It's All in the Eyes

Human eyes are interesting things. We constantly say that they're windows to the soul, but if you think about it, they're rather limited in their expressions. They only become expressive when looked at in the context of other facial expressions. There's a certain politician here in the US whom I won't name, but serves as a rather interesting example of what I mean. Specifically, she's almost always smiling, but it seldom touches her eyes, creating a weird uncanny valley effect. This is also a major problem in most CGI movies. The cartoon characters' eyes don't seem to be in on whatever emotion the rest of their face is trying to express and they end up with a creepy thousand-yard stare.

And if bad eye animation can turn a family friendly movie like Yogi Bear into a Lynchian nightmare (you know, aside from the fact that it was a badly written cyst of a movie that no one was asking for in the first place), one can only imagine how bad it is to watch a magician whose eyes aren't keeping up with his mouth. Whether it be lack of eye contact, too much eye contact, looking in the wrong places (perverted and otherwise), or any number of other screw-ups, the eyes can do a lot to undermine your performance.

That in mind, here's a couple tips.

Look Where You Want Them to Look
This one should be so obvious that I feel like I'm insulting the word obvious by calling it that. Humans are social creatures as I keep telling you. We follow a leader. When the magician takes charge of the conversation, we follow his eyes because we perceive what he's looking at to be important. That means not only not looking at your hands to draw attention away from the sleights, but also looking at the things they're supposed to look at in the first place. When you do the reveal, look at the reveal. There are times when it's okay to break eye contact, don't worry.


The Hypnotist Stare
This one is to be used very sparingly because it has great potential to go awry. It can either make people uncomfortable or make you look like a Criss Angel wannabe buffoon. The hypnotist stare is very simple. Rather than looking a person directly in the eye, you fix your gaze at the point between the eyes in the T-zone. The effect is a piercing gaze that conveys a strong sense of authority and control over the conversation. Use this when trying to establish your word as reality, but be subtle about it. Don't go from all smiles to a dramatic underlook within the same breath.


The Soul Gaze
I'm tipping one of my biggest performing techniques here, so pay attention. The Soul Gaze is a very old concept from the Celts. You stare into one person's right eye as they stare into yours. The original belief is that this would let you look into the other person's soul, though modern psychology shows that it simply creates a feeling of personal bond and trust. Even if the soul gaze is purely one-sided, if you use this look on someone when they are talking to you, they will like you more and be much more willing to indulge you in your act, requests, and commands throughout the routine. Just be sure to actually listen to what they're saying or you're going to look like a creepy loser.


Go out there and have some fun with that. You may notice some improvement in your performances.