Magic Nick on top of his game

MAGICIAN Magic Nick became spellbound by the craft at a young age during a visit to Cape Town’s College of Magic.

The 29-year-old Panorama resident, whose real name is Nicholas Rix, remembers the moment fondly. “I was 10 when I stumbled on the craft of magic. I asked my parents to pay for my studies at the College of Magic as a Christmas present.”

Rix excelled at his studies, and held a constant place as one of the top students in his class. By the end of his first year he was awarded the Juggling and the Student Magician of the Year trophies.

After seeing his potential, a panel of professional magicians selected him to compete in the Western Cape Junior Magicians Championships, where he made it to the finals.

A year later, he went to Las Vegas to compete at the International Junior Close-Up Magic Championships in February 2005.

The event put him against dozens of other young magicians from all over the world. He took home a silver medal.

Rix noted that this was the turning point in his career as a magician, and a few months later he won the South African Magic Championships.

After his success in these competitions, more and more people began hiring him as an entertainer for various events.

Close-up magic is his favourite form of the craft.

“I find it a lot more challenging because it’s a lot more personal,” he said. “You don’t have the same advantages you do with stage magic, so you really have to be on top of your game.”

Today, he is a sought after magician and entertainer with an act that features juggling, sleight of hand tricks, and his party speciality, making a goldfish appear out of a small roll of newspaper.

While he is based in Cape Town, Rix travels and performs around the country and overseas. “Magic, as an art, I think is one of the oldest professions in the world. Magicians tend to mentor each other. So, my biggest inspiration has been the many magicians around Cape Town.”