Tag Archives: professional

Stage Hypnotists

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Take a journey into the subcioncious mind… A stage hypnotist makes great entertainment for almost any event. Hypnotism and over recent years has made a huge come back in the world of entertainment and with a comedy hypnosis show you can be sure your event will be thought provoking, fun and mind-boggling.

Stage hypnotists sometimes argue that it is seeing people hypnotised on television or on stage that convinces people of its use and that it does indeed work. Sure enough, many people who come to see hypnotherapists, or indeed doctors and psychologists using hypnosis, have seen hypnotism on television and are intrigued. The flip side of this is that it takes quite a lot of time explaining hypnosis correctly, including allaying some of their fears, for example;

  • Hypnosis is not magic.
  • It does not involve people being made to do things against their will
  • It does involve a hypnotist acting as a guide to help clients empower themselves and make natural, healthy and often profound changes.

In its worst form, stage hypnosis has been accused of being manipulative and exploitative. Most professional stage hypnotists would counter this claim by demonstrating that subjects have volunteered to take part in the show and fully understand what to expect. This is seen by many as a grey area in that stage hypnotists often suggest indirectly that events are beyond the subject’s control. Far less debatable is the willingness a client shows when entering a session of hypnotherapy. 

The facts about hypnosis for entertainment

Film and TV depictions of hypnosis are often grossly inaccurate and can lead to some people developing a fear or distrust of hypnosis. People can be led to believe that the hypnotist can take control of the person being hypnotised, and even make them do something against their will. This is sometimes called the ‘Svengali effect’ (after the sinister character in the 1894 novel Trilby by George Du Maurier). While this may make for interesting storylines, the reality is quite the opposite. In hypnosis you are always in control and can choose to follow or ignore the suggestions of the hypnotherapist.

There is a very big difference between clinical hypnotherapy and stage hypnotism. Whilst the former is a therapeutic process for the benefit of the client, the latter is a performance, a show designed purely to entertain the audience. The people, who volunteer as subjects for stage hypnotism, are in effect self-selecting themselves, are happy to lose their inhibitions and be the centre of attention (extroverts), and are willing to go along with the show, whether or not they are actually in a state of hypnosis. It could be reasonably argued that the same results could be obtained under the influence of nothing more than a few glasses of alcoholic refreshment.

In the UK, the revival of stage hypnotism was accompanied by a heightened concern about the possible dangers of stage hypnosis, and the 1952 Hypnotism Act was brought in to protect the public from unscrupulous hypnotists.

In 1994 a panel of experts was set up by the Home Office to examine any evidence of possible harm to people taking part in public entertainments involving hypnotism, and to review the effectiveness of the law governing hypnotism for entertainment. Publication of the expert panel’s report was announced in parliament in 1995, which concluded that “there was no evidence of serious risk to participants in stage hypnosis, and that any risk which does exist is much less significant than that involved in many other activities.” 

Nowadays the hypnosis stage show remains popular as both public and corporate entertainment. There are courses available on hypnotic stage techniques for those who wish to learn stage hypnosis online or on a professionally taught course.

The beginnings of Opera…

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Find the best Opera singers and performers available for hire in the UK today. From solo artists to a large scale celebration of classical music. Enjoy the perfect assortment of arias from the world’s most famous operas such as Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and Verdi’s “La Traviata” to perfectly complement your event.

Opera was born in Italy at the end of the 16th century. A group of Florentine musicians and intellectuals were fascinated by Ancient Greece and opposed to the excesses of Renaissance polyphonic music. They wanted to revive what was thought to be the simplicity of ancient tragedy. In the first operas (400 years ago), the intention was to make music subservient to the words. They were made up of successive recitatives with a small instrumental accompaniment, punctuated by musical interludes. After Florence and Rome, Venice rapidly became the centre of opera, where the first commercial opera house opened in 1637, thus making the art form accessible to a wider public. Opera soon spread throughout Europe, and in 1700 Naples, Vienna, Paris and London were major operatic centres.

In Italy, the voice remained predominant. The bel canto tradition went on, combined with opera buffa characters and themes. Examples are Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (1816), Bellini’s Norma (1831) or Donizetti’s The Love Potion, 1832). Giuseppe Verdi was the last great Italian composer of the 19th century. In a passionate and vigorous style, he wrote pieces which allied spectacular show and subtle emotions (La Traviata, 1853, Aïda, 1871).

