Reviews & Interviews
The
Joanie Spina Workshops
by David Hemingway for the
British Ring's magazine, "The Budget."
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Joanie Spina: In Her Words
Magic Magazine - July 2008
Written by Stan Allen
It's a bit surprising that Joanie
Spina has not been a dancer all her life. In
fact, she dropped out from age 11 to 26, a
result of "taking the wrong road." That road
took her from her hometown of Woburn (west of
Boston) to St. Thomas to Maui to Vegas and,
eventually, back to Massachusetts. She was
tending bar and had gained 25 pounds. In an
effort to drop the weight, she enrolled in a
ballet class and a jazz class. As she says, "It
was like getting hit with a dart in the
forehead." Feeling a powerful connection at
last, she took classes all day long: dance,
voice, acting. While she was told that she was
too old, she figured she could at least gather
knowledge and teach, if not perform. Over the
next two years, she danced in a few Boston
companies before moving to New York and
ultimately answering an ad to be a dancer in a
show with "an international stage and television
star."
Joanie went on to work as a principal performer,
choreographer, and artistic co-director for
David Copperfield over the next eleven years.
Her work included choreographing ten of David's
annual CBS specials and his Broadway show,
Dreams and Nightmares.
She followed this up by building her own act,
which played in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and
the Bahamas.
After retiring from performing in 2000, Joanie
pursued directing fulltime. Her list of clients
is staggering: Kalin & Jinger, Princess Tenko,
Marco Tempest, Circo Tihany, Tim Kole, Melinda,
Jeff Hobson, Juliana Chen, The Spencers, Dirk
Arthur, and Lawrence & Priscilla. She lives in
Las Vegas but continues to travel the world,
staging and directing shows, as well as pursuing
her latest passion, filmmaking.
STAN ALLEN sat down
with Joanie to discuss her roles as assistant,
dancer, choreographer, director, and documentary
filmmaker.
MAGIC: You worked with David Copperfield from
1985 until 1996 - onstage until 1993, then
continuing offstage for next three years. To
what do you attribute the longevity of this
working relationship?
JOANIE: I have to say it was the chemistry.
There was a connection between David and myself.
When you work with certain people, they bring
things out in you. I think he trusted me. We
shared artistic sensibilities and visions and
tastes. And it was exciting to work with him
onstage. He fully gave to the moment. That's
very exciting for the audience and exciting for
the performers.
MAGIC: When you say "He fully gave to the
moment," what do you mean?
JOANIE: As in any kind of theater, there's
a lot of craft and planning, but there has to be
a degree of spontaneity onstage. You walk
onstage and you are in the moment. That moment
has to be real, otherwise it doesn't look real
to the audience. You have to have total
abandonment. If it's a sexy thing, you just have
to go there. It's safe, because you're onstage
in front of thousands of people. It's not going
to go any further than anything you've staged.
You walk offstage and it's over. But for the
moment you're onstage, the moment you're in it,
if the performers totally commit, it's real. For
that moment, it's real. And that's what makes
something truly exciting. You can't act it, you
have to just go there. You have to abandon
yourself, throw caution to the wind. And just be
real.
MAGIC: When you're directing, is that a
difficult thing to get people to do?
JOANIE:
Oh, of course.
It's dangerous because it makes people feel open
and vulnerable. And that's why so many movie
actors end up having affairs, because they have
to be real, they have to be honest about feeling
something for the other actor in the scene. But
you have be able to shut it off when the scene
is over. You have to let go of those feelings
and walk away. The problem is that, over the
long term of shooting a movie, those feelings
can start to seem too real to let go of.
In my situation, David had a girlfriend. We
traveled on a bus together. It would have been
impossible for it to go any further. You don't
allow the relationship to go there. You do
things professionally.
Being in that moment is what makes a performance
exciting for the audience. It's almost like you
feel as if you shouldn't look, it's so real to
you that it's private. That's the way it should
be, whether it's something that's sad or
something that's sexy and romantic or something
that's funny - it has to be honest and real. And
the audience responds.
MAGIC: How important to you is that eleven-year
run of working with David?
JOANIE: I feel that everything evolved for me
because of David, because of David's persistence
and excellence, because of the opportunity he
gave me and his constant pushing. He gave me a
chance to grow and develop a talent that I
didn't know I had.
