Meet Dennis Kim | Professional Magician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dennis Kim and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dennis, what’s your definition for success?
I believe success is a moment of finding inner peace after reaching a goal – it isn’t a constant state that once achieved, is set for good. We all have these stresses in anticipation of reaching certain goals, and so the release of tension as a result of achieving them is what I believe success to be. String enough moments of success together, and one can see their self as successful.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Magic is not always looked at as an art. The difficult aspect about it is how cheaply it can be perceived. An audience can easily say that “it’s just tricks, it’s just sleight-of-hand, there’s something that’s making it possible!” And this is something they cannot be blamed for – it is just human nature; people are inherently curious.

Magic works because of that aspect of fooling a given spectator, for without it, it’s just a display of how to make something look the way it shouldn’t. So, one of the challenges of magic is how to squash any possible doubts and beliefs of how a trick or illusion is done to then lead someone to be convinced that there’s only one way to appropriately react – with astonishment!

This is not to even mention the challenging aspects that overlap with all other performing arts – showmanship, having an entertaining and commanding presence, telling a good story through the craft – which all apply to magic on top of having to fool an audience.

What sets me apart from any other working magician in today’s world is being exposed to different lines of work in the industry. I get to work behind the scenes as well as be the forefront of a given audience’s attention. Not only do I perform, but I also consult and assist a magician for private performances, ticketed shows, and even on occasion, television through a magic company. This magician has been one of the major components to the growth of David Copperfield and David Blaine, and to see that I help him now a similar way that he has helped those individuals when he was younger, I acknowledge it’s a special position for me to be in.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family has always been the rock to support and enable me to pursue my heart’s calling in anything and everything in life, and to find success through that pursuit. I’m always thankful for them for giving me the opportunity and the courage to live life as authentically as possible, even if it means taking the road less traveled!

I also must shout out my magic mentors that opened my eyes up to the mindset that goes into high level, world-class magic that is recognized on TV and in live theater productions. Working with them has given me the ability to apply such exclusive, secretive knowledge to my own art to heighten my own magic and artistic direction of it. They have also been the constant affirmation that making a lifelong career out of something like magic is absolutely possible.

Website: www.thecloseupartist.com

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