In Grave Danger by Design - Life of an Escape Artist

I have taken a long break from this blog.  Being on America's Got Talent forced me to stop writing freely due to their contract.  I have done some writing since AGT and this article is being posted in on the online magazine la Vie Sirene.

For most, October means Halloween and a time to dress up in your favorite mask and pretend to be who we are not. Many love dressing up as their favorite villain or dressing in an outrageous outfit and shocking their friends.  

Though I love costume parties, for me, Halloween reminds me of magic. And when you talk magic all discussions begin and end with the master, Harry Houdini. In fact Houdini died on October 31,1926.  I saw the Tony Curtis movie Houdini and I was simply mesmerized.  Watching Houdini do those death-defying stunts blew me away.  I wondered what it would be like to try and escape from a strait jacket or the terrifying Chinese Water Torture Cell. I really wanted to know what it felt like to try and do the impossible. 

When I was growing up magic had a prominent role on TV. Magicians like Doug Henning and David Copperfield would do hour-long TV specials showcasing their wonderful talent, but no matter what they did on the show they would always end with a Houdini-like escape.  I can remember Doug Henning stepped onto the stage and I literally got a chill.  

I was 13 at the time and to see Henning do a legendary escape that many thought (wrongly) that Houdini had died in, was thrilling.  It gave me goose bumps as he was lowered into the tank. No way to breathe and seemingly no way to escape.

I can remember again thinking how cool it would be to be able to do that but I had one huge problem. There were no female escape artists. The only women doing magic were the magician’s assistants. They were beautiful and wore amazing costumes (‘barely there’ stuff) but they were literally called "box jumpers" as that is really what they did.  I didn't want to jump from box to box.  I wanted to do the impossible like Houdini did. 

Now, I didn't dare tell anyone of this as it was not what girls did. The irony here is that I wanted to do death-defying escapes but I didn't have the courage to escape my own box "perception".  I didn't want people to think I was weird or different. I locked myself in the box of "normal".  I threw away any thoughts of doing magic and decided I was going to be a teacher - something girls did -- not become an escape artist.

Well then a met a boy in high school.  Little did I know he was a big Houdini fan as well.  In fact, he read about Houdini and his escapes and learned some of his methods.  We were 16 and I had a pool in my backyard.  I had no idea he liked magic and escapology.  He said to me, “Want to see a trick?”  He had me tie his hands and feet together.  I thought he was crazy, but I was also intrigued. My heart almost stopped when he jumped into the deep end.  he was doing an underwater escape -- the very thing I had dreamed of doing, but dared not as I was too afraid to be different.  In just under 2:00 minutes he had escaped from underwater. Now I think my reaction shocked him.  When he surfaced he asked what I thought and I said, "I want to try it".  He laughed and said, "You can't do that; you don't know the trick."  I asked him to let me try.  And so I did.  He tied my hands and feet and I dove in.  

When I got to the bottom the feeling was like a cross between pure panic and a feeling of OMG I am really doing this.  I was doing an underwater escape like Houdini.  I loved it.  What a rush.  I managed to get out somehow, mainly because I was running out of air.  My boyfriend was completely blown away.  He tried to convince me that we should be an act but I was stuck in "my box" -- not willing to try and escape it.  I said, “No way!” I was going to do the safe thing.. the normal thing... and be a teacher.     

Well, that boy actual became my husband. And for thirty years he urged me to follow my original dream though I never really told him it was a dream.  It took me 30 years (a few job losses, bankruptcy and almost losing the house) before I would show my talents. In 2009, after years of talking with professional escape artists about what we did and my husband Bill showing them clips, I finally allowed him to post something on Youtube for the public to see.  

Bill and I watched magic through the years, especially escapes and would try and reverse engineer them -- figure how to do an escape and then try and go further with it. I never thought I could perform in public as I thought I was risking it all my job, my friends and my family.  I dared not be different. 