MAGIC: In 1995 and '96, in addition to David,
you were working for other clients - Melinda,
Dirk Arthur - but you were also putting together
your own act. When did you debut that?
JOANIE: My first time performing my own act was
in September of 1996 at Caesars Magical Empire.
It was a disastrous performance and certainly
not the right place to start. But when
opportunity arises, you don't want to pass it
by, because you don't know when the next
opportunity will come up. I was very nervous. I
had never just talked to an audience. I had been
in plays that were scripted, but it was
different to try to just speak to the audience.
I was a nervous wreck.
MAGIC: Why did you build your own act?
JOANIE: I don't know. I guess I wasn't done. I
didn't want to stop. I loved performing. I
couldn't go out and do an act as a dancer, but I
could do an act as a dancer doing magic. I never
perceived myself as a magician, just as a
performer using magic in my act. I do believe
that a magician has a certain mindset, and that
was never mine.
MAGIC: Why did you stop?
JOANIE: I started way too late. I was 41. When I
was 47, I enjoyed a year-long run in the Bahamas
in a show called Magical Voyage. It was
good money, but when I left, I decided that if I
did not get another long-term job in the US,
then I would stop and settle down.
MAGIC: Did you get that job?
JOANIE: No. I only gave myself two months. It's
difficult for a woman - I didn't want to deal
with lying about my age and I didn't want to try
to rework everything in my act to fit an older
woman. I guess I was ready to retire and pursue
directing fulltime.
MAGIC: How did you go from choreographer to
director?
JOANIE: I didn't have any prior experience
directing or choreographing prior to
choreographing for David. And I never did
elaborate choreography. My choreography was more
of a storytelling method, using movement and
dance to help convey some kind of very simple
plot or emotion or feeling or mood.
A lot of times, in order to get what you want
choreographically, you need to direct the
performers. Helping them with their performance
developed my skill as a coach. When directing
somebody else's idea, I'm just elaborating,
enhancing, and making their vision a reality.
Repeatedly doing that is how you grow and
develop. Also, I see as much work as I possibly
can: movies, stage musicals, dramatic shows -
especially people whose work I admire. That's
how you develop a critical eye; you see what
works. If you have an inclination or an ability
to absorb that, that's where your own taste
starts to form. That's how I developed my
critical eye. I think through all the years of
studying - without even consciously
studying, just seeing so much work and absorbing
it - my own tastes started to form and my own
eye started to form. It was in me. It just had
to be developed.
I think I have a really good feel for staging
and music and performance in other people. I can
help other people sculpt and hone their
performance because I can see what works and
what doesn't work. It's just my opinion. It's a
taste. It's a style that any one person has, any
director, choreographer, writer.
MAGIC: When you're watching a movie or a show,
do you think about how it could have been done
"better"?
JOANIE: Yes. I'm constantly analyzing. I can't
go to a show without walking out and saying all
the things that worked about it, what didn't
work about it, and what would improve it.
Sometimes, however, something is just so good
that I don't even think about it. I watched the
movie The Departed at home. I didn't see
it in a theater, yet I was so tense. I was on
the edge of the couch. I couldn't relax. I was
so nervous, but occasionally I would think, "Oh
my God, this is good!" because I was not
thinking all of the things I normally think when
seeing a show. I was just so drawn in and so
excited and so into it. There have been many
shows like this. When I saw The Producers
in previews on Broadway, it was glorious. It was
so funny, so connected. A little long, but
otherwise...
MAGIC: Is a critical eye a blessing or a curse?
JOANIE: I think it's a little of both, and it's
gotten worse over the last few years. I saw
Bells Are Ringing with Faith Prince. I love
Faith Prince; I just think she's adorable. I
love her voice, her acting, and her charm. But
that night, they had an all-white floor. It was
so distracting. That's all I thought about
through the whole show. How could they have had
a white floor? It never went away; it was
dominant throughout. It was very hard to create
any kind of intimate mood, regardless of what
lighting you threw on it - it still looked
white. To me, the whole thing kind of fell apart
just because the set didn't create any kind of
atmosphere.
MAGIC: You were quoted in a story saying that
you found it much more difficult to put a
critical eye on yourself then someone else.
That's probably true for most magicians. Why?
