Elemental at the IBM Convention in Southport

Every year the British Ring of the International Brotherhood of Magicians holds a convention, and this years’ was in Southport. At the convention they hold their annual stage competition, and we decided to take part.

This was Jay’s first IBM convention, and Amelia’s first for ten years, so it was a whole new experience for us. On Thursday we picked up our registration packs. There was a very relaxed pace to the convention, leaving lots of time to catch up with friends. We enjoyed the Thursday night micro marathon and the cabaret show. Friday was fun, and we saw some good magic in close up competition.

Saturday was taken up with the stage competition. All the acts were given twenty minutes in the afternoon to go through their sound and lighting, and we had just enough time to do a run through of our routine. We got talking to another of the competitors, Jason & Joanne and had a lovely chat with them.

The evening was spent backstage, getting into costume and setting up all the props. There were ten competitors in all, and we were sixth, which meant that we were the first act after the interval. It was a strange feeling, partly nervous at going on stage in front of hundreds of magicians, but partly calm, knowing that we would just get up there and do our best. The ten minutes we were on stage seemed to pass very quickly. The routine went well, and we could just about hear the audience clapping at the relevant points. We came offstage exhausted, but happy that we had done a good performance.

We were backstage with the other acts as the winners were announced. The first stage competition result to be announced was the Dittia Shield for Manipulation, and we were absolutely stunned when the name read out was Elemental! We went up and collected our trophy, and waited as the other trophies were presented. We could hardly believe it when we heard our name called out again; we had been awarded the Theo Speaker Cup for second place in the competition.

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