My problem with showing the world my talent was I was dealing with even more boxes now. I added age & weight to my list of reasons why I couldn't do this. I thought ‘Who wants to see a 47-year-old do escapes?’ Bill refused to listen to any of the negative talk. The agreement was simple.  If any negative comments were posted about my escapes he would remove them and end any further discussion about becoming an escape artist. Of course, if it took off, then I would do my first public escape at the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay, an event held in honor of Harry Houdini.  

Well, the video exploded and I did the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay doing my Underwater Leap of Faith Escape. It required me to tell my parents, as I did the escape in their hometown, and tell my friends. Crazy as it sounds, I was more worried about rejection than drowning! Simply put, to be outstanding, you have to be willing to stand out. I would risk doing death-defying escapes 12.5 feet underwater in 50 pounds of chains and shackles but would not risk showing the world for fear of rejection.

 

The villain inside us is what we have to fight. Especially as women, it is so hard to step out for fear that others (sadly too many women) will judge us harshly. As a sisterhood, we have to begin to be more supportive of one another.  We cannot rip apart each other every time a girl or a women steps out.  It is appalling how poorly women treat one another.  And now, our little girls are being thrust out on the stage earlier than ever before with social media.  Many have been victims of cruel and senseless ridicule.  I have done work with Girls Inc and I tell my story of "getting out of my box" and the struggle it posed.  I now teach young girls to be strong and dare to be different.  I try to help them become escapes artists (figuratively) by helping them escape their boxes.

For me, the last 4 years has been nothing short of amazing. I have done seven national TV appearances. I did NBC's Today, the CBS Evening News, set a world record on Fox and Friends, and I did three episodes of America's Got Talent last year and designed and trained Todd Sampson for a Houdini like underwater escape in the series Hack My Brain for the Science Channel (which also aired in Australia on ABC and won an award for best documentary) . But none of this would have happened without the love of a strong husband and the courage to escape my box. As sisters, mothers and friends, I urge you to help support our girls and show them that it is ok to stand out, as it is the only way to be outstanding. 

     

Follow Alexanderia’s great escapes 

on her website,

her Facebook page & on Twitter

Getting Serious

So again I let this blog go unwritten for too long.  Sorry about that followers.  It wasn't as though I was doing nothing.  Last summer was magical for me, as I said last time we spoke.  Getting a chance to work the International Brotherhood of Magicians convention performing with the greats in magic today was such an honor.  
It also made me realize how far and fast this has gone.  My first public performance was just 3 years earlier.  Now that may sound like a long time but in magic that is a nano second.

The Worldwide Escape Artist Relay 2009 My first UW Leap

After that I did a show in Orlando and got a chance to do an escape on TV at Ripley's Believe It or Not Orlando.  It was great fun and finding out I was going to be in next years Ripley's book another magical honor.

 Reviewing all the national TV appearances (Today Show, CBS Evening News, Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends + many more local TV and newspaper stories)

I realized my husband was right.  I had to make a decision as to whether I wanted this to be a nice little story or really push it and make it a career.  Should I escape my current life as a health club manager and move to a new magical one as an escape artist.  It sounds like a no brainer but with three kids and now (gulp) a new grandchild, could I really risk taking the leap?   No risk in my act has never been a problem but when my kids are involved

its another story.  In fact, I checked with them before I ever performed to make sure they were ok with it all.  My daughters and son are amazing.  They have been just great in supporting their unconventional mother.  For that I will always be grateful.

So now it was time to listen to my biggest cheerleader, trainer, manager, best friend & husband, Bill.  Becoming an escape artist has not been easy for me.  In fact doing the escapes has been a lot easier than making the commitment to be an escape artist, if that makes any sense to you.  Doing the escapes is a challenge but I like challenges.  Deciding whether I should do this for a living and if I can make a living at this has been the most difficult decision of our lives.  My husband lost his job and financially it has been a struggle but he has been so sure of me and what I can do.  In fact he has been more sure than I have honestly.  He really believes in what I am doing and he sees how important this transformation is not only to me and our family but to others as well.  He believes that others will see how getting out of my box can be an inspiration to all who are forced to reinvent themselves.

