illusion and one of the most accomplished magicians in the world, posed the question.

As part of the Penny Stamps Distinguished Visitor Series, Swiss came to the Michigan Theater on October 8, 2009 to discuss magic. But Swiss seemed more like a storyteller than a magician.

He started the lecture with a card trick that baffled everyone, which he later revealed took him years to master. Swiss performed the trick again and explained how his words and body language affect the way the audience perceives the card trick.  Even after revealing the secret, the audience was still fooled. “One of the most powerful techniques in deception is just lying,” he said.

The importance of body language was best shown in a simple trick many of us have seen: a coin appears to transfer from the right hand to the left but actually remains in the right. Swiss explained that the trick essentially requires the magician to “lie with the body”. By transferring his weight to the right, the audience believes that the coin is now in his right hand. Swiss also gives verbal cues, which lead the audience to anticipate the transfer at that exact moment. The coin never moves, but the audience thinks it does.

Swiss used this example to demonstrate his belief that our brains process a variety of signals which lead us to accept the magic presented to us. “Human beings are bad observers, that’s why we need science,” he said. Swiss added that this is a process no psychology book can explain.

Swiss compared the act of magic to a movie; he believes that magic tricks are only interesting when there is a plot. Swiss considers everything leading up to the trick the rising action, or the build to the climax. And when the audience doesn’t see exactly what was expected, conflict is created. This conflict is resolved by the end of the trick, and the audience is left with a sense of satisfaction. Swiss says he relies on techniques used in movies such as scripting, timing, and presentation in his magic.

Swiss compared this process to a genre of movies which he does not enjoy: romantic comedies. Swiss said that magic tricks are similar to the movie “Maid in Manhattan” in which the audience expects the plot to end precisely as they predicted. He calls the movie “an exercise in the obvious.”

“It’s exactly the type of art I despise,” said Swiss. Swiss believes that magic needs to be elegant and surprising while still delivering a sense of satisfaction to the audience.

Jamy Ian Swiss finished the lecture exactly in this way. He performed another astounding card trick involving three volunteers from the audience which left them all bewildered. Swiss also remarked that he has performed the trick numerous times and isn’t entertained when others perform it.

“The better we get, the less we enjoy it for ourselves,” he said.