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Did you know that Sheridan has been described as “The Most Magical Place in Wyoming”? No? Probably because we are the only ones to call it that. However, that doesn’t make it any less true. You can find proof of this in magician AJ Longhurst, a 3 year Sheridan resident and purveyor of illusion working under the moniker “The Amazing AJ”. He’s been in the game for over 10 years, teaching and performing, and just recently unveiled “AJ’s Magic Academy”, where he hopes to teach the children of Sheridan the wonders of wizardry. We sat down with Longhurst recently to discuss the ins and outs of the magic world and his budding business.
Q: How did you first get involved with magic?
A: So, when I was seven or eight years old, my sister was dating a guy who later became her husband and he showed me a trick where you put a handkerchief in the palm of your hand and it vanishes. This was the first magic trick I had ever seen, and it just blew me away. So of course I said, “Well how did you do that?” And he just told me it was magic. So I said, “Well do it again!” So he did it again and I still couldn’t figure out what had happened. I looked at his hands, I looked in his sleeves, and for the life of me I couldn’t find that flipping thing. *Laughs* That got me interested in magic and so I started researching anywhere and everywhere I could.
Q: How long have you been practicing?
A: As I said, I got interested when I was seven or eight, and for four or five years after that I kind of justresearched, read, and watched things. I didn’t perform for people until I was about fifteen or sixteen. I took a brief break when I went on a mission for my church, but then when I got back I picked it right back up.
Q: What do you hope to bring the children of Sheridan with this program?
A: I hope that it brings these things: the lessons are specifically geared at teaching the kids life skills through magic. So each lesson has with it a skill or kind of life philosophy. They go in order of: respect, preparedness, enthusiasm, confidence, being humble, creativity, authenticity, and being giving. Each lesson has with it too a trick that goes right along with each of these. So, for example today we worked on enthusiasm. To work on that they told a story, and if you tell a story kind of boringly or disconnectedly, nobody’s gonna listen. But if you put some enthusiasm behind it, if you connect with your audience and all that, you’ll have a much better reception. So I guess I hope that they come through with not only skills in terms of magic and illusion, but also in life.
Needless to say AJ will bring his unique brand of magic to the people, but specifically the children, of Sheridan for years to come. We wish him all the luck and look forward to seeing his business grow.
If you’d like to get ahold of AJ to learn more about him or his programs, you can reach him at his Academy’s Facebook here.