 
Just like Houdini who almost lost it all as his King of Cards act was failing, he had to reinvent himself.  So many of us in the struggling economy have had to do just that.  Leave what we did and what we though we where good at because of job loss and do something else to survive.  This country has had to learn to adapt to rapid change.  Adapting is always tough because it is uncomfortable.  What I have learned more than anything else is that in escapes and in life, getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is essential to survival.

In my escape training, it is learning to hold my breath not until it feels uncomfortable but way beyond.  We talk about two parts to a breath hold.  The first part is the easy part, the comfortable.  The hard part is when the contractions come.  Now that is the uncomfortable part.  I have learned to adapt.  When I first started, as soon as I began to feel a contraction which is your body saying "breathe stupid" I have learned that your body lies.  These are early warning signals for me anyway, I am learning just how many I can ignore.  Now an extreme word of caution here.  I have worked with some of the greatest free divers in the world.  People like Kirk Krack , Mandy-Rae Cruickshank, of Performance Free Diving 

They trained David Blaine for his Drowned Alive stunt on ABC in New York City in the water Globe. This picture is of both Mandy-Rae who jumped in to save David and Kirk Krack who is talking with David after the attempt.

I have also worked with Ashley Chapman a world record holder and Team USA co captain who works with Performance Free Diving and now Evolve Free Diving and Erin Magee who is a US National record holder, is also on Team USA, works for both Performance Free Diving and now her own Pacific Coast Free Diving. In fact, is was Erin's course that I did in October where I broke the 4 minute mark in a static breath hold.  See me here break the 4 minute barrier in a static breath hold with Erin and Nick Fazer  of East Coat Divers.

She got me a full minute more in her course.

In doing the 4:20 breath hold I actually was kind of mad at myself as I had my first contraction at the 3:00 mark and only did 8 contractions. I have done as many as 51 contractions on a breath holds so I know I left a whole lot on the table.  The reason I came up and this will sound so dumb, was I got too excited when I heard 4:00 minutes.  I was shocked as it felt so easy.  I should have been more focused on getting as much as I could but I was so shocked and happy I got to 4 minutes that I got too happy and lost it.  I am now wondering what I could really do if I only trained for statics but that is for another time.

Of course I also had to do the dive in October in New England where water temps can be somewhere in the mid 40's.  As you can tell by Nick, Erin and my clothing, the weather was really pretty cold.

I sadly had a hard time with equalizing so I only went down 10 meters or 33 feet.  I wanted to get down to get to 100 feet but that was not going to happen given my sinuses.  I had an ear drum burst on a flight about 12 years ago and I don't do well with ear pressure so it was not surprising but I want to take another shot sometime.  I think I am so much better and more confident now after Erin's course. Here is what October in New England looks like at sea in balmy 47 degree water.

 So this is all said in explaining that I am now taking this serious.  I am going to give this my all to make it happen.  I know it will be a struggle.  I know I am going to have to get in the best shape of my life if I am to try and take on the huge task of trying to go beyond Houdini.  It is going to mean pushing myself hard.  Going to places I have never gone before psychologically.  Demanding more and not being satisfied at trying but only at succeeding.  I will have to deal with a lot of uncomfortable situations and in my next blog I will explain exactly what I will be taking on.  It should be a very interesting ride.  Oh and I will need your help.  Please send this to those you feel can benefit from someone who is trying to make the impossible possible.  A 51 year old mom of three and grandmother of one cannot become an escape artist right.  Well watch and see if I don't defy the odds and make this happen.

A Magical Summer

It has been a magical summer.  You know how everyone talks about a summer escape.  Well I had a doozy. 

 When last I wrote in May, I was talking about how I do things differently.  You don't start out performing at age 47.  You certainly don't go into magic, where only a handful of women have been a main act. And you definitely don't go into escapes since it has almost exclusively been a man's game for over 100 years.  Whoops, I guess I missed all those rules.       

