Costa Rica Young Magicians Dazzle at the Retreat
By Vanishing Inc. - Tuesday, June 18, 2019
One of the surprise highlights of The Retreat 2019 in Costa Rica occurred when five young, local magicians came to the resort and did a show for us. These teenagers are part of Magicians Without Borders, a fantastic charity we at Vanishing Inc. are proud to partner with. This organization founds clubs in disadvantaged regions and works with young people to teach them magic and life skills. Diego Vargas is the community leader for Magicians Without Borders in Costa Rica, and he helped each of the kids master one piece of close-up magic to share with Retreat attendees.
Vanishing Inc. gifted each young performer with a care package that included "A Charming Chinese Challenge" and "Level One," and after their show for us, several of our attendees treated the kids to impromptu performances.
We asked Josh and Andi to share some details about these young magicians:
Joshua Jay writes
Our hearts were touched by both the skills and enthusiasm these young magicians showed, despite extremely tough obstacles in some of their home lives. For these young magicians, magic is a way out of their situation, and a means of stability. Magic is hope.
It's easy--particularly at conventions--to fall into a me-first mindset. After all, we pay to go to conventions for enrichment and entertainment. We're there to improve our magic, to learn things for our shows. But at this moment at The Retreat, we were all reminded of the pure joy of watching magic transform the lives of other people, and pausing to appreciate the change it can have in someone else's life. The afternoon ended when all five of the young magicians rushed the two of us (Andi and I) with a group hug. We're not going to lie--we were fighting back tears.
Andi Gladwin writes
We have a mission: to help share magic wherever we go. And so, when we went to Costa Rica for , we were thrilled to invite these five kids from Magicians Without Borders to join us. This division of the charity is headed up by our friend Diego Vargas; a wonderful magician with an infectious drive and passion for magic. He works to teach underprivileged kids magic to help give them focus and to help empower and educate them.
Working with Diego, we invited the young magicians from Costa Rica to perform a show for us at The Retreat. The four boys and two girls each introduced themselves and performed a trick for the entire group. We heard how one young boy was encouraged to drop out of school early so that he could go to work for his family. But through the support of Magicians Without Borders, he was encouraged to finish his schooling first. Another young magician had learned English just to introduce himself to us, and another was the first person in his family to make it to ninth grade, thanks to Diego's support and encouragement.
I think everyone at Vanishing Inc. feels a responsibility to leave magic in a better place than we found it; and working with these young magicians really touched all of our hearts.
After the show, Andi and Josh gifted each of the young magicians with a bag of magic, and promised to help support them more in the coming months. And then the fun really began: Dani DaOrtiz, Danny Garcia, Josh, Andi and many more performed an impromptu show for these young magicians. We hope we gave them a day they'll never forget!
Here's a video by Diego introducing the young magicians:
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