Showing posts with label Bill Wells. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Wells. Show all posts

26 August 2023

The Legacy of Sorcerers Safari - part 9

Recap (click to show | hide)

From Part 1 of the series:

In lieu of a physical reunion bringing together past campers and staff, Canada’s Magic is hosting a virtual reunion of sorts.  We’ve reached out to the Sorcerers Safari community with a dozen or so questions to help bring us up to date on what everyone has been up to since our magic camp days.

If you completed our survey, keep your eyes peeled for your segment!  

If you would like to participate but haven’t filled out the survey, there’s still time.  The survey can be found here:  https://forms.gle/umg77yj9QxUzfpm76

Thank you to all that contributed!


 

Mike, Jen, Sorcerers Safari staff, and alumni, this series is for you.

 

The Legacy of Sorcerers Safari
<< part 8  |  part 10 >>

 

Part 9 features:  Marc Hache, Jeff Hinchliffe, Bill Wells, and Lauren Proctor

 

  Marc Hache  
Retired.

Attended camp from 2003 to 2010 as staff.

In his own words:

  • Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
    • Camper show every year. Those kids were amazing!

  • Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
    • The lifelong friendships I made especially with Jen and Mike.

 

 

  Jeff Hinchliffe  
Professional magician.

Attended camp in 2003 as staff, and from 2004 to 2011 as a counsellor.


Since his time at camp Jeff has:

  • Continued the tradition of passing along knowledge.


In his own words:

  • Sorcerers Safari helped cultivate a culture of sharing and growing together.


  • Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
    • Every year was the "best year ever!"

  • Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
    • The friendships

 

I will never have another experience in magic that was like Sorcerers Safari!

 

 

  Bill Wells  
Retired.

Attended camp in 2014 as a guest.

In his own words:

  • Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
    • The kids!!!

  • Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
    • Seeing what a great network existed between staff and campers.

 

 

  Lauren Proctor 
Director of Customer Service & Art.

Attended camp from 1999 to 2008 as camper and CIT (counsellor in training).

Lauren has this to say about her time after Sorcerers Safari:

  • While I don't think anything I've accomplished is "significant" in the sense of contributing to the world or the profession as a whole, my accomplishments are significant to my life.  
  • I'm very proud of the life I've built for myself; it is not a life that just happened, but one I have worked hard to obtain.  
  • I've met the love of my life who I've started a family with and moved to Colorado.  
  • I've built a network of wonderful humans who I consider my family.  
  • I've found a career that is exciting, stimulating and allows me to be creative every day.
  • These are all such simple things, but I'm incredibly grateful for them.


In her own words:

  • I think many of my accomplishments in my career can be credited to my time at Sorcerers Safari.  
  • Performance Workshop was a fantastic opportunity to learn how to give and receive constructive criticism.  
  • Performing directly influenced my creativity and gave me confidence when public speaking.  
  • Spending time in a male dominated industry as a youth gave me confidence and taught me how to speak up in the male dominated industry I've landed in. 
  • Most importantly, Sorcerers Safari taught me the value of relationships and how to navigate long distance ones.  The good ones are certainly worth time spent apart.  


  • Favourite Sorcerers Safari memory?  
    • Gosh, there are so many.  I don't think I can pinpoint one specific memory as the best.  More, it's the feeling I get when I reminisce on my time there.  It was a time of youthful innocence coupled with newly found independence.  It was a time of mystery and illusion.  I spent almost a decade of my life looking forward to a single week of camp, reconnecting with friends from years past, showcasing new skills and nerding out over our common interest.  [emphasis added]
    • There are a handful of camp friends that I grew up with; we spent that week, summer after summer together (for me at least) finally feeling at home.  
    • If I had to pick one memory, I would say our girls' cabin rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody is high on the list.  What on earth were we thinking?!


  • Biggest take-away from Sorcerers Safari?
    • I am grateful for all of my takeaways from Sorcerers Safari, but my biggest gift is one of my favourite humans.  I gained a best friend at magic camp, someone who has been in it with me now for over 20 years.  She was the Maid of Honour at my wedding, someone who has known the ins and outs of my life for over two decades.  This kind of a friend doesn't just grow on trees.  Thank you Sorcerers Safari for giving me RR.

 

 

Thank you Marc, Jeff, Bill, and Lauren for sharing your memories!

Check back throughout the month to read updates from other Sorcerers Safari alumni and staff!

 

 Previously featured 

 

Learn more about Sorcerers Safari.

part 1part 2  | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12

<< part 8  |  part 10 >>

 

 

28 June 2016

Diary of a Sorcerers Safari newbie - part 10

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A camper's notebook. Photo by Rosemary Reid
A camper's notebook.

Day 5: Tuesday August 18th*
Cheesy omelette breakfast.  I saw the rabbits again!  And I saw a bright green frog too.  Still no sign of the deer. 
At card class Shawn Farquhar talked to us about stuff I’d never considered.  He said, “give people a sense of wonder.  Don’t make them feel stupid or small.”  And then he said this quote from American poet Maya Angelou:   
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

We played “Capture the Flag” which was so. much. FUN!

6pm
The camper show was fantastic.  Before the show, Lee Asher made his group perform walk around for the audience.  They did really well. 

Pre-show walk around. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Pre-show walk around.

Then the show started.  Some of the kids performed things they just learned (or even made!) this week!  Others made stuff up and some came prepared with things they’d been working on the whole year.  Shout out to them all!
Emcees: Chaz and RJ.
Performers: Cathy, James, Brad, Matt, Tariq, Jordan, Ava, Vincent, Landon, Matthew, Nathan, Will, Ben, Jack, Nick, and Jeff.
Backstage: Simon, Holden, Serena, and Jarrett.
Sound and tech: Steve Kline (for this and all the other shows!).
Production assistants: Mike and Lisa Close, Dan Wiebe, and Mike Toal.