So there I was having done decades worth of work in escapes, on my own but refusing to tell or show anyone for fear that they would think I was "weird" or "different".  My hubby wanted me to do this since we were kids (high school) but I had plans (college) to be a teacher.  Then we married and we began to have kids. "A mom can't be an escape artist", I thought. Then I opened up a home daycare business and I couldn't very well tell parents who called that I was "tied up" for the moment when I was really "tied up".  After that it was a myriad of reasons why I couldn't but it came down to me not being able to get out of my own box.  The box I put myself in or let others put me in. Bottom line was I just didn't have the confidence to be different and so pardon the pun, I resisted "jumping in".  But two years of unemployment forced me to reinvent myself career wise, so with my husband's support and urging, I decided to make the leap into escapes. 

Early picture of Alex secretly working on escapes

So after years of working on whatever we saw on TV (Cooperfield, The Pendragons, Angel & Blaine)  I (Bill really helped get me the courage) decided to give it a go. So October of 2009 was my very first escape at the Worldwide Escape Artist Relay.  Of course, doing it all wrong,  as you usually start out slow in your first performance.  Not me!  I chose to do an underwater escape (one of magic's most dangerous escapes).  To be fair, I had been working for years on escapes and most underwater, so I was different.  Funny to hear me say that now. 

Well with all this practice, it never included anything formal.  I never read magic books or attended a magic convention.  It just never occurred to me I needed to learn from others.  I just tried to figure it out myself.  Ok now why would I bring that up huh?

Well flash forward less than 3 years later and I decided to attend my very first magic convention but in a very cool and unusual way.  Yeah I know different. I have been an International Brotherhood of Magicians's (IBM) member for the last 3 years.  I joined up prior to my first escape as they provide excellent insurance coverage and I joined a magic ring to get contacts Ring 122 in at the famous Ray Goulet's Magic Arts Studio in Watertown, MA

This year's 84th IBM convention was in Norfolk, VA.  Two weeks before the convention I was contacted by the convention committee who saw my Today Show story and my Facebook postings (see Facebook does work).

So they asked me if I would be willing to come down and do an escape.  Would I?  Of course!  What an honor to be invited to perform in front of the largest magical arts order in the world and the oldest running magical convention.  How could I say no.  So after a little bit of prodding with the hotel who's  lawyers heard underwater escape and freaked  but came to their senses and gave approval and so we were off to Norfolk to perform in front of over 700 magicians.  GULP!

IBM Conference Talent Chair and Master Magician Shawn Farquhar 

Nothing is scarier than performing in front of your peers.  Remember I have only been performing for less than 3 years and I am standing in front of the best in the world of magic.  No pressure.  Kinda hard to catch your breath.  Hint hint remember that line.  So as Bill and I thought of what to do to make this escape memorable, it hit us.  This escape needed to be breath taking.  And so we set out to do just that.

Now to anyone else the picture above may look like you average summer pool party shot.  Except for the fact the girl (that's me) about to jump in has more restraints on than an other female has ever had in an underwater escape.  Handcuffs, leg cuffs, a 15 lbs lead weigh belt, a 5 foot chain from my hands to my feet (so I can't swim to the surface) another 25 feet of chains wrapped around my arms and body 3 times and padlocked each time.  Then the remaining chain is brought down my body up through my legs, over my back and shoulders twice and padlocked tightly with two more locks one around my neck and the other down my back.  

The Underwater Leap of Faith at the 84th International Brotherhood of Magicians Convention

So over 50 lbs of restraints, 30 feet of chains secured by 7 padlocks and chained in such a way that it nearly chokes me if I go down wrong.  We thought it should be recognized as the most a women had ever done in an underwater escape so we contacted Ripley;s Believe It or Not.  But both Bill and I wanted something more.  We didn't want to do just more than any other women and more than Houdini which this would be but something no escape artist had ever done.  But what?  How could we do something in front of the best magicians in the world that would take their breath away.  And then it hit us.  Breath away.  Let's take their breath away by me giving mine away.

