 Absolutely magic
Imagine having magic powers, a magic wand or a magician’s cloak and with a snap of your fingers you could solve every problem? Is it any wonder that Superman never dies? That Cinderella is still alive? That we fight over Harry Potter? Just a pity none of them exist in real life. But, Kristine Hjulstad exists. When she takes a piece of paper and turns it into a rose, lets it float in the air, sets fire to it and plucks a real live rose out of the flames – yes , that is magic.
(Quote from “Aftenposten” – Norway’s largest newspaper)
Is there anyone who hasn’t dreamed about being able to do conjuring tricks?
Kristine has dreamed about this since she was a little girl - and she has done something about it. She can now do more than conjuring tricks. However, there is more to it than being a good conjurer, it is all about magic.
Kristine’s kind of magic is a mixture of theatre and the art of storytelling and conjuring. Elegant, almost lyrical, she performs scenes from “La Boheme” and “The Legend of Zorro”. In the act she calls “Myself”, she offers you a timeless form of magic based on the principle that ”less is more”. Kristine has studied theatrical magic in Las Vegas with Jeff McBride, one of the world’s greatest magicians, and has been a pupil of the former World Champion in magic, Toreno, since 1998.
For Kristine Hjulstad, born 1983, it was to be a painful experience how important it was to have a dream. When she was only 15 years old she won 3rd place in stage magic at the celebration of the 70year’s jubilee of “the Magic Circle of Norway”. The following year, she won a new 3rd place in stage magic, and this time she was competing with people from the whole of Scandinavia. What Kristine did not know at this point, was that she was seriously ill with cancer.
Her magic power could not make her illness disappear, but her love of conjuring helped her through what was to be a very difficult time. Kristine made up her mind about two things. If she recovered she would study medicine, and be a conjurer! Once she was beginning to feel better, she went to Sweden in the autumn of 1999 to meet world artist Jeff McBride and watch his performance. This was to be a decisive meeting. Since then Kristine has been to Las Vegas three times to attend Jeff McBride’s “Master Class”.
Kristine has kept her promise. In the years that have passed since the chemotherapy treatment, she has won a number of new prizes- something that would not have been possible if Jeff McBride had not been able to set free Kristine’s own talents and gift of magic:
- “Magician of the Year” in Norway 2003.
- 2nd prize in stage magic, and 3rd prize in close-up magic in the Nordic Championship (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland) in 2003.
- “Award of Honour” in the Nordic Championship in 2003.
- 3rd prize in close-up magic at the Swedish Championship in Stockholm in 2003.
- 1st prize in close-up magic in Denmark in 2000.
In addition she has represented Norway at the World Championship for magicians, and competed at the “World Magic Seminar”, which is looked upon as one of the greatest magic conventions in the world.
At the age of 20 in 2003 she won the Magic Circle’s prize of honour, “Magician of the Year” in Norway.
No conjurer ever stops learning. No conjurer can sit back and feel that his dream has been realized. No dream lasts forever, and no gift is greater than to be able to give other people pleasure. And no one knows that better than Kristine Hjulstad.
Ingar Holm
( Journalist, for the “Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation”.)
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