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SINGAPORE : Their goal was to perform 15 illusions in five minutes. Impossible, you say? Well Singapore magic duo J C Sum and ‘Magic Babe’ Ning thought so too.
But the two illusionists turned impossible into a reality when they successfully performed “The Impossible Record” - 15 grand illusions in five minutes - at Central Promenade on Saturday.
A huge crowd gathered by the Singapore River to witness their record-breaking feat which included vanishing, swapping places, passing through solid objects, and dissecting bodies. “The Impossible Record”, the duo’s most physically challenging project to date, was the closing highlight of the Singapore River Festival.
“It’s really a dream come true and I’m so glad so many Singaporeans actually came down to support us to show that we are more than just a little red dot. And it means so much to be a part of history, to put Singapore on the world map,” said Ning, South East Asia's first professional female magician.
“We didn’t think we could do it this afternoon,” admitted Sum. “[But] we knew we would hit at least 12.”
“We had so many false starts in the afternoon. We probably had five or six run throughs and we only barely made it. We didn’t even make it for the last one but we had to call it because otherwise we would have been too exhausted to actually do this,” he added.
Apparently, a couple of hiccups had threatened to throw a spanner in the works. Just a week ago, Ning injured her hand during rehearsals and had to be rushed to the hospital.
And then there was the unexpected humid weather conditions which forced the pair to tweak their act less than four hours before they were due to hit the stage on Saturday night.
“The humidity had warped the props this afternoon and on the spot, we had to change the order [of the illusions]. When the technical support team heard we were changing things at 5pm, they were quite stunned that we were making such a drastic decision at such a late hour,” said Sum.
The spectacular is the first ever magic record to be adjudicated by the Singapore Book of Records and is also being submitted to Guinness World Records. Dutch illusionist, Hans Klok, who presented ten illusions in five minutes last year during a TV studio recording, set the current unofficial record.
Just a week ago, Singapore witnessed Ning’s attempt at a daring escape stunt dubbed “Inversion”. The fearless magical lady was strapped up in a restraint jacket, blindfolded and suspended upside down by her ankles three-stories high in the air at Central gallery, from where she made her daring escape without use of any safety devices.
And the magic duo have more tricks up their sleeves. Their next mega project which involves teleportation of a big object, will be revealed end August.
- CNA/il
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