The 20th century: the rise of individuals;
The beginning of the 20th century continued the trends of the late 19th. Puccini was the last great Italian composer, who wrote among others Tosca (1900), Madam Butterfly (1904) and Turandot (1926). Other famous operas of the time were Pelleas and Melisande by Debussy (1902), Salome by Strauss (1905), and The Cunning Little Vixen by Janacek (1924).

Later, individual works rather than general trends appeared. Alban Berg’s operas (Wozzeck, 1925, Lulu, 1937) contrasted with Kurt Weill’s works, inspired from jazz and other popular music (The Threepenny Opera, 1928). Benjamin Britten composed ‘traditional’ operas like Peter Grimes (1945), but also chamber operas.

The 21st century: a score still to be written…
Today, the operatic offer is more varied than ever. Staging and settings have become key elements of new productions. The great pieces of the repertoire are repeatedly reinterpreted and still very successful. They are presented next to new contemporary operas and earlier rediscovered works. In this way, opera is in permanent evolution, for the enjoyment of the widest public.

Surprising uses of stilts

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Most people think that stilts are something for circuses and children’s parties but they have been used in a number of strange ways since ancient times, in fact stilts have a long proud history of weirdness that continues today. 

In the 19th century, Landes, France was a brushy wasteland that turned swampy whenever it rained. Locals dealt with this harsh environment by walking on stilts—everyone, from housewives to the mailman, had a pair.

Landes shepherds used these changes, or “big legs,” to direct their flocks. Wearing sleeveless fur jackets and berets, they maneuverer over the landscape with ease, using their walking sticks as a crook. When they rested, they sat on a tripod of the stilts and walking stick so they could watch their sheep from on high. To pass the time, they knitted.

Not surprisingly, Landesians were adept at stilt walking, able to pick up pebbles from the ground and run at fast speeds. 

2. Stilt Marathons

In 1891, a Landes shepherd named Sylvain Dornon stilt walked from Paris to Moscow in 58 days. It was the first of many stilt marathons. Others include 12-year-old Emma Disley scaling Wales’ highest mountain on stilts in 1977, Saimaiti Yiming in China stilt walking 49 miles in one day in 2003, and Neil Sauter crossing Michigan to raise money for cerebral palsy in 2013.

The record for the longest stilt walk goes to Joe Bowen, who walked 3008 miles from LA to Kentucky in 1980. 

3. Stilt Jousting

For 600 years, Namur, Belgium has held a stilt jousting tournament called the Golden Stilt. Teams of jousters in red-and-white costumes try to take each other down by shoving, shoulder butting, poking, kicking, and knocking out their opponent’s stilts. The person still standing at the end wins.

Namur’s stilt jousting is all in fun, but there’s evidence it started out violently. In the middle Ages, locals took to using stilts whenever the rivers flooded. At some point, stilt fighting became so common that the city banned it in 1411. Apparently, the ban didn’t stick and stilt jousting became an event, with stories of thousands of people competing in the town square. It’s a long tradition that Namur continues today.

4. Working on Stilts

Fruit pickers, window washers, and dry-wallers all use stilts to avoid messing with a ladder. And then there are the stilt fishermen of Sri Lanka.

For decades, these fishermen have climbed on stilts sticking up in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Suspended above the coral reef on a thin perch attached to the stilt, they use rods to catch herring and mackerel. This practice started after World War II, when fishermen began hanging on discarded iron pipes from the war to avoid disturbing the fish.

Although stilt fishing is attracting tourists to the region, the fishermen only make pennies per fish. That’s low pay by any standard, and many say stilt fishing is disappearing as the men find more lucrative work in other industries, like, say, tourism.

5. An Extreme Sport

Powerbocking is a sport that has popped up around spring-loaded stilts. Invented by German engineer Alexander Boeck in the 1990s, jumping stilts have fiberglass leaf springs that are attached to a curved aluminium frame that tapers to a footplate called the hoof. They let you jump 3 to 5 feet, take 9-foot kangaroo-like strides, and run 20 miles per hour. It’s like a trampoline is attached to your feet.

Butler Facts;

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Find the best party butlers available for hire in the UK today. If you want a party that everyone will be talking about, then party butlers make the ultimate party accessory. Have the party that everyone’s talking about with some extra special service provided by professional staff. These guys are available to compliment your party, greet your guests, serve cocktails, top up your drinks and help you get your party started.

