The Real and the Reel: Magic Beyond the Lens

Magic Beyond the Lens

Magic is an art of the moment. It’s about the shared gasp, the wide-eyed disbelief, the unspoken connection between the performer and the audience. But in today’s world, where everything is filtered and curated for social media, magic has found itself caught in an uncomfortable place.

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube—they demand perfection. Polished tricks, captured from the perfect angle, are designed to grab attention for just a few fleeting seconds. And for me, that’s where magic loses its soul.

I’ve filmed tricks, of course. You have to, in this age where your online presence is as important as your real one. I’ve spent hours under bright lights, rehearsing the same move until it’s flawless, ensuring that every frame will impress the algorithm. The videos do well. They get likes, shares, comments. People message me saying, “How did you do that?” But for all the digital applause, I feel nothing.

Because magic, at its core, isn’t about perfection. It’s about the imperfection of reality. It’s about the tension in the air, the way an audience leans in, the collective gasp when the impossible

happens. A video can’t capture that. It can’t replicate the feeling of holding your breath as a card disappears, only to reappear in a place you never expected.

Dubai, with its obsession with spectacle, feels like a city built for social media. The skyline is a never-ending parade of photo ops, each more dazzling than the last. But for all its Instagrammable moments, the magic I perform here isn’t meant for the screen. It’s meant for the people. For the child who lights up when I make a coin vanish. For the couple who burst into laughter when their wedding ring reappears inside a lemon. Those moments are real. Unfiltered. And no amount of likes or comments can replicate them.

Social media has its place, of course. It’s a tool, a way to reach people who might never see my shows in person. But it’s not where the magic lives. The magic lives in the real world, in the fleeting, ephemeral moments that can’t be captured or replayed. And in a city like Dubai, where everything feels larger than life, those moments are worth holding onto.