JOANIE: You have too many personal feelings, too
many hang-ups, so you don't see the overall
picture when you look at yourself. You see all
the little details and you get distracted. You
pay attention to the wrong thing and make
choices that aren't right. It's just hard to be
objective about yourself. You need somebody else
to step in and see you fresh, the way the
audience sees you, with no background on you.
MAGIC: You talk about staging a lot. What is the
difference between choreography and staging?
JOANIE: Choreographing is more the dance steps;
staging is movement. That's how I would separate
them. Staging is the functions that you're
showing physically onstage, moving bodies around
the stage. Choreography is actual dancing.
MAGIC: So when you work with a magic act and
they're not dancers, you're doing staging?
JOANIE: Right. Anything that is on the stage
needs to be physically blocked out. Regardless
of whether there's music or any kind of
movement, you still need to stage it so people
know where they're going, so there's not a lot
of random movement that's unfocused. Even if
you're just speaking. A lot of people move
randomly back and forth when they're speaking.
It's very distracting. Even if you're a public
speaker, it's good to stage your speech, your
hand movements, gestures. You'll seem calm, in
control, and focused, without a lot of random,
nervous movements.
MAGIC: When you started working for clients
other than David, was that a leap for you?
JOANIE: It wasn't a leap, but it was more
responsibility. With David, he was the captain
of the ship, and he made all of the decisions.
You brought the product to him and asked, "How
do you like this?" He liked it or he didn't. He
had a very defined artistic taste. He knew what
he wanted.
MAGIC: That's not the case with most magicians?
JOANIE: No. David is exceptional; he should be a
director. For me, working with him in that
capacity was actually easier because we shared
similar tastes. That's probably why we worked
together for so long. It made life easier for
him, because almost everything I ever brought to
him he liked.
MAGIC: But ultimately it wasn't your
responsibility, because David made the final
call. He knew what he wanted.
JOANIE: Exactly. But some people don't know.
They can't tell what's good or what's bad.
They're depending on your opinion, and they have
to trust you.
MAGIC: Do they trust you?
JOANIE: Some do, but some don't entirely. I tell
them one thing, but they don't want to go there.
I might say, "If your entire show has the same
kind of techno music, the audience is going to
get tired of it and lose interest. You're going
to lose impact with your staging and illusions.
Your show's not going to be as strong, because
there's no variety, there's no contrast.
Everything ends up feeling the same" - which is
very valid and I don't think it's hard to
believe. Yet some people might say, "Nah, I'm
going to stick with it." I've had that
experience where people don't trust you. They
hire you, but they still want to do what they
do.
MAGIC: Isn't that what David did - exactly what
David wanted to do?
JOANIE: Yes, but David has a good understanding
of what works for the audience. He's so in tune
with dramatic presentation and music and
lighting and concept. He's brilliant with that
stuff. Some people just have it.
Take music, for instance. Some people can
instantly hear that it's a good piece of music.
Kalin has a brilliant ear for music. David has a
brilliant ear for music. The problem is, who has
time to search for music? Like David has a
million things going on in his show. When does
he have time to sit down and take a script and
match it up to the right piece of music for
underscoring?
MAGIC: Is that what you did for David?
JOANIE: I did that for him. I'd buy countless
CDs and get the script for whatever illusion it
was that he wanted to do - for instance, the fan
illusion - and I would just sit and listen and
listen and listen some more for a piece of music
that brought to mind a vision that would work
for that particular illusion.
MAGIC: Is the music usually part of the creative
process that early, right at that first step?
JOANIE: Yes, because the music helps to set the
staging. Naturally, you base the staging on the
most logical steps that one must put across in
order for the magic to work - to set it up,
execute it, and conclude it - but that music
helps determine the pacing and the style and the
feel of the way you do your staging. Any
illusion or manipulation has physical
requirements you have to execute in order to do
the magic, so you stick with the basics. It's
simple, but you want to add style and make it
entertaining, on top of the magic part of it.
You want every piece to look a little bit
different, so there's contrast, changes of mood.
Oftentimes, someone like Mark and Jinger will
have a new illusion and want me to come in and
work on it. I try to find the right music. Then
we stage the illusion and light it, adapting the
music, editing it over and over again, changing
the staging until we get into a nice routine.
MAGIC: How long does that take?