Here we have gathered some interesting facts about butlers and the private service profession for. The word butler derives from the old French bouteillier, and identified the cup-bearer or the one in charge of the bottles in large households. Bottle and the French equivalent both come from the Medieval Latin buticula, a diminutive of buttis, a cask, which is also the origin of the English word “butt”, given to large wooden container for liquid. The beer cellar in medieval times would have contained butts or wooden casks, not glass bottles.  So the buttery originally had nothing to do with butter but was the place for storing the butts. Only later was the word extended to mean somewhere that provisions in general were stored, perhaps because people mistakenly made that association

Through a complicated process that had to do with the loss of gentlemen servants and changes in social organization, the butler slowly rose to be in charge not only of the buttery, but also of the ewery (where the napkins and basins for washing and shaving were kept) and the pantry (where the bread, butter, cheese and other basic provisions were stored), and later still he took over the cellarer’s duties of looking after the wine. This eventually became one of his principal duties. By the middle of the nineteenth century, the role of the butler reached its full flowering as head of the male domestic servants, in larger households sometimes the butler was given a whole suite of rooms dedicated to his various functions.

The butler could also be taking care of the household accounting and creating household budgets, maintaining the wardrobe and clothing inventory for the gentleman, packing and preparing for the gentleman for travel, assisting with maintaining household security, staff hiring and firing and staff training. The butler is knowledgeable about wines and spirits and oversees the wine cellar and liquor inventory. Thus, the modern butler needs strong communication, organizational and management skills, and ability to multi-task.

Because of the many British TV series and movies featuring butlers, many people believe that butling is a “British thing”. This is an unfortunate myth, just like “British style butlers”. This notion comes from a rather overwhelming number of books, TV series and movies, all featuring a British butler. Due to the phenomenal success of Downton Abbey, British domestic service is yet again a trending topic.

The French invented the butler and the Americans invented the modern butler. Most butlers are employed in the USA and in the Middle East. Most successful butlers are Swiss. The best butler school in the world is located in The Netherlands. The best service in the world can be found in the Far East.

Show-stopping showgirls

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Hiring Showgirls is a must to meet and greet your guests. There fabulous costumes and allure will definitely impress your guests no end. You could be organising a themed party for example: Las Vegas, Hollywood, Moulin Rouge, Mardi gras and James Bond, These gorgeous girls make any event one to remember for all the right reasons.

Costumes and themes for your special event can be tailor-made for whatever you were envisaging.

Snake dancers no doubt will be a talking point if you decide that a snake dancer would be perfect for your event. Captivating the audience with amazement and somewhat fear, they won’t be able to take their eyes of this amazing act. Why not interact your guests with the dancer and the snake, where the snake can be passed around (humanely of course) and let your crowd get involved. The Snake Dancers are trained to handle the snakes and are always professional at all times…

If you’ve ever wanted to learn the art of Tango, then why not book a few professional Tango dancers. This sensual ballroom dance originated in South America. It is one of the most passionate and fascinating of all dances. You will love the seamless moves of this romantic dance which no doubt will make you yourself want to learn this beautiful dance. This intimate dance is guaranteed to keep the audience entertained and bring passion and life to any event or party. 

One of most entrancing dances of all time, you can’t fail to love the music which accompanies the Salsa dance. Many people all over the world go to Salsa classes to learn the art of this beautiful and sensual dance. If you are having a Salsa party or you would like some Salsa Dancers to start your event, then why not look on our directory to see if we cannot tempt you with professional dancers that we have advertised with us.

To book some beautiful dancers or showgirls with a difference, look on our directory and see which one you could be hiring for your event.

Professional entertainers are second to none…

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You need to put on a show or want a different kind of ‘wow’ factor to greet your guests, or you want to use as a distraction when you are changing scenery. Well why not hire Acrobats that can put on an amazing choreographed performance jumping over your crowd or through fire.  

Another act to consider is Ariel performers which can be quite beautiful.  Imagine the scene, your guests have sat in their seats a few hoops or ribbons come down over your guest heads and the most dazzling display of performers gracefully move in sync like ballerinas in the sky. 