I have trained with free divers having completed the pool portion of Performance Free Diving's Intermediate course.  I also am friends with some amazing women who are champion free divers and 

who have been so helpful with my training.  I train to be safer in my escapes but to also to be able to do more.  And in that vein I reached out to Natalia Avseenko who is a word champion free diver and runs the Moscow Free Diving school.  We contacted Nat and asked her to help us in training in a new and controversial free diving method called (FRC) Functional Residual Capacity or an exhale dive.  

Natalia Avseenko Wold Record Holding Free Diver and trainer

 In free diving you dive without the aid of SCUBA.  A line is set in the water and depending on the disciple (no weigh, variable weight, no limits or with fins or without) you go down as far as you can grab a tag that tells your depth and return to the surface all with just the air in your lungs.  Now most free divers do special training to learn to fill their lungs as much as they can like tanks of air to give them more reserve so they can stay down longer.  Makes sense.  Pack as much air are you can for your trip for you know if you run out you could drown.  The sport has a bad reputation sadly because some have pushed it too far with improper training.  Done correctly with proper training, the sport is   safe and those who are properly trained do an amazing job of teaching sound principles and keeping their students safer.  One of the problem that free divers have to deal with is getting down undrwater.  Sounds funny but when you take in a lot of air in your lungs, they act like balloons making it tougher to get down because of the extra air.  So a free diver decided to try and go down on under inflated lungs thus making it easier to get down but tougher to get up.  Think about when you tried to get to the bottom of the pool.  If you blew out your air, you sink.  Of course, you get down faster but it is much harder physically and especially psychologically to deal with the lack of air.

So this method which is much more risky as blackouts can come much more easily.  Why?  Simply you are working on a lot less air and your margin of error is smaller. When you push yourself too beyond you limits blackouts can be deadly.  So what does this have to do with my escape?  Well in the way I am chained across my body and with the chains being pulled tightly and padlocks each time my chest and lungs are restricted in fully inflating.  So I knew in doing this escape it is really hard to do the normal expansion that most free diver so in there breathe up routines.  I also have to train for the worst as in all escape things can happen and often do.  I have to be ready for a failure in picking or a cuff jamming or missing my landing and falling hard or in a difficult position.  So I have practiced what are called negatives where I blow out my air and just sit there and try and hold on underwater.  It comes down to dealing with contractions as that is what your body does when it wants air and you don't breathe.  It is the early warning system of survival.  As a trained free diver you know when to listen and when those signals are false.  But when it comes to being all those restraints and needing to get out  it wasn't going to be a pleasant little breath hold.  It becomes a game of mind over matter.  So when you do a negative and are out you simply pick your head up.  But when you chose to do FRC or an exhale dive with more restraint than Houdini had on I decided to ask for help.

Nat did a few Skype sessions with me to work on my breathing and think about visualizations and tables that would help me prepare for such an extreme attempt.  She is so cool and was excited for me as she is not stranger to danger.  She has done some really extreme dives in very freezing cold water and is about to embark on one of the most extreme tests in free diving, cave free diving.  Where if you make a mistake there is not going back.  She will literally be trying to squeeze into very tight spaces underwater in very cold and dark water and a misjudgement could be fatal. 

So after careful planning and training with Nat,  I was ready to try and make history. I stood on the deck which was so hot that the chains that Bill laid out for inspection had to be dunked in the pool before he could put them on me.  A volunteer did a great job securing the chains tightly ( magicians don't mess around).  And so after a short breathe up not like before where you do full inhalations, I more simplified my breathing.  Trying to go slowly and smoothly in and out.  Not full but slow and natural trying to get to a certain place.  A place where I could slow down my heart rate and block everyone out and just relax.  Finally I breathed in a final time normally and as I began make my leap you could hear me exhale loudly.  I hit the bottom of the pool and heard nothing.  Just the swish of the water as the bubbles exploded to the surface.  When ever I jump in with all those restraints I still freak out a bit honestly.  But I have begun to enjoy my leaps much more lately.  And this one though it was potentially stressful for I was performing in front of the best of the magical world, I felt different.  Yes the excitement made this tough as adrenaline is not what you coarsing through your veins when you are trying to relax and slow things down but felt different.  And maybe for the first time in my life different felt really cool.

