Magical Assemblies for Schools & Libraries by 'The Great & Powerful Dave'

07/30/2024

I performed 29 magic shows in 13 days earlier this month during my tour of Central New York libraries. Where did I get the energy? Watch.

07/30/2024

06/28/2024

‘Captain Underpants’ is the hero in a series of kids’ books I’ll be promoting during my library tour next month, and I just created these props for the show. How many people do you know that spend their mornings making tiny silken underpants?

06/21/2024

I'm dusting off the pith helmet I first wore twenty years ago for another adventure-themed summer library tour (full schedule below). This year, the summer reading theme is ‘Adventure Begins at Your Library’ and, in mid-July, I'll be touring my goofy, family-friendly 45-minute magic show to 30 libraries in Central New York State.

(I now live in Manhattan and, from September to June, tour to elementary & middle schools within a three hour radius of the city, but for my summer library tour, I return to my beloved old stomping grounds around the Finger Lakes.)

I hope to see you at one of the shows!

The Great & Powerful Dave's Summer 2024 Library Tour

Mon July 8
10:30am Coburn Free Library, Owego, NY
1:30pm Broome Co. Public Library, Binghamton, NY
6pm Cortland Free Library

Tue July 9
11am Central OCPL Library, Syracuse
2pm Peck Memorial Library, Marathon, NY
6:30pm Canastota Library

Wed July 10
10:30am Utica Public
2pm Kirkland Town Library, Clinton, NY
6:30pm Western Town Library, Westernville, NY

Thu July 11
11am East Syracuse Free
2:30pm Salina Free Library, Mattydale, NY
6:30pm Community Library of Dewitt & Jamesville, Dewitt, NY

Fri July 12
10:30 am Macedon Public Library
1pm Victor Farmington Library
3:30pm Bloomfield Public Library

Sat July 13
10:30am Stevens Memorial Community Library, Attica, NY

Mon July 15
5:30pm Dormann Library, Bath, NY

Tue July 16
11:30am Clayville Library Association
3pm Ilion Free Public Library
6pm Newport Free Library

Wed July 17
10am Gorham Free Library
2pm Red Jacket Community Library, Manchester, NY
6pm Perry Public Library

Thu July 18
11am Betts Branch Library, Syracuse
3pm LaFayette Public Library
6:30pm New Woodstock Free Library

Fri July 19
11am NOPL Cicero
4pm Tompkins Co Public Library, Ithaca

Sat July 20
11am Wm. B. Ogden Free Library, Walton, NY

Thu July 25
6:30pm White Plains Library

06/05/2024

For a moment, I thought they meant the batteries in my TV remote.

05/29/2024

Check out my blog post https://wix.to/8emFsBm

I recently returned from two weeks touring Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, and, one night at a restaurant in Buenos Aires, I had an awful/wonderful meal. 'Awful' because my friends and I were served something that was supposed to be the traditional dish Milanesas de Carne (a pounded beef fillet) but I....

05/29/2024

Check out my blog post https://wix.to/BRU7oQd

I recently returned from two weeks touring Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, and, one night at a restaurant in Buenos Aires, I had an awful/wonderful meal. 'Awful' because my friends and I were served something that was supposed to be the traditional dish Milanesas de Carne (a pounded beef fillet) but I....

05/01/2024

“Dave! Dave! Dave!” That was the chant from the 6th-8th grade students as I walked down the hall of their middle school a couple weeks ago. They’d just been part of my interactive bullying-prevention show, and I took their enthusiasm as an excellent sign. I’d been performing such shows with great success for grades K-5, but middle schools were new to me and I was warned that students that age were an entirely different…well…beast. But I created a show just to their taste, and the kids have totally taken to it; they’re attentive, responsive, engaged, and goofy-fun. What a joy!

02/17/2024

Flying Kindergarteners! I'm developing a new STEM assembly program for elementary schools, and these brave students from Brooklyn's PS 107 volunteered for the lever & fulcrum demonstration. The beautiful fulcrum was custom built by my buddy Joe Jurchak, and I taped this so he could see it in action.

02/09/2024

An elementary school with only 60 students?! Yes! On Wednesday, I performed my bullying-prevention show at New Jersey’s Beach Haven School, where their entire third-grade class consists of three girls! Beach Haven, as the name implies, is an oceanside community; jam-packed in the summer months, but deserted in the winter except for a handful of hardy souls. The beauty of such a school is that the students get lots of attention from their teachers, and that the principal is able spend lots of time dialoging with a visiting performer, me. Ted Loeffler is not only the principal: he’s superintendent, anti-bullying specialist, etc, etc, and has 30+ years of experience helping students with behavioral challenges. Ted watched both performances of ‘Stop Bullying Now!’– my version for Grades K-2, and my more-sophisticated version for Grades 3-6 – and, afterwards, he gave me extraordinarily-helpful feedback. What a gift! I will carry the lessons learned at Beach Haven into every subsequent performance of my show.

01/23/2024

I’m developing a new science-based show, ‘Superhero Science’, for elementary schools, and just found a terrific recipe for invisible ink. In the show, I’ll use this as a demonstration of ‘indicators’; substances that change color in the presence of an acid or base. The invisible ink (a base) and the indicator are both made from stuff you probably have in your kitchen & bathroom. Any guesses? Watch this space for the answer.