Owning the stage. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Owning the stage.


Sponge balls. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Sponge balls.


Something big is about to happen! Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Something big is about to happen!


The coolest thing about the show was that everyone’s performance looked good.  Beginner kids went first so they didn’t have to go after someone who had more experience.  I don’t see any competition between the kids.  The adults want us all to shine. 
Today’s electives were Pulp Friction (with Lee himself!), linking rings, Gravity Half Pass (with Aaron Fisher!), Assistant’s Revenge stage illusion, Miser’s Dream, any card at any number, and Patriotic Ropes. 

Bill Wells and Sheldon Casavant talking coins. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Bill Wells and Sheldon Casavant talking coins.

Patriotic ropes with Phil DaCosta. Photo by James Carey Lauder.




I did the linking rings and was kinda surprised (and disappointed) to learn how they work.  It seems that some of the most wonderful effects are based on simple ideas.  Loran was a great teacher, but I’m going to have to practise a lot more until I feel comfortable doing it in front of anyone!

Rats. Camp swim got rained out.  (I wish I tried the high jump yesterday).  Silver lining: we all piled into the Staff Lounge and had a big impromptu panel with Shawn, Eric, Phil, and Mark.  They do things off the top of their head better than I can do anything I’ve rehearsed a million times.  I wonder how much of it is pure talent and how much of it is hours and hours of practise.

Shawn speaking at the panel. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Shawn speaking at the panel.


To be continued ...


--
The 2016 season of Sorcerers Safari will run from Sunday August 7th through Friday August 12th, 2016. For more information, or to register, please visit SorcerersSafari.ca



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* The “Diary of a Sorcerers Safari Newbie” is primarily based on the 2015 camp season.  It is an aggregate of many perspectives, and at times includes events from previous years.

31 May 2016

Diary of a Sorcerers Safari newbie - part 6

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A camper's notebook. Photo by Rosemary Reid
A camper's notebook.

Day 3: Sunday August 16th*

Morning comes too early.  I’m tired.  Started the day with scrambled eggs and cereal (no sugary cereals here… boo!).  Card class was great.  Dick Joiner taught us how to do an effect called “Hotel.”  I’m amazed at how it works!
Card class with Dick Joiner and Ted Outerbridge. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Card class with Dick Joiner and Ted Outerbridge.


I heard that some of the more advanced kids need to get some card tricks ready to perform walkaround magic in the audience before the camper show.  I’m glad I’m just a beginner!

Camp stretch. Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Camp stretch.

Field activity was a game called “Food Chain.”  The rules were a little complicated, but it was fun.  One kid hid under the mess hall stairs to try and “survive” longer in the game! 


There's always time to squeeze in some more magic! Photo by James Carey Lauder.
There's always time to squeeze in some more magic!

5pm
Fueled up at lunch with meatball sandwiches and corn!  Apparently Joan Caesar, the founder of the Canadian Association of Magicians, is here visiting today.  And Bill and Becki Wells from the International Brotherhood of Magicians are here all week.  Wow!  More great electives to choose from (camper show walk through, impromptu magic, classic force, balloons, stage presence / performance tips, elastic thread, the business of magic, and necklace magic). 

The balloon elective was tonnes of fun!  Balloons kept popping all the time.  It was crazy!   Even the instructors, Carey Lauder and Chris Westfall, were surprised at how much they kept popping.  We learned some easy things like dogs but also some more complicated things like flowers and ladybug bracelets. 

Before the camp swim, they got EVERYONE in the camp together to take the camp photo at the dock.  I took forever to get everybody organized.  I can’t wait to see it.  I learned an important lesson too:  never be late for the camp photo!  There were a few stragglers and boy did they get get in trouble.  Not only are they not in the photo, but now they have to clean up ALL THE TABLES at dinner tonight! 

Camp photo! Photo by James Carey Lauder.
2015 camp photo! (Scroll to see everyone.)


Turns out that Carey is also the official camp photographer.  During camp swim he did something called “Levitation Photos.”  We all got to pose for a photo either levitating someone, being levitated by someone or both!  (The line got longer by at least 20 people when Neil’s assistant was being levitated!)  I posed for pictures with one of my new best friends.  I can’t wait to see them!  (Diary, you’ll have to understand if I don’t reveal the secret here.  I’d hate for it to fall into the wrong hands if I happened to lose you!) 

Levitation photos! Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Levitation photos!


The big kids looked like they were having so much fun jumping off the tall platform.  The lifeguard did some trick flips too!  I want to try jumping but it looks scary.  I don’t like heights.

In performance workshop we played a game called “Freeze Tag.”  That was hilarious.  It was improvising and then anyone could call out “freeze” and tag someone out, take their spot, and change the entire setting!  It’s supposed to help with thinking on the spot, playing characters, and doing scene work, but I just think it’s great fun!
Mark Correia and Chris Westfall make improvising fun! Photo by James Carey Lauder.
Mark Correia and Chris Westfall make improvising fun!


To be continued ...


--
The 2016 season of Sorcerers Safari will run from Sunday August 7th through Friday August 12th, 2016. For more information, or to register, please visit SorcerersSafari.ca



|< page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 -6- 78 - 9 - 10 - 11 - next >

* The “Diary of a Sorcerers Safari Newbie” is primarily based on the 2015 camp season.  It is an aggregate of many perspectives, and at times includes events from previous years.