The Magic Touch Featured Image

Posted on Wednesday August 7, 2013

The Magic Touch

Friendly Wheels, Issue 66
August 2013

Featuring Amigo owner Carrie Rostollan of Proximity Illusions in Auburn, Mich.

Amigo owner Carrie Rostollan has brought her magic touch to Michigan’s Great Lakes Bay region. Carrie, who grew up in northern Wisconsin, has been fascinated by magic as long as she can remember.

“I’ve loved magic since I was a young person — the first magic I remember seeing was the performance of the late Doug Henning on The Muppet Show,” Carrie said. “Soon after, I saw David Copperfield vanish the Statue of Liberty on television, but that wasn’t the magic that impressed me most. It was that close-up stuff — a trio of cards actually linked and unlinked like we’ve all seen those metal rings do. That’s the kind of stuff I wanted to learn.”

Carrie received her first Amigo in 1982, she used it all through high school to get around the school building with her books and other belongings. She said she usually gets around with her crutches, but always takes her Amigo to conventions or places where there would be a lot of walking.

“My Amigo has been a faithful friend all these years,” Carrie said. After her Amigo helped her in school, Carrie worked as a vehicle designer after college in Detroit for six years, designing parts and assemblies on a computer. After being laid off from her work as a vehicle designer, Carrie decided to switch gears and offer her magic to the public and founded her entertainment business, Proximity Illusions, in 2005.

 

 

Since 2005, Carrie has performed magic at a variety of venues, including birthday parties, churches, universities, community events and senior centers.

“I do love entertaining children, particularly because I’m not a parent. Kids gravitate to me because I’m a small person,” Carrie said. “Kids make a tough audience – when you go before kids, you better be good or they’ll let you know it. In some ways, adult audiences are easier to fool.”

As a fan of magic, Carrie fondly remembers the first time she saw David Copperfield live. “I’ve patterned a lot of what I do after Copperfield’s example, and seeing him live was a wonderful experience,” Carrie said.

Carrie is now passing her skills onto the next generation of magic by training a young magician. “Teaching magic is great, it gives a young person confidence in themselves because they have a skill most folks do not have,” Carrie said. “It teaches about public speaking, drama and practicing to perfection, and the payoff is the ability to hold people’s attention through an entire program.”

From a vehicle designer in Detroit to performing magic shows in front of hundreds at Saginaw Valley State University and starting her own entertainment business, Carrie enjoys where life has taken her.

 

Carrie says, “As they say in show business, ‘it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.'”

To learn more about Carrie or to contact her for an event, visit www.proximityillusions.com.

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