On Tuesday, Oct. 22, students and faculty gathered at the Student Union Theater to witness a captivating magic act by magician and entrepreneur Nicole Cardoza. The act was followed by an interactive Q&A session.
As one of the few Black women in the magic industry, Cardoza blends her stage magic with storytelling, highlighting stories of representation and social justice.
Cardoza has captivated audiences all across the U.S. by embarking on and producing her very own tour. She is also an author to a children’s book “Mindful Moves” and to a daily newsletter “Anti-Racism Daily,” which has amassed a social media following of 600,000 followers.
For this performance, Cardoza touched upon the importance of healing one’s inner child, saying how performing magic has helped her heal her own.
“Magic was the only thing that made me feel something different than what the rest of the world was bringing me,” Cardoza said.
When she wasn’t making a bubble appear out of thin air, Cardoza also empathized with her student audience about the challenges of being thrust into adulthood, reassuring them that they each serve a unique purpose.
Throughout her act, she performed four mesmerizing illusions, which never failed to leave the audience stunned and slightly mind-boggled.
As she led the audience through the story of Ellen Armstrong, a Black magician during the Jim Crow era, Cardoza simultaneously performed her silver dollar trick.
Initially demonstrating a dollar coin in each hand, the coins then became one, three and back to two, disappearing and reappearing with just about every word she spoke.
As her hands were busy creating illusions, she recounted how Armstrong would perform the very same trick in front of her entire church.
Cardoza also honored another Black magician, Henry “Box” Brown. As she performed one of his tricks she depicted his journey to becoming a magician. Brown, who was enslaved, mailed himself to freedom before going on to achieve success in the magic world.
Cardoza performed Brown’s trick as the final one of the night, in which she had two student volunteers join her onstage.
Standing on opposite ends of the stage, each volunteer was asked to write a message on a playing card. Once they did, Cardoza instructed them to fold the card up and hold it above their heads.
With nervous smiles plastered on their faces, the volunteers were unsure what to expect as Cardoza used her finger to imitate the motion of a roller coaster from one volunteer to the other in order to swap their messages.
Without Cardoza looking at either card or touching them and the volunteers feeling no change in their hands, they opened their hand to find the other’s message, creating audible gasps and leaving the audience in complete shock.
Following her act, Cardoza answered several student questions during a Q&A session, including why the theme of healing one’s inner child is so prevalent in her act.
She explained that due to the lack of Black, female role models she had in the magic industry, she is healing herself by performing and wishes to be a role model for the new generation.
“I’m one of the few Black women out there performing magic, I really don’t want to be the last,” Cardoza said.
To learn more about Cardoza’s act, click here.
