While in grade school, Kyle Key would draw lunch-time crowds by making coins and balls seemingly appear and disappear in front of his classmates’ eyes.
“It’s mind-blowing when kids see something — and their brains can’t understand how it’s done,” reflects the Red Deer magician.
A few years later, he made live doves “vanish” to win a middle school talent show.
By age 13, Key was also regularly beating rivals at international magician competitions in B.C. — all along perfecting and inventing tricks of growing complexity.
One of his more elaborate crowd-pleasers is getting an audience member to wrap his wrists in chains and then escaping from them, in under a minute.
Harry Houdini was an inspiration for this, he admits. Key also admires Steve Martin for mixing humour with magic, and the Las Vegas theatrics of Jeff McBride.
At 34 years old, Key now owns and operates the Velvet Olive bar and Scene magazine. And he still performs as special events magician, continuing to believe there’s something wondrous about seeing “magic” performed live.
“I really enjoy seeing the reactions of people,” he says.
On April 27 at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery, Key will be teaching magic tricks to anyone who registers (ages 5 and up). The two workshops, each an hour long, are designed to “unlock magical potential,” not only by teaching these skills, but by using the lessons to build self-confidence, public speaking and fine motor skills.
“Magic is a great mechanism to improve your core competency,”says Key. He feels it’s one thing to show somebody a trick, it’s another to present it with the flair of a street performer, while telling a story to build interest.
His fascination with “magic” began at age five, after he got a Halloween-themed kit for his birthday.
Key’s parents had separated around this time, so performing magic tricks became a bit of an escape — and a good way to get positive adult attention, he reflects.
With the great feedback he received from family members and schoolmates, Key was motivated to keep practising sleight of hand techniques, stretching his brain-to-hand dexterity.
At age seven, he upped his game by signing on for workshops with Brent Smith, owner of Calgary’s The Vanishing Rabbit Magic Shop. Smith was skilled at incorporating animals into his act and became a mentor.
Key now feels his father and grandparents showed great latitude by allowing him to own the rabbit and three doves he needed for his act. (The birds, he says, were much easier to train.)
Thwarting audience expectations became an effective part of the act. Key explains that just when viewers think his bottle-switching trick revolves around both bottles being in the bag at once, he will flatten the bag to show it contains nothing at all.
Since becoming a working magician as a teenager, he has travelled around Alberta and the Northwest Territories performing at events and workshops.
Key will still bring out his wand for parties, corporate team-building sessions and festivals— as well as when musicians cancel their engagements at The Velvet Olive.
“I’ll come on as a last-minute replacement.”
For more information about his Red Deer museum magic workshop, please visit reddeermuseum.com.