A tightrope walker could also be considered where they too walk high up over your crowd’s heads taking entertaining to another level 

Do you want to have a circus in your own back garden? Or you may be hiring a piece of land that could have a circus erected, everyone loves the excitement of a circus and if you wanted to hire one then we have the right circus at Red Masque directory for you to hire.

You could be holding an extravagant party for somebody or it could be for a corporate evening.  The choices are endless; it’s good to know that Red Masque only advertise the best of the best.

You may want to hold a children’s party where a clown is needed to entertain the children whilst you sit back and have a well-deserved break.  Our clowns advertised come in many shapes and sizes, some can do magic, balloon modelling or some that do good old fashioned ‘slap stick’ humour. Whatever you would like your clown to do we have the best advertised on our Red Masque entertainment directory.  

Fill out an online booking form so your chosen act is able to contact you to take things further.

Magical mystery evening…

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Are you hoping to have a ‘magical event’ that is totally spellbinding which will have all your guests sitting on the end of their seats? Well, why not hire a group of amazing acts that can transform your dull usual entertainment into something spectacular. Why not hire an up-to-the minute illusionist that is very clever, having everyone trying to guess how on earth he managed to fool you before your very eyes. An escapologist is another act that is a race against time for him/her to get out of a life or death situation, or a contortionist that would squeeze into the tightest of spaces making it look so very easy but at the same time so mesmerising to watch.

You could be having a corporate affair and want some party entertainment which is a ‘bit out there’ which will be a talking point for months to come. Mind readers are always very fascinating, picking a member of the crowd and asking to write or draw something only for the Mind reader to copy exactly what they have done. 

Another great act is a hypnotist – you can hire hypnotists for medical reasons or they can be booked for entertaining. They can put a group of people together and hypnotise them before hand, every-time the hypnotist says a certain word somebody does something completely out of the ordinary which can be very entertaining for you – slightly embarrassing for them!

Trying to work out the future is something that ‘gifted’ people have been doing for centuries, whether it’s reading somebody’s palm, Crystal ball reading, or reading cards.  Each have their own unique way of interpreting what the future may hold but nonetheless all very enchanting and mysterious. Whether or not you believe in these fortune tellers they are always very welcome at an event or party.

You could be having a charity event where a Palmist, Crystal ball reader or Tarot card reader would raise lots of money with your paying guests.  Or you could be having a fete where acts such as these would draw a crowd.

You can be sure that all the acts you see advertised are professional in what they do and are the best of the best.  Our Red Masque entertainment directory will give you a brief insight into each act and then it is up to you to decide which you would like. Once you have decided you are able to fill out an online form which will go straight to your act, they will be in contact to discuss dates and services.

Ice and Lights; the perfect combination…

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Ice sculptures promote class and beauty so whatever your event you will be sure that these sculptures will cry out just that. An intricate Ice Sculpture can be extremely intriguing and also very beautiful. You may want to make a dramatic statement for your event and an Ice Sculpture would be the very thing. From centre pieces on dining tables, two sculptures depicting two lovers entwined on your very special Wedding day.

Your event wouldn’t be any sort of event if it doesn’t have the right lighting; it can bring your special event to life and create the atmosphere that you are hoping for.  You may have a large event where dramatic lighting is needed for a theatrical performance or just a small affair where a few lights would give that intimate feeling of warm and very cosy.  Whatever your event private or corporate we are sure we have the perfect lighting advertised within our Red Masque directory.

You can never be 100% sure of the British weather and hiring a Marquee is a smart if not a must if you are having an event outside or indeed you are bringing your guests from inside to outside to celebrate or to watch some hired acts.

You could be having a Wedding in your back garden or want to have a marquee for your children’s birthday party where making mess outside is far more appealing than clearing up your house afterwards. Marquees can be used for many purposes; from dance floors to banqueting you will find your perfect marquee that will make your event very special indeed.

If you need staff to meet and greet your important guests, then promotional and/or event staff could be just the thing you have been looking for. You could be having a launch party where staff is hired to wear your brand or dressed in a certain way in which they really stand out. They are able to tell potential clients all about your product whilst being very professional at all times.

You may want some ‘eye candy’ to serve drinks on trays as your guests arrive, which will look very opulent indeed and make the first impression a good one.

Swing away!!!

