Author: Hannah Zhang

“Can you pick a random card for me, please?” as any magician in the world would start the show with, however, Joshua Ng, a former VSA graduate of the Class of 2016, currently titled two consecutive times as the Strolling Magic Champion at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, California, does it differently. 

His journey in magic can be traced back to his time in VSA, when his companion blew his mind with a deck of his cards. “I just can’t stop practicing sleight-of-hand magic.” No one had foreseen that, in the laughter and teasing among the high schoolers, the gears of fate silently turned in the shuffles. 

Time flashed by to the time he stood in front of the world’s lockdown with the newly earned Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from UC Irvine and Master’s degree in Christian Apologetics at Biola University. During his time in college, he had always seen himself end up conducting primary research, recording data and writing academic papers while drawing connections between the intriguing human nature and the motivations driving their behaviour. It was not until he finished school that he realised that graduating during the pandemic unravels all one’s plans for the future. “People were eager to cut their costs; no one was hiring,” he said. 

While working as a valet in a local Southern California bar, he had the habit of practising magic tricks with his deck during his round-off in the bustling nightlife. His tricks first grabbed the attention of the bartender, then the manager, and eventually earned him an opportunity to perform as a hired magician, officially starting his career in the magic field. 

“It was amazing. Tremendous. Clearly, only magic can do that,” A Year 10 VSA student commented after watching Joshua’s on-site performance. He indeed used the most common prop as all magicians do, but the way he built up the tension, played with the audience’s nerves, and eventually revealed the cards nonchalantly. A truly ‘fresh’ experience as he defined his performance.”