JOANIE: It takes longer than people think it
does. For the most part, people think that you
can just put it together and it's finished. But
once you have the structure together, there's
still the fine-tuning. The initial putting it
together is much faster than all of the
fine-tuning. That really takes the most time and
it's the most important part. It's all the
little details that make it good. You can't just
throw it out there in a rough state. It's a
process you have to go through. Occasionally,
you might hit it the first time around, but
that's rare and you still need to practice and
develop it. The process of rehearsal is where
all the new ideas and all the little bits come
in.
MAGIC: How many pieces of music do you listen to
when you're searching for the right one?
JOANIE: Hundreds and hundreds. I've spent days
listening to music. And you can't just listen to
the first bit. You have to skim through it,
because you don't know what lies within.
MAGIC: What are you looking for - or, more
accurately, what are you listening for?
JOANIE: For structure and impact and style. When
you're trying to stage something for magic, it's
that structure that's very important. You don't
want sameness throughout; that diminishes the
effect. You need some kind of build, some kind
of climax, something that enhances the magic.
MAGIC: Do you collect music for magic?
JOANIE: I have files of things that were not
right for one thing, but I know they're right
for something somewhere. I just save and hope.
MAGIC: Can anyone do this?
JOANIE: I don't think so. It's having an ear for
it. Some people can sit and listen for hours,
but if they don't have an ear for it, then it's
kind of a waste of time. They don't connect.
When they hear it, they aren't able to envision
what's happening.
MAGIC: Besides hiring someone to find it for
them, what can magicians do to find music that
fits their shows?
JOANIE: Listen and watch. That's the beauty in
going to shows and movies. Why does that music
work? Try to learn from the choices that other
people make. People who score movies or find
music for movies are hired because they have an
ear for it, a talent for it. Learn from them.
Every time I go to a movie now I try to keep one
ear tuned into the music. I'm consciously making
an effort to hear the music. I just saw Miss
Pettigrew Lives For a Day; there's a lot of
fun music in that.
MAGIC: How much of your directing work is
starting with a blank slate versus "come fix my
act"?
JOANIE: Most of it is come fix my act. But no
matter who I'm working with, if they do their
show, then they're going to get feedback on the
entire show.
MAGIC: When you watch a client's show and you
see a number of things that need work, is there
ever a concern how much the performer can take?
JOANIE: Yes, I do worry that they'll feel, "I'm
not doing anything right!" I always try to
remind them that they're at a certain level,
otherwise I wouldn't be there. That I am working
on all of the fine details and there are a
million fine details that go into making
anything a masterpiece. But I do worry that I'll
break them down or that they'll lose confidence
because I have too many notes. I always say,
"Maybe two or three days is enough, so I don't
overload you and you don't feel bombarded, and
so you can absorb and retain and process all of
this information that I'm giving you." But
people constantly say to me, "No! Give us more.
We want to hear it all. That's why we hired you.
Just give it all to us. We won't be offended. We
won't feel knocked down." That's the response I
get and I'm very sensitive to it. I don't want
to hurt anyone's confidence. I want to build
them up. I want to share knowledge with them and
help make them better performers.
Also, it's an educational thing, and I try to
explain why this might be a good choice. I try
to demonstrate several ways of doing something,
so they can see the difference. Perhaps if they
tried it this way, this is how it would look.
Hopefully, I'm educating them at the same time
so they understand where my logic and reasoning
are coming from. Then they're able to take that
logic and reasoning and apply it to everything
they do.
MAGIC: Is this teaching somebody how to fish,
rather than just feeding them?
JOANIE: Yes, and I know it works. The Spencers
will say to me, "After we changed this old
piece, now we want to change everything." It's
opening up new ways of thinking for people. Once
you see it and understand it, you're able to
apply it to your performance, regardless of what
you're doing, because it's general theatrical
stuff. Some of it is specific to magic, but I
think that people are able to apply it to
everything they do.
MAGIC: We've all seen performers trying to be
something they're not. Someone who looks like
they should be doing comedy is trying to be
Channing Pollock. How do you deal with this?
It's not exactly fine-tuning.