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Swing music, or simply swing, is a form of American music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1940. Swing uses a strong rhythm section of double bass and drums as the anchor for a lead section of brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, woodwinds including saxophones and clarinets, and sometimes stringed instruments such as violin and guitar, medium to fast tempos and a “lilting” swing time rhythm. The name swing came from the phrase ‘swing feel’ where the emphasis is on the off–beat or weaker pulse in the music (unlike classical music). Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, a period known as the Swing Era the verb “to swing” is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong rhythmic “groove” or drive.

Swing has roots in the late 1920s use of larger ensembles using written arrangements. The period between 1935 and 1946 is when big band swing music reached its peak and was the most popular music in America. This period is known as the Swing Era. A typical song played in swing style would feature a strong, anchoring rhythm section in support of more loosely tied wind, brass. The most common style consisted of having a soloist take centre stage, and improvise a solo within the framework of his bandmates playing support. Swing music began to decline in popularity during World War II because of several factors. Most importantly it became difficult to staff a “big band” because many musicians were overseas fighting in the war. By the late 1940s, swing had morphed into traditional pop music, or evolved into new jazz styles such as jump blues and bebop. Swing music saw a revival in the late 1950s and 1960s with pop vocalists such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and Nat King Cole, as well as jazz-oriented vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald.

In comparison with the styles of the 1920s, the 1930s represents a more sophisticated sound, but with an exciting feel of its own. The audience of young white dancers favoured Goodman’s rhythms and daring swing arrangements. “Hot Swing” and Boogie Woogie remained the dominant form of American popular music for the next ten years. Standards like “Moten Swing” by Bennie Moten and the Kansas City Orchestra were important in the development of swing music and the move towards a freer form of orchestral jazz. Audiences raved at the new music, and at the Pearl Theatre in Philadelphia in December 1932, the doors were let open to the public who came crammed into the theatre to hear the new sound, demanding seven encores from Moten’s orchestra.

If this all sounds like your sort of music, take a look on our directory to see which Swing or big band entertainers you could hire for your very own event or party.

It’s a kind of magic…

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Magic (sometimes referred to as stage magic to distinguish it from paranormal or ritual magic) is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means. These feats are called magic tricks, effects or illusions. A professional who performs such illusions is called a stage magician or an illusionist. Some performers may also be referred to by names reflecting the type of magical effects they present, such as conjurors, hypnotists, or escapologists.

The first book containing explanations of magic tricks appeared in 1584. During the 1600s many similar books were published that described magic tricks. Until the 18th century magic shows were a common source of entertainment at fairs. A founding figure of modern entertainment magic was Jean Eugene Robert-Houdini, who had a magic theatre in Paris in 1845.John Henry Anderson was pioneering the same transition in London in the 1840s. Towards the end of the 1800s, large magic shows permanently staged at big theatre venues became the norm. As a form of entertainment, magic easily moved from theatrical venues to television magic specials.

Opinions vary among magicians as to how categorize a given effect, but a number of categories have been developed. Magicians may pull a rabbit from an empty hat, make something seem to disappear, or transforms a red silk handkerchief into a white handkerchief. Magicians may also destroy something, like cutting a rope and then “restore” it, make something appear to move from one place to another, or escape from a restraining device. Other illusions include making something appear to defy gravity, making a solid object appears to pass through another object, or appearing to predict the choice of a spectator. Many magical routines use combinations of effects.

Traditionally, magicians refuse to reveal the methods behind their tricks to the audience. Membership in professional magicians’ organizations often requires a commitment never to reveal the secrets of magic to non-magicians. The teaching of performance magic was once a secretive practice. Magic performances tend to fall into a few specialties or genres. Stage illusions use large-scale props and even large animals. Platform magic is performed for a medium to large audience. Close-up magic is performed with the audience close to the magician. Escapology involves escapes from confinement or restraints. Pickpocket magicians take audience members’ wallets, belts, and ties.  Mentalism creates the illusion that the magician can read minds. Comedy magic is the use of magic combined with stand-up comedy, an example being Penn & Teller. Some modern illusionists believe that it is unethical to give a performance that claims to be anything other than a clever and skilful deception. Others argue that they can claim that the effects are due to magic. These apparently irreconcilable differences of opinion have led to some conflicts among performers. Another issue is the use of deceptive practices for personal gain outside the venue of a magical performance. Examples include fraudulent mediums, con-men who use deception for cheating at card games.