Here is the short video of my Underwater Leap of Faith at the 84th IBM convention.  Ripley's Believe It of Not will be recognizing the escape in an upcoming Believe IT or Not feature and in their book.

Short Version Underwater View

Full Escape includng talk up

  

Doing it Different (Part 1)

Alexanderia the Great aka escape artist Donna Purnell 

David Copperfield

 I was not trained in the classical way.  I didn't start out doing card tricks or learn at home magic kits.  How did I start out? I watched TV.  I simply watched and tried to duplicate what I saw.  Houdini, Henning, Copperfield, The Pendragons, Burton, Blaine & Angel.  I watched what they did and I wanted to do it.  The more challenging or dangerous the better.  I am self taught.  I love to challenge myself.  Most of the escapes I tried when I was younger, it was simply mind over matter.  If I didn't mind, it didn't matter, meaning I would go through the pain to escape.  But now the escapes are much more challenging and dangerous. I needed to add skills. But who could help me and how could I do it? When I got serious about maybe showing the world what I could do, I looked to the pros.

Doug Henni

Steve Baker

  I have talked with some legends Steve Baker and Norm Bigelow.  Steve who professionally was know as Mr Escape, talked with me in 2004.  I was deciding on whether to perform for the first Worldwide Escape Artist Relay (WEAR) in 2005.  I was concerned as to whether I was good enough and prepared enough to perform publicly. He shared with me some breath holding tips and some personal experience in his many underwater escapes.  He explained to me the dangers of underwater escapes and why I needed to overly prepare as things can and will go wrong.  He shared with me some of the problems he encountered and cautioned me in not "jumping into" something so potentially deadly without proper training and preparation.

Norm Bigelow

Norm Bigelow, I contacted a few years later when again I was thinking about doing WEAR in 2009 of which I did perform.  He has been simply amazing in all his support and guidance.  He did some amazing escapes in his day.  He is still developing new ideas and always challenging the escape world to move ahead.  He tirelessly continues to write on escape topics and is a great teacher.  Both of these legends were so wonderful to give of their time and advice to a novice.  I will be forever grateful to both.

Morgan the Escapist & Alexanderia the Great

I also called on Morgan the Escapist, early in my decision making process.  In 2004, I first called her to talk with one of the few woman in the world who called herself an escape artist.  I wanted a women's perspective on the escape world.  She was wonderful and took the time to view some escape video of me.  She gave me tips and encouraged me to perform.  We have stayed in contact and it was great to see her perform in her home state of New Jersey.  She is great.

Charlotte Pendragon on NBC Houdini Secrets Special 1995

Seeing Charlotte Pendragon of the Pendragons perform an escape in 1995 on an NBC Houdini special, really opened my eyes to what women could do. I have spoken with Charlotte via Facebook and it was great to speak to someone who really influenced me.  She showed me that women can take center stage in escapes.

The pioneer in female escape artists was Dorothy Dietrich.  She was the first women I remember seeing do escapes.  She was a magician as well and was famous for the being the only women to have successfully performed the dreaded bullet catch.  I remember first seeing Dorothy on an HBO special.  She did an aerial strait jacket escape upside down from a burning rope.  Tony Curtis the actor who played Houdini in the 1953 bio picture of Houdini was the master of ceremonies.  Hearing Tony, who played the immortal Houdini, it was like having Harry himself speak.  It gave her escape so much more impact.  Dorothy & I struck up a friendship on Facebook and she invited me as her guest to see her perform at the Houdini exhibit at the Jewish Museum in New York City.  We met both Dick Brooks and Dorothy at their hotel in New York and we drove over together to the event.  