JOANIE: No, it's not. But I think you can do
whatever you want to do, if you are a solid
enough performer. However, that requires
tremendous performing skills. Even then, if
you're going to go against the grain of what you
naturally are, then you're trying to sway the
audience in an entirely different direction from
what they perceive you to be. You're fighting an
uphill battle when you want to make it as easy
as possible. You can go against who you
naturally are, but why? Why not just go with
what you are naturally, what you're naturally
good at, and what the audience believes of you?
It just makes it easier. Perhaps you want to be
the dramatic illusionist, but if you're not able
to carry it off, then it only serves to hurt
you.
I think that assessing or being realistic about
what your talents are and how the audience
perceives you and what your natural strengths
are is very important so you can make the most
out of them. Classes and education and training
are vitally important for any person in the
arts. If you go to New York, everybody's in
class, all the time. They're in vocal classes,
speech, acting, movement, improv... Because it's a
competition. You want to be the best you can be
and the audience deserves to have the best you
can be. That takes development. It takes time.
It takes skill and being realistic about what
your skills are.
MAGIC: Do you think many of your clients are
realistic?
JOANIE: I would say ninety percent are realistic
about their skills and persona.
MAGIC: Even if we take a good look in the
mirror, we don't always see what's really there.
Do you have any advice on how to become more
realistic?
JOANIE: You know, they do it in New York
auditions all the time. They bring you out
onstage, look at you, and cut you before you
open your mouth. It's based on what you look
like, whether you fit a certain role or type
they're trying to find.
I went to an acting class, it was a ten-week
class, and before it started everybody had to
write on a slip of paper what they thought about
everybody else in class - first impressions
based on looks alone.
MAGIC: Isn't that what an audience does as you
walk onstage, before you've done your first
trick or even opened your mouth?
JOANIE: Yes. They have a perception of you based
just on what you physically look like. From that
point on, hopefully, you enhance that first
impression. Again, it's not to say that you
can't go against what you look like and what
you're naturally like. If you have extraordinary
acting skill, you may be able to convince them
of something that they don't see. It's just much
harder.
MAGIC: What about the first impression that
happens when the audience discovers there's a
magician on the bill?
JOANIE: I don't think magicians have such a bad
rap. Just generally speaking, among the lay
people I know, they're not the ones who say
"another magician." It's the magic people who
say "another magician," because they see so many
magicians and see the same kinds of magic.
Sometimes you hear the same line from ten
different people and you think, "Oh God!
Again?" It's, like, incestuous or something.
Everybody's using the same punch lines and the
same gags, over and over.
MAGIC: One of the criticisms of Hans Klok's show
that played here in Las Vegas was that you could
see some of the same illusions - not just down
the Strip but down the hallway in the same hotel
- in Nathan Burton's or Steve Wyrick's show.
JOANIE: I know, but that's the nature of
illusions, unless you have a lot of money to
develop your own unique effects. Most people
can't afford that, but what they can afford is
their creativity and time to develop their own
style, so it doesn't look like what everybody
else is doing. There wasn't a lot of time in
Hans' show when we, the audience, could get to
know Hans.
MAGIC: Like when Lance Burton sits on the edge
of the stage?
JOANIE: Exactly. Even if you're only doing five
minutes, you have to have moments of
truthfulness when you connect, when you look out
with sincerity. There's sincerity in your eyes.
For anyone doing a full show, you have to take
the time to stop and talk, to be real, be
yourself, and make a real connection to the
audience, where the audience feels on the same
level. That's not about pizzazz or attitude or
style, it's about being real. It's about
connecting. Those moments endear you to the
audience and make the audience care about you.
This is a very important thing. Sometimes, when
people do five or seven minutes and everything
is just action, action, action, there's not a
lot of eye contact, not a lot of real moments.
In those five or seven minutes, you can still
put in moments of sincerity and connection to
the audience, moments that pull them in on
another level. Then they're not just watching
and observing, they're involved. They're
involved with you personally.
MAGIC: Don't you think, especially with
manipulation acts, the audience goes away
thinking about the skill level?
JOANIE: Yes, but you can add dimension to it so
that it's not just about skill. You can make it
personal - that there's some kind of charm or
charisma about you that makes the audience
connect with you and care about you, beyond just
admiring your skill.
MAGIC: What about acts that never step to the
microphone? How do they get the audience
involved with them on that level?
JOANIE: It's in the eyes. It's the way you look
at people. It's how you communicate with your
eyes. It's taking the time and allowing those
moments within the act to make those
connections. If you produce a bird, stop and
look at the audience, share the moment.
