Perti Ilusionista (Photo courtesy of Ezequiel Pertierra)

“Okay would you cut the cards for me please?”

I gingerly shuffled the deck. And then again.

I’d never played a card trick or even met a magician before, let alone sat down to interview one. With the unexpected baiting each whisper of the shuffling card deck, Ezequiel Pertierra just had one question for me: “Is this your card?”

The 27-year old magician, more commonly referred to by his stage name, Perti, has performed in front of Buenos Aires audiences both on stage and on television in shows like ‘Big Brother’ and also with various Argentine television icons.

“I love the stage,” said Pertierra. “I was a singer in some rock bands when I was younger, I like stand up comedy, writing songs —expressing emotions in art.”

Ezequiel was literally ‘enchanted’ from an early age by famous illusionists like David Copperfield and Harry Houdini.

“Here we had them as TV specials,” he reflected with a smile. “And I felt amazed by them — their stage presence, the music, lights and sounds. It impressed me.”

Pertierra discovered his love for magic, illusions and deceptively slick slight-of-hand tricks.

“When I was 15 or 16, two or three of my friends who went to the United States came back with some magic tricks,” he laughed. “They showed them to me when I wasn’t a magician, and now it is the hardest to impress them!”

Since his beginnings in 1998, Ezequiel performed mostly for family and friends when he began to study to be a professional magician at the school of Boridi and Alex, two known magicians at the time. His pursuit of the profession eventually led him to follow Boridi to the Emanuel and Boridi School of magic.

“My grandmother also met a guy who studied at a magic school here, so she sent me there!”

Although it looks like all fun and games, Ezequiel admits that learning to perform magic is not as easy as he makes it look. One of the most difficult parts about magic is mastering the dexterity behind the sleight-of-hand techniques, and fluidity that makes his optical illusions and close-up magic possible. Perti is also famous for his Houdini-esque escapist illusions, which he executes with the greatest of ease and a little comedy on the side.

Coupling his love of performing with his passion for igniting amusement, Pertierra began entertaining his family and friends as he mastered the magician’s touch. He began expanding his routine, his audience, and even experimenting with magic a different language.

Perti working his magic onstage (Photo courtesy of Ezequiel Pertierra)

“I have studied English all my life, I once performed magic for my entire school in English,” he smiles at the memory. “Now I have had a lot of experience at corporate events doing close up magic for CEOs from other countries who we speak to in English.”

Pertierra feels that being a magician, it being an artist before anything else. A great deal of the magic is in his presentation, the audiences’ experience — the trump card in his magician’s arsenal.

“The presentation defines the trick — not just the lights, and the sounds,” he said leaning forward in his chair, “but in the way you perform, too. My style is funny…I like to make people laugh, great illusions and escapes — big surprises.”

My comical and ambitious host delights in the mystery of magic and the excitement of the unknown, nurturing his dream of one day performing in English at the famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. A magician of many interests and ideas, he also divulges about his other passion, psychology.

Pertierra is also currently studying at the University of Belgrano in psychology. In a couple months, he will be a full-fledged psychologist and would like to begin working in counseling and motivational corporate psychology. Even though he knows that his gift for magic is his true calling, he plays with the ideas of one day fusing his two loves into a mind-bending act.

“I would like to combine magic and psychology to create a new perspective,” he said, fully of energy discussing plans for more elaborate illusions that involve just as much mental teasing as they does magic. “After all, magic has a lot to do with psychology!”

In accordance with rule number one of the Magician’s code, Perti will never reveal his secrets. Only the future will unveil what he’s got up his sleeve next. The only clue he leaves is that it will be more intrigue inducing and bewilderingly fun than before— it won’t be your typical magic show.

The multi-talented and multilingual magician is self-managed and performs mostly in private events for parties along with a variety of social venues, social gatherings, retirement homes and the occasional nightclub. One chance to see him perform live may be all it takes to cast your Buenos Aires experience under a magic spell.