Brian Ballard Magician

Description

When you want to WOW your crowd, choose professional magician Brian Ballard. From business events to family parties, Brian will entertain your group with magical fun and eye-popping illusions. He has performed magic internationally since 1974 including the World Famous Magic Castle in Hollywood. Providing magical entertainment for children's and adults' birthday parties, bar/bat mitzvahs, quinceañeras, hospital visits, business events, conventions and more. Whether your gathering is large or small, make it magically memorable with Brian's special brand of stage and walk-around magic.

Biography

Every morning, Brian Ballard tucks his glucose meter and test strips in one pocket – and in the other, his magical coins and sponge balls.
After he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 41 years ago, Ballard spent two weeks in a children’s hospital where a magician put on a show that changed his life.
Ever since, finger pricks and magic tricks have paired like a white rabbit and a black hat, shaping his daily routine, identity and career.
“They’ve just gone hand in hand with me,” said Ballard, who lives in Irvine. “It’s part of me. It’s who I am.”
Ballard, 52, inco ... rporates sleight of hand into his work as a diabetes educator for CareMore Health Plan, a Cerritos-based Medicare Advantage plan.
The American Diabetes Association says 26 percent of adults 65 and older have diabetes, the nation’s seventh leading cause of death.
So Ballard visits senior centers, doctor’s offices and health fairs to combine medical information with magic.
“The show is always engaging,” said Dwayne Jenkins, a regional sales manager who works with Ballard. “It excites the crowd. At the same time, it’s an educational event. I think they walk away with more retention vs. just being in a lecture-type setting.”
When Ballard magically connects three separate ropes, he explains that individually they represent exercise, diet and medication, but together they become what’s necessary to control diabetes.
He reaches into a red velvet bag to transform a picture of junk food into a picture of an overweight person; and an image of veggies into someone who is fit.
“I feel a diabetic is the perfect person to be a diabetic educator,” he said. “I put people at ease because I live it and breathe it. I’m not too harsh on them because I feel their pain because I’m far from the perfect diabetic. I have challenges with my diet from time to time and I don’t exercise enough like I really should.”
Anna Derby, 68, recently watched Ballard’s diabetes presentation at Leisure World in Seal Beach.
“His message was you don’t have to have a limited life,” she said. “You can live a full life if you take care of yourself, including being a magician.”
Ballard grew up in Granite City, Ill. When he was 11, he began displaying signs of childhood diabetes: increased thirst, fatigue and blurred vision. During a visit with his doctor he was diagnosed on the spot through a urine test. He was immediately sent to the children’s hospital in nearby St. Louis for two weeks.
“They kept me in there strictly for education,” he said. “Insurance companies wouldn’t do that today.”
Ballard learned how to give himself insulin shots, at first injecting an orange. He would then stick himself with saline throughout the day to continue practicing.
Early in his stay, a magician visited the hospital and performed for Ballard and the other patients.
“I was hooked. I just fell in love with magic,” Ballard said. “I was just amazed. I knew there was a trick behind it.”
Ballard’s mom bought him a magic kit from the hospital gift shop and he began practicing tricks along with injections.
“I was going around showing doctors; ‘Look at this trick,’” he said.
After his release from the hospital, Ballard’s cousin took him to a real magic store. For him, that was like visiting a candy shop – appropriate, since he had to give up sweets to help manage his disease.
By the time he was in junior high school, Ballard would have his father drive him to birthday parties to perform magic shows. “I didn’t drive, but you could say I was a professional magician,” he said.
Then 20 years ago, he returned to the same children’s hospital and put on a magic show.
“I did it on the same floor. It sort of sent chills down my spine,” he said.
Ballard started his career in photography sales. He later shifted into selling insurance and moved to California in 2000 for a job. He successfully auditioned to become a member of Hollywood’s Magic Castle.
Nine years ago, he started as a sales rep at CareMore but became the diabetes community liaison four years ago.
When seniors ask him if diabetes has hindered his life, he shares about how in 2003 he skippered a sailboat from California to Hawaii, spending 24 days at sea. “It was the hardest, coldest, most exciting, scariest, most boring thing I did in my life, and diabetes was the least of my worries.”
In 2010, he traveled to Beijing to speak about insulin pumps and other diabetes technology before the Chinese Health Ministry. His translator took him sightseeing and they discovered a vendor selling magic props.
“I just went crazy,” he said. “I started doing magic. That was a fond memory in the silk market and stumbling on a little magic shop.” Read More

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Previous Clients

Pillsbury, St. Louis Baseball Cardinals, Anheiser Busch, Anthem Blue Cross

Suitable for

Bar / Bat Mitzvah Birthday Party (Adult) Casinos Christening Christmas Party Cocktail Party / Drinks Reception Corporate Event Dinner Party Jewish Wedding Private Party Product Launch / Promotion Trade Show / Exhibitions