Hi Everyone,
I'm sure a lot of you do not know about a recent email that was forwarded to some magicians as a review of this year's IBM convention in Reno. Those that do know what I am talking about: I was the dove act mentioned, for those that do not basically there was a magician from Las Vegas-I won't say his name and most of us will probably not know the name anyways-and he wrote a long review of the convention and at one point focused on the acts in the finals for the Gold Medal, I was one of these acts. He stressed mostly on how I treat my animals and doves so I just thought that this thread would be best to attempt to clear any confusion.

As quoted from the email:
"A kid from the Gurney, Il. area who is 20 and does a bizarre, heavy metal, new age, punk, “I-don’t-really-know-who-the-hell-I-am” Dove Act.
I have worked doves and birds for YEARS – This kid should be tied to a pole and whipped for the way he treats his animals. Sadly, the IBM has encouraged this behavior by giving him the 2nd place prize."

Now I will be the first to admit that I had a not-so-good performance that day, it was way below what I know I am capable of, and it happens to all of us. Due to a certain major accident that happened in the middle of my act and my attempt to cover/recover may have caused my performance to come off as if I didn't care about my animals. I did have many friends at the convention such as Amos Levkovitch, Oscar Munoz, Dale Hindman, to name a few and was not approached by anyone regarding this concern that supposidly many people shared with this gentleman. Had I know this I would have gone out of my way to straighten this out. I recieved this email from a friend who got it from a friend who got it from a friend, etc, so I do not have the original list, hence why I wanted to take some time to clear things up on a public forum like this.

Those that know me do know that I treat my animals and birds with the utmost care and respect. I in no way want to come accross as agressive or unappreciative to my birds. I am still using some of my original birds I got eight years ago when they were about 4-5 years old at the time, so do the math, they're already outliving their estimated lifespan. For some of you who have been following my posts also know the concern I take in handling them on their invisible harnesses because I do feel that these are dangerous gimmicks and extra special caution needs to be taken in performance with birds that are on harnesses. I do not want to get a reputation as a bad person because of incidents like this, if you ever see me perform and feel the same way please tell me. I don't think I'm Copperfield or anyone special so don't have any fear of me exploding on you, I WANT to know about these things so I can examine my performance and try to avoid it from happening in the future.

If you did happen to be in Reno and/or any other performance of mine and I made you uncomfortable with how I appeared to treat my animals I do appologise because I in no way am harmful towards any of my animals both in performance or at home. I'm sorry if this was long and boring, but I felt it needed to be done to clear my concience. I have also called the gentleman who wrote the email to try to clear things up and we had a nice conversation, he still feels the same way after explaining myself but that's ok he's entitled to his opinion as well. Thank you for your time and if you have any questions or concerns please contact me.



Sincerely,
Dan Sperry

Good for you Dan by taking the high road. You know that I have never really understood your new wave performance style but I will defend your right to do it. Having worked (and judged) with you several times, I know you are very concious about your animals and magic.

I also know that you take crictism as it is meant to improve and add to an act. I was not there but I can't belive Dan would ever mistreat his birds. I watched him fuss over his birds for a whole week at Abbott's in a locker room in less than admirable conditions.

If you have feedback for Dan, please forward it to him. I know he is sincere about wanting to hear.

Richard

Hate to say it Dan but, some of your dove act photos look realy rough on the birds. No trick requires a dove to hang up side down like a bat. Put yourself in your doves eyes. Other than that your act looks really cool.



Lee,

There is nothing in Dan's act where a dove hangs upside down infact hanging a dove upside down is pretty much a physical impossibilty. I have known dan for some time now. and I know a good dove worker when I see one. Poor animal magicians are easy to spot. They have raggedy looking birds with clipped wings etc. Dan knows how to take care of his birds and he knows just how far is too far. Dan, don't let ignorant people get to you. the bigger you get, the more people will try to bring you down. The lay audience is who really matters.

I looked throught every gallery I have on my site and I've come to three conclusions:

1) You're looking at a photo where I have my cockatoo in the picture, and you mistook it for a dove -I have no idea how that's possible so I'm assuming that's not the pic.

2) You're looking at a photo where I'm doing one of my signature moves with the mechanical dove and infact it is not a live dove but rather the toy one.

3) You're looking at the pic with the dove on the cane and the yellow silk. I used to do the dove on cane with a silk on there too. The silk would get in the way and was too slipery and sometimes the dove couldn't perch securly because the silk would keep slipping out from under its feet. I no longer use the silk for this reason, this photo was taken during one of the last times I did it with the silk on the cane.

Hope that clears up a few things. Thanks Richard and Michael, I appreciate the support and understanding.

