And if we stop for a moment to think of the infinite number of coincidences. This is one of assumptions of the new show by Luis de Matos on the chaos theory, in a national tour, which presents new illusions, the butterfly effect transformations that transport the viewer to a moment that will never be repeated in time.
It takes a long time to put together a show like "Chaos"? Since one of the tricks begin in 2011.
Luis Matos: Each show takes a lifetime to prepare, because every show is not a summary of the two or three years we have devoted more to a particular project, it reflects a lifetime, a career, an experience, an aesthetic concept and a maturity that you can only have if we consider every year behind. Answering the question, yes, it takes two to three years to prepare, but during this time I do not do all this you see here, this is an evolution of a life dedicated to magic.
25-year career, looking back, was there anything that you did not or you regretted doing?
LM: Regret, I do not regret practically nothing, especially the bad things, because they are what make us grow, that give us more attention, maturity, care, mastery and this is all from the mistakes are committed throughout life, I will not change anything. If there are things we like to do and have not done, thousands of them and they are what I do each day.
You are almost an athlete, you have to train your body intensely to some of the tricks that you present who are very physically demanding, it is now easier to get into that state of mind over the years?
LM: Probably when you sum up experiences and when I do is done for passion and taste. I designed and had the ambition to do so, at last is something I always do with great pleasure in an attempt to self-improvement and to not disappoint the people who most closely follow my work.
During the show you said you see the shows of other magicians. There is a certain fear of repetition? Sometimes you think a trick and then appears in the work of another magician.
LM: Yes, of course, takes place in various ways. Occurs when this magic is dedicated to plagiarism and copied things you've seen before, it can also happen because this professional had a similar idea and have not seen anything before, can succeed by many circumstances. Now, I try to wake up my competition, I try to be better today than yesterday, that makes it worth my day-to-day, my effort, my passion, only it is worth to be better than I was yesterday and I hope tomorrow will be much more.
Do you think the Portuguese still like magic or not really? Since the last years your career has focused more in Spain.
LM: I think all people like magic with quality and have long departed from the stereotypical idea of a magician with a top hat that brings up scarves and doves and now they want more. With the internet, with television channels and travels people are looking for a more contemporary magic, you can compete with the other art forms, but that does not smell of mold, which has a touch of permanent contemporaneity and this is the most important.
You you organize magic festivals, at national level, you notice that there are more young people excited to be magicians?
LM: Not only in the festivals of magic that I organized, but at the end of every show I always have 4 to 10 young magicians showing tricks and skills with cards, special things and I think this is proof that magic is as cross art, as a way universal communication that continues to appeal, finally, to all ages. However, there are young people who easily derive for a profession today and tomorrow want another and one day they want to be magicians, for some it remains that way, which is my case.
There are several national promises they cannot have a career here. You, although you have started in Portugal, you were practically the only one at the time, now, what advice you give to young people taking into account that cannot be restricted to the borders of your country?
LM: I think the advice I give to young people who want to be magicians, is the same as I give to those who want to be doctors, lawyers and farmers, or even politicians, it is to study languages, learn to speak as many languages as you can. Speaking English, French and Spanish are passports are for life, are forms that allow us to know the ideas of others in addition to those with whom we shared a country. For me to learn languages is the most intelligent and profitable investment for anyone at any age, especially young people can and should do it.
There are some national young magicians who actually admire?
LM: At the national level like the work of Tiago Morgado and João Blümel that feature original, independent and serious work. There is very natural selection that goes mandating that some are more triumph than others and this has to do with the satisfaction that can rise in the public, the preseverance you have on your work and the constant search for self-overcome and therefore I think that time decides who stays and who is fleeting.
Do you have a nemesis?
LM: No, I think my strength is life, is being, have no dependence beyond that which is to wake up and have the pleasure of being alive and be master of my time.
And after 25 years you still continous to be in love with magic as when you started?
LM: The most possible and this is the most amazing fact, because for me what brand is the secret of doing what I do is the passion I feel for my profession, but to lose it will have to have enough courage to walk away .
If you were not magician what would you be?
LM: I do not know, could work in a Mac Donalds, could be director, Chamber president, taxi driver, you never know, it's hard to know what we would be if we were not who we are, because we are the result of all the choices we have made in life, that's talking about the chaos theory and the butterfly effect. The little things that made lifelong end up having major repercussions and ultimately determine what happens over the present day and that everything is beautiful.
Do you think there is a point where you'll have to retire? Looking at your career and thinking you have reached that point.
LM: That point is already decided from the beginning of my career, the day I stop liking it.
Yes, but many of your tricks depend on your body.
LM: Yes, what I have been using every illusion has been varying over time, no need to depend on the body to create tricks, there are ones that are created with words, thoughts and others sitting in a chair. There are illusions for all types, that is to say that only people with long fingers can you play the piano, or can be painters, there are people who do not have hands and paint and there are those who play with the feet. Magic is full of self-overcoming of stories that showed precisely that there is no physicality absolutely necessary to create illusions, is a matter of aesthetics, taste and palatability to use what we have, but in my case it is perfectly clear in the day I stop enjoying doing what I do, I have many other things to occupy my time.