Dorothy Dietrich & Alexanderia the Great

She gave me some wonderful memorabilia of hers that I cherish.  We did lunch together before the event and Bill shot video of her strait jacket escape.  He posted it to Youtube for her after the event.  It was a great night as we also met Ken Silverman who wrote an amazing autobiography of Harry Houdini!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss.  The picture above is a vid clip of the video my husband did at the event.  Dorothy has it is her picture on Facebook.  And the picture here is of her and I that night.

Alexanderia the Great & the
Underwater Leap of Faith

Since I have began this journey into becoming an escape artist, I have been fortunate to meet some great professionals who have offer some great advice.  Trying to go beyond Houdini has forced me to go way beyond my comfort zone.  This is why when I decided to try and not simply duplicate what has been done before but take it to the next level, I could not just do the tried and true methods of before as they would not do.  I had to take another path, as I didn't start with the simple stuff like everyone else.  I went right for it in doing escape's most dangerous act, underwater escapes.  In trying to not copy but go further, I have had to get stronger, and push my limits.  When I found my limits and it was not enough, I had to push past them.  How?  By redefining my limits. I had to overcome my obstacles.

A little secret about my past.  I wanted to be a lifeguard like all high school kids.  It looked like a great job that allowed you to go to work at the beach in a swimsuit and get a tan.  Now that is a great summer job.  I had one small problem.  Though I loved the water and was a strong swimmer, I could not hold my breath.  I was horrible at it.  When it came time to take the test, I could do all the moves except one.  Diving to the bottom of the pool and picking up the instructor was a problem.  Because of my limited ability in holding my breath, I could not manage to get him from the pool bottom.  Though I told him and everyone else that it was the case of bronchitis that stopped me from passing, it was really a fear of holding my breath and diving.

So how is it that I am now able to be shackled, chained, padlocked and weighed down with more restraints  than even Houdini did in his underwater escapes?  How can I now jump willingly into 12.5 foot deep pools having to hold my breath long enough to escape all of these restraints?  It requires me to train in a different way.  In my next blog, I will explain some of my different methods for going beyond what has been done before.

Alexanderia the Great A Modern Day Houdini lifting weights underwater
as part of her extreme training for her death defying escapes

http://www.alexanderiathegreat.com

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Next time part 2 of a different way to train.

       

Going Beyond Houdini Slideshow

Hey all,
Having amazing summer weather here in New England in March.  Go figure. Things are heating up ofr shows too.  Did a show at a the Griffin Museum on Sunday for an amazing photographer Meg Birnbaum.  I am one of her subjects in her newest exhibit person/persona.  It is getting rave reviews and it was some much fun to do a talk and perform at the Griffin Museum. My agent MacKay Entertainment is hard at work doing bookings for me this summer.  I am also really excited to be performing in Orlando in August right outside of Disney World at Mer-Palooza The Mermaid Event of the year.  I will be doing a death defying underwater escape and am in training now to hopefully be successful.  More about that one in one of my next postings.

Here is a short slideshow of some of my escapes. You get to see pics of my Underwater Leap of Faith (where I am restrained in more than twice what Houdini was in his leaps).  I also show pics of my Extreme Strait Jacket (where I set a world record getting out of a regulation strait jacket secured with 50 feet of 1/4 inch chain and 10 padlocks in 2 mins 37 secs on national tv). You see pics of an escape I call Airless (chained up with tons of chain wrapping my arms around my body like a strait jacket but all in steel chains and 9 padlocksbut the kicker is my head is wrapped in plastic wrap so I cannot breathe.  Kind of an escape or suffocate kinda thing.  Very intense.)  Last but certainly not least I show my combo Milk Can/Water Torture Cell that I call The Underwater Cell (UC) done in bullet proof  tank in full view -no curtain).  Check it out and leave a comment.
Alex

Going Beyond Houdini Slideshow: Alexanderia’s trip from New York City, New York, United States to 3 cities Boston, Cambridge and Salem was created by TripAdvisor. See another United States slideshow. Create a free slideshow with music from your travel photos.