Iv spok to Dan over the phon about harrness and he evan told me I should take slow with IH because it can me so dangaurs to the birds and he told me that he hates when performers thaink they know what there doing and then they go hert the doves. dans is very amazing magician and I couldn't see him ever doing anything like that.
Kyle

I met dan when I was 16 yrs old at magi fest when we were competing against eachother. Dan have also gone out of his way to help with any questions I had on my dove act and any other type of magic. The point is in all the time I have seen dan perform or have talked to dan, the safety and care of the animals was always stressed. Even in the locker roorm at abbots when I watched him go over some new ideas, he still treated his birds as good as I have seen anyone. Trust me, having 11 birds myself, when someone is not taking care of their animals you can tell just by looking at them because they will look ragged, tired, beat up etc. I know some people do not understand or follow dan's unique style but that is no reason to bash him and to put him down because he is a talented magician that treats his birds with the utmost care and respect. Now I didn't get to see the reno performance but in all the other times I have seen him handle his animals on and off stage, he did it with care, But a lot of people that bash magicians for using doves or any other animals in their act usually don't use them or know much about using animals themselves, but how could they if they havnt taken care of them for as many years as the magicians that actually know what they are doing. These doves are living WELL past their expected livespan...think about it, its not hard to figure out. Granted there are many magicians that treat their animals like a prop with no regard to the animals health or safety. Many of these magicians are ones that try to cut corners without doing their research and just want a quick fix (which doesn't exist by the way.) Although there are some supposed "professionals" that treat their animals just as bad, which in turn give the good magicians that take pride in their animals a bad name. But one thing for sure is that dan sperry isn't one of those guys that treats his animals badly.

take care,
Tim Kutch

I have grown up with Dan, and competed with him multiple times. Although I was not at IBM, I will vouch for Dan that he is VERY caring for with his birds. Seems like a low blow for someone to write such an article. I did not see this article, nor do I know who wrote it, but seems very unprofessional of whoever did that. I'm sorry to hear about all that Dan. Keep up the great work, you know I'm on your side all the way.

Dave

I have been back stage with many dove magicians and I can say that Dan Sperry is "by far" the most caring with his doves than any dove magician I have been around. He treats them like they are his babies. He came to my hotel room at one convention to look at some doves I brought for him. He picked up each one with a tenderness and gentleness that I have never seen.

I'm sorry Dan, that someone has critisized you for this. He certainly doesn't know the Dan Sperry that we all know and admire.

Dakota Rose

My apologies Dan, I just want to look out for the birds.



Lee

They said the same thing about myself, Jason Byrne, Joseph, David Bass, and even Dimmare. Sometimes smoothness and quickness are confused for abuse. The first time I worked the Castle there was concern for how quickly I put the birds in the cage after productions. I was told by RW that it looked like the birds were just tossed roughly into the cage. I know the feel for how to hold them without hurting them. But I realized that if you are not the person holding them it may look from the audience that you are being rough. Needless to say I slowed down when putting them away and never heard that from anyone again.

I know for myself that I have had the same seven doves my entire career. My youngest is 11 and the oldest is 16 years old. You don't have to kiss your doves after each production to prove that you are gentle and caring for your animals. It's how you raise, and treat them on and off stage that count.

Anyway, take it with a grain of salt but also be aware of how people percieve your act. It is sometimes easier to tell people where to go than to consider thier advice. The fact that you posted this lets me know that you have already learned from this experience. Good luck to you as always.

Your friend,
Puck

Aight so I roomed With Dan at this convention and have at other conventions and I must tell you that I've never seen someone care more for their birds. here's an example. Dan let his birds loose for some exercise and stuff in the bathroom and wouldn't let me walk in there till all the birds were picked up and accounted for. he coulda just let me in there and allowed me to walk around them but instead picked up every bird and made sure it was safe. also, Dan has the prettiest birds I've probably ever seen. most birds using invisible harnesses end up with ratty looking feathers from being pulled out at such a high rate of speed. but each of Dan's Birds are immaculate in their appearance. these birds are lucky to have an owner like dan and Dan always fully emphasizes the importance of proper dove care. this "Email" is just written from a bitter man/woman. If you have things to say about the care a magician gives his animals don't hide behind a compter and say things as harsh as Chaining them to a pole and whipping them. please talk to the performer in person. this "email" makes you seem infantile at best. and a couple words of advice... don't dillude yourself about the quality of your own act.

Although I've not been lucky enough to know Dan or ever see him or even talk to him for that matter. But due to how the world is the way that he dresses on stage would put people under the impression he did hurt the animals due to the horribly false stereotype that goths have gotten. Im sure Dan dresses like that so he can stick out and look not like a lot of other magicians. Um I would like to ask... what is an inviible harness? I have never worked with animals yet but I have plenty as pets... I am only fifteen but would love to work with animals... so what is an IH?

It is a harness that goes on the dove so you can produce it. It has been tested and No it does not hurt the animal.

Well from what I hear small mess up in the IH can hurt the bird? I know doves can crunch up small enough to fit in an eggshell... that should never happen... people could get crunched up and put in suitcases...but it should happen ( against the will anyways )

Birds are not compacted to put in an invisible harness...

It goes over their back like a dog leash type thing...

And the other visible harness don't hurt them either becasue they are just pieces of silk folded over the birds wings quite loosely...

Nothing is squished up in dove magic...

Research these things before making up your mind about them!

Maybe not in the Ih but in some tricks they are quite compacted.

Wrong again...

Sorry I'm an idiot I don't even know lol. maybe wen I work with animals then I can say soethoing about them. Sorry for wasting your guys time with these uneducated questions

No problem...maybe you learned something from this about jumping to conclusions and making quick judgements...or at least I hope so!