MAGIC: Let's take Jason Byrne as an example.
He's very talented, with an intense act that
might seem to be in the skill-watching category.
JOANIE: Perfect example, because he's not in
that category. He takes those moments where he
breaks the intensity he's created. It's just a
small curl of the lips or a look from the side,
but it's real and it's disarming. Also, when he
produces DeeDee (the macaw), then talks, that's
probably the most rewarding thing. His skill
level is high and he's very polished-looking.
You expect him to talk with attitude, but he
speaks gently, sincerely, and sweetly. It's
wonderful. It's a wonderful moment. There's a
warmth in his speech that doesn't sound recited.
It sounds like you're sitting in the car next to
him and he's telling you about this animal and
her background. And it's not about speaking in a
low and soft tone. It's about coming across as
humble and likeable, as opposed to arrogant and
full of himself. It's genuine.
Jason has moments of teasing or flirtatiousness
with the audience, which is seductive and pulls
the audience in. Itss charm, as opposed to boom,
boom, boom, which you see a lot of performers
do. It's like you're sitting with someone you
like, a girl or a guy, and you just want to
charm them a little bit. It's that bit of
sweetness thrown in among all the power stuff
that balances you and makes you more human,
likeable, and approachable.
If I could boil it down to one word, it's
likeability. Regardless of what you're doing
out there, if you're likeable, people will cut
you a lot of slack. They'll remember you if
you're likeable. You won't just be the person
who was out there executing skillful moves.
They'll remember you personally, and that's a
good thing because it's another level of
involvement. It gives more dimension to your
relationship with the audience.
MAGIC: Do your clients ever argue with you?
JOANIE: Some might, but most polished performers
know how to take direction - they welcome
direction. For performers who are just starting
out, you have to find somebody you trust. If you
don't believe that what they're telling you is
correct, then you're never going to take their
direction.
MAGIC: So you have to find the right teacher for
you.
JOANIE: Right. You have to figure that out. And
you have to develop your own eye so that when
somebody gives you feedback, it rings true or it
doesn't ring true. You believe it or you don't
believe it. Without any reference, you can't
come up with a good decision.
That's where the education part of it comes in.
It's important to see as much as you can and to
also go outside of magic for advice, so you
don't all ask the same guy who's working on the
same material and who's seen all the same acts
you've seen. Go outside of magic and you find a
world of theater and film. Get opinions. And get
feedback from laypeople. The overall picture is
vitally important and sometimes it's hard to see
when you're in the thick of it.
MAGIC: How do we find the right person with that
critical eye?
JOANIE: Try local acting companies, theater
companies, universities, schools. What you're
learning is not specific to your material. It's
general theory. If you learn timing and natural
movement and using body language and building
your presence and your confidence on stage, that
should apply to whatever material you do. It
doesn't have to be specific to magic. It should
still carry over. You'll learn all of these
skills and acquire a sense for being a natural
performer, whatever your style is. It's about
developing a good performing sense, more than a
specific genre.
The responsibility of a performer, of anyone who
goes onstage, is that they need to learn how to
act, how to move, and how to talk. You must have
those basic abilities, those skills, to be able
to appreciate anything a director has to offer
to you.
MAGIC: So, we're back to taking classes.
JOANIE: Yes, because acting teachers often are
stage directors who are teaching on the side.
You may find somebody who works well with you,
someone you connect with and trust and have a
rapport with. That person may not be in tune
with timing for magic, but it seems to me that
directing for focus and clarity in your movement
and your staging is pretty much across the
board. A director doesn't need a background in
magic to understand that if you're producing
something out of your right hand, then you
should look at it because you want everybody
else to look at it. That logical. It's not
specific to magic, it's just a general
theatrical principle.
MAGIC: When directing, do you find any
difference between working with a male magician
and a female magician?
JOANIE: As to working with them, there's no
difference at all. It's all the same. It's just
nice to work with women. They have to deal with
a little more of a challenge, because the
audience wants to credit the magic to the men
who are onstage. It's our social conditioning.
