FUTURE TALENTED Spring Term 2019 - Issue 2 | Page 30

Gatsby Benchmarks
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Perfecting the art of the
Magician Dynamo explains how he overcame bullying
and introversion to become a worldwide phenomenon
in an exclusive interview with BecomingX.
PAUL GURNEY
FOUNDER, BECOMINGX
“
He’s a wizard!”; “did he levitate?”; “my
dad says he really can walk on water.”
These are the magical reactions I
receive when talking to young people
in schools about interviewing Steven Frayne, better
known by his stage name ‘Dynamo’. As he explains:
“Magic is an emotion you bring out in someone…
when we witness something that is inexplicable,
that completely blows our mind and makes us
change our view on the world.”
Described by The Times as “the undisputed
king of magic”, Dynamo is a global household
name due to his TV shows and dramatic stunts
such as levitating above the London skyline and
walking across the River Thames.
With his current profile, it may seem that he is
a modern-day phenomenon who, like his illusions,
appeared from nowhere. But he points out that
his overnight success boils down to “25 years of
just working at this”.
The genesis of his successful career lies in a
tough upbringing on a council estate in Bradford,
West Yorkshire. His mother was 16 when he was
born and, with a “wrong’un” father in and out of
jail, Steven was largely raised by his grandparents.
“I was definitely a misunderstood child,
intrigued by all the things that none of my friends
or family would really understand or care about,”
he recalls. However, inspired by his beloved
grandpa’s magic at the age of 11, Steven, “like a
sponge, soaked up everything” he could about
magic, later joining the circus to improve his skills.
‘When I went back home, I was bullied,” he
adds. “Everyone at school would laugh at me.
I became very introverted in my school life.”
30 // ROUTES INTO WORK
It was clear to me when interviewing Dynamo that
the trauma of his early years helped shape the
dedicated and compassionate person he is today.
His time alone, avoiding bullies and dealing
with chronic pain from Crohn’s disease, was spent
perfecting his craft, trying to achieve the
impossible – “things like throwing a playing card
and making it hit a glass on a table so that it
shatters. When I first tried to do it, I would go
through four packs of cards before I’d hit the glass
once,” he admits. “But I stuck with it; now, I will hit
the glass one in three times.”
Dedication and patience
This fascination and dedication is the real magic
behind the magician. “The biggest thing you need
to make it in any industry is the patience and
determination never to give up, no matter what
gets thrown in your way,” he asserts.
He also stayed true to himself, learning to
accept his flaws – “all the things that make me
different” – and embrace his uniqueness. As he
concluded after many years of trying to fit in: “Why
would you want to be like somebody else, when
you could be something completely different
and brand new?”
It’s this authentic Dynamo who has captured
young people’s imaginations. He says of himself:
“I want to have inspired a generation to believe
they can do anything; no matter what surroundings
they grow up in, or what adversities they have to
fight, they don’t give up.
“If I am a testament to anything it’s that if
you are persistent and determined, you can
achieve anything.”