Children watched in awe with smiles on their faces as award-winning magician Leon Etienne performed for them Thursday afternoon at Reese Road Elementary School.
The students enjoyed a 45-minute show that showcased Etienne’s talents as a magician and gave them a preview of what is to come Friday and Saturday night at Frankfort-Schuyler High School.
The Reese Road Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization is sponsoring Etienne’s performances this weekend, which take place at 7 p.m. Advance tickets are $5 and tickets at the door are $6. All the money raised goes to support the students of Reese Road Elementary School.
The magic performance was a part of the assembly for Reese Road’s conclusion of the Parents As Reading Partners program. PARP is a collaborative effort among parents, staff, and community to build a reading partnership between the home and the school. PARP encourages parents to read with their children for at least 15 minutes per day.
Reese Road Principal Joyce Dayton proposed a challenge to the students, saying if they would read more than 100,000 minutes, she would play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the trombone.
The students met and exceeded that challenge and read 103,000 minutes, and Dayton kept her promise and played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the trombone during the assembly, before the magic act.
“I have never played a musical instrument before in my life,” Dayton said before she performed for the students, who screamed and applauded as she finished.
Etienne had a number of volunteers come up to assist with magic acts ranging from card tricks to escaping from a straight jacket.
“Magic is all in the mind,” Etienne told the children. “If you think about something long enough, it’ll happen.”
Etienne figured since he was performing in a school he should teach the children something, so he taught them how to do their very own magic trick, called “The Mystery of the Magical Hankie from Canada.”
“It’s not really from Canada, I just like saying that,” Etienne said as the children laughed.
Etienne showed them the trick first, which consisted of having a red hankie in one hand. He then stuffs the hankie into his fist and then reveals an egg, which the hankie apparently turned into. The red hankie he then reveals in one of his pants pockets.
He then revealed to the children how the trick was actually done and made them take an oath not to tell the secret to anyone.
Etienne also made sure to tell the students that the show they saw Thursday would not be the show they would see Friday and Saturday, as it is a two-hour show that includes more props and illusions.
Etienne grew up in Central New York, graduating from Proctor High School in Utica. He launched his own company, Eye Am Magic Productions in 2005. He has won several community awards, including CNY Magician of the Year in 2000, 2001 and 2002 from the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 101. In 2002, he also won the title of Stage Magic Champion from the Magicians’ Alliance of Eastern States. He has performed in such places as New York, Miami, Dublin and London.
Tickets can be purchased at the door for the Friday and Saturday performance or by calling Robbi at 895-7766. There will be a special appearance by Frankfort’s own sports stars, Hank and Andrew Penree.