Republic Polytechnic’s magic CCA has enchanted audiences for over 20 years | Singapore Breaking News & Latest Updates

Republic Polytechnic’s magic CCA has enchanted audiences for over 20 years — SINGAPORE – Republic Polytechnic (RP) student Wong Hong Li fans out a deck of playing cards face-up and asks this reporter to pick one. I select the q...

SINGAPORE – Republic Polytechnic (RP) student Wong Hong Li fans out a deck of playing cards face-up and asks this reporter to pick one. I select the queen of clubs.

The 17-year-old shuffles the card back into the deck, which is still facing up. He snaps his fingers and flips the deck around – the back of every card has been changed from dark blue to red, except for the queen of clubs.

Hong Li is a member of RP Magic,the only co-curricular activity (CCA) in a polytechnicfocused on the performance and practice of magic tricks.

The interest group was formed in 2003 when the polytechnic approached RP principal lecturer Loke Han Ying,who specialises in staff training, to start an interest group to teach students how to perform magic. He has been the club’s adviser ever since.

Dr Loke, who has also taught maths, science and engineering subjects, said: “I mentioned on my staff profile that I did magic, but I mainly performed for my friends and colleagues. I never expected that I would ever do anything magic-related professionally.”

Currently, RP Magic has about20 active members. Besides performing in school at events like RP’s open house, the group has also been engaged to perform at external events such as the NDP @ Heartlands celebration in Yishun and Family Day at Woodlands Police Headquarters.

The group has also performed for patients at a National Kidney Foundation dialysis centre as part of the members’ service learning projects.

RP Magic meets every Wednesday from 5pm to 7pm. Training sessions mostly involve Dr Loke and senior members of the interest group teaching others how to perform different tricks. These tricks range from simple card and coin tricks to more complex routines that involve props such as linking rings, rope and handcuffs.Members mostly find new tricks to practise by searching for tutorials online or learning tricks that are passed down from their seniors.

The group puts in more practice time when it has stage performances coming up.

While the props, which the polytechnic pays for, are owned and used by the interest group, some members, like second-year electronic and electrical engineering studentRexFoong, have taken to building their own collections after joining the interest group.

Since joining the interest group in 2024, she has purchased some 60 decks of cards with different designs that range from $4 to $30 each, spending more than $400 in total.

She quipped: “It’s like a hidden tax for people getting into magic.”

The 19-year-old first joined the interest group after watching a performance by a student magician at RP’s annual CCA fair.

During her time with the interest group, she discovered a newfound passion – cardistry, a performance art involving the manipulation of playing cards. She said: “It gives me a sense of satisfaction to be able to manipulate the cards in such an impressive way. Plus, I’m always fidgeting, so it allows me to do something with my hands.”

Ms Foong said that she routinely performs cardistry for friends at school, who often find it cool and novel.

RP students also become impromptu audience members when RP Magic members wander its halls in search of other students to perform for on Wednesday evenings. These occasional roving performances are part of their weekly sessions.Members of the interest group also regularly perform for one another to gather feedback, and occasionally post tricks on social media sites like Instagram.

For some members, like first-year cyber security and digital forensics student Hong Li, the roving sessions were initially intimidating. He said: “Approaching a stranger with a deck (of cards) in hand (is) a daunting idea.

“But it’s something I got used to with more exposure and experience. The more confident (I am), the less likely I am to mess up.”

Now that Hong Li is more experienced, some of his memorable performances are the roving ones. He said: “One of my best performances was where I managed to shock a big group of people so much that they wanted to inspect the deck I used for the trick.”

He also said that joining the CCA has helped him in his school work.

He said: “Putting on a performance isn’t really that different from giving a presentation for a module. (Magic) has definitely boosted my confidence and helped my public speaking.”

Dr Loke added: “Whether it’s managing your stage presence or communicating with the audience – there are definitely common elements between giving a good presentation and a good performance.”

When asked about what he enjoys most about performing magic, Hong Li pointed to the audience’s reactions: “I think every magician likes seeing people being shocked and astonished after a trick.

“At the end of the day, I want them to be able to have a good time and have fun.”

JoinST's WhatsApp Channeland get the latest news and must-reads.