People associate men with being stronger and
more controlling, just by physical size alone
and their physical presence. So in staging a
woman magician, you need to be very careful that
a man is not commanding the performance and
pushing the performance forward. It's too easy
for the audience to view the woman as the
assistant, or as a secondary or supporting
player. You have to make sure that the woman is
always in control and pushing the performance
forward. But you also don't want to make the man
look weak, otherwise the men in the audience may
have a problem seeing this guy being pulled
around on a leash or whatever. You have to be
careful. You don't want to insult the men in the
audience, but you still need to establish the
woman as a dominant player - just not at the
expense of the men onstage. I think it's
exciting.
MAGIC: Let's talk a little about a recent move
for you, into the world of filmmaking. How did
that come to be?
JOANIE: I wanted to extend my work base and I
thought that performers needed demo videos. I
knew how to structure a promotional video, but I
didn't know how to physically, technically work
with the lighting and the camera and the
computer.
I went back to school to learn how to edit, not
realizing that you don't go back to school just
to learn how to edit. It's a whole education;
it's a whole process. Once I jumped in, I got
involved in the other aspects, which are
absolutely necessary: the camerawork, the
lighting, the scripting, the storytelling. It's
not just about learning a software application.
So I took a documentary class. I'm very much
into animal welfare, animal rights, and keeping
the animal population manageable so there aren't
so many homeless pets. It's an important cause
in my life, so the first project I chose to do
was about the feral cats in Las Vegas and the
people who try to care for them. Then I did a
project called Born to Die about the pet
overpopulation problem, and that documentary
played in a few festivals and won some awards.
MAGIC Do you use filmmaking skills in your
directing?
SPINA: I do. Now I can bring in my camera,
direct or consult for people working on a show,
record it, then make a demo video for them and
upload it to the web. I can do everything they
need. And the storytelling skills from working
on the stage carry over to video. Storytelling
requires pacing and structure, style,
entertainment. You need to pull your audience in
and you need to hold them in - it's the same
skill set, but with different technical aspects.
In
September 2007 Joanie lectured at the I.B.M. British
Ring's Convention in Southport, England. Here is
a review of her lectures by David Hemingway
for the British Ring's magazine, "The Budget."
The
Joanie Spina Workshops
Took place in two sessions, both were different and
both were such revelations that for a change I'm
lost for words. Simply, in fifty years of attending
conventions, I've never seen any lecturer who came
even close to being as aspirational. What Joanie
Spina gave us was worth the price of the convention.
No, two minutes of Joanie's comments and suggestions
on any of the innumerable subjects she addressed
were worth more than the registration. No, still not
right, the first thirty seconds of this eloquent,
graceful, charming and enormously talented lady's
opening remarks were worth the cost of the whole
week, because you knew instinctively you were in for
the most valuable teaching experience possible from
someone who really knew the answers. Topliners Mac
King and Jeff Hobson, lecturing at recent
conventions started by telling us one or two things
"more important than the tricks" as they both put
it. Joanie Spina personifies this phrase to the
highest level.
Who were the two luckiest
conventioneers? Two young people who bravely
submitted themselves to the ordeal of letting their
act be watched and then appraised by an expert; all
this in front of a room full of magicians. Would you
have dared? The first, James Milner, aged only
fifteen, did his act live on the stage of the Arts
Theatre, it was videotaped played back and we
eavesdropped on Joanie's comments and suggestions;
in real life usually a one-to-one situation behind
closed rehearsal-hall doors. The second, in a
smaller room that didn't have space for a live act
performance, was a similar scrutiny of twenty-two
year-old Alex Lodge's shield competition act
videotaped live on Wednesday. What did Joanie Spina
say and do? Well, you will have read her impressive
credits in Paul's recent column, and I can't write
the book for you, it's both on DVD and between
covers, but I can define her job description of
performance coach, I've taken advice. "An
experienced performer, who is also a skilled teacher
and director with the highest artistic standards,
who honestly assesses the possibilities within an
act, and helps the performers achieve their aims
through suggestions and the application of
expertise.' Well, Joanie did all this and more, and
did it better than anyone I've ever worked alongside
in television or anywhere else, and moreover did it
with enormous grace, kindness and humanity as well
as authority. Afterwards, I asked both James and
Alex if they had enjoyed the experience: They both
said "Oh yes." I would venture too, that the morning
after, they both felt greatly encouraged and more
confident; such is the effect of the best teachers..."
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