Dai Andrews is not your typical performer. The first time I met him I knew he was different. There was an ambiance, a mystery, an intelligence level and a certain amount of intrigue.
Dai, like most college students, was captured by a wander-lust to travel around the world. While most students only dream about it, Dai did something about it.
"My original intention was to do a student backpacking tour around the world. In order to finance the trip, I decided to pick up odd jobs here and there. In the process of saving for this adventure, I took a job in a very small magic shop. To my surprise, after working there only three days, the shop closed down and moved to Disney World. My parting gift was a box full of magic tricks. "

What happened next would change Dai's life forever. He dove head first into all the magic "junk" he had inherited and soon found that he might not have to perform odd jobs after all. He could finance his trip as a street performer.
"Magic brought me into other things... fire eating, escape artistry and eventually into sword swallowing."
His first experience as a sword swallower happened in a club in Pennsylvania, Bube's Brewery. It was there that Dai had his first lesson. '1 was intrigued by what the human body could, achieve far beyond the ordinary. I have studied martial arts, philosophy and looked into strange mystical things like Easter Island and Stonehenge and to me it is simply incredible what can be achieved once you set your mind to it.

"My first performance was 'uncomfortable' for lack of a better word. There were a lot of horrid noises and a great amount of discomfort. It took me about two and a half years to develop any real degree of proficiency. It takes a lot of patience, but good things come to those who wait."
Now you have to be saying to your- self, what are the chances of being in this line of work without injury? The answer is: slim! Nevertheless, Dai has not experienced any substantial injury.
"The only real incident I can remember was in Barcelona, Spain. It was the equivalent of spring break and everyone was out in the streets. I was street performing and for ten days straight I did seven shows a day. I was swallowing three swords per show and managed to bruise myself internally to the point that I could not swallow solid food for a week. I simply over did it! Other than that, I have been pretty lucky."

But who could possibly be a role model for the kind of adventurous life that Dai has chosen. Why it's Ford Prefect from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
"His character's job is to travel the universe on someone else's nickel and drink and laugh and have a good time and just soak in as much as possible. His responsibilities are very few. He is my inspiration. I travel all over the world. I meet a lot of great people. I have a wonderful time and I love my job."
Campus audiences are very special groups because they are inquisitive and it is easy to get their attention. "I try to develop an amount of pathos within the audience because it becomes a much more effective demonstration when the audience is more emotionally involved. This is the major difference between watching what I do 'live' as opposed to seeing it on television. On TV Sword swallowing is much easier to dismiss as fake or it doesn't click in exactly what is happening. When it is right in front of you, it is a real thing.
" I get all kind of responses after the show. There are a few who have told me it was the most revolting thing they had ever seen while others were in awe and say it was the most incredible thing they had ever seen -it was hard for them to belief it was real. There are still those who come up and say 'It was a trick. You can't do that!' There is really nothing I can do about that. For some, their reality simply can't be bent that way. For people who are accustomed to seeing illusions, they do believe they are being tricked. But I do pass the swords out to the audience. I let them handle them so they know they are real."
For a lot of campuses, Dai Andrew's show is a piece of history. I t is directly related to Vaudeville and the days when the circuses traveled America under the Big Top.
"Variety used to include a very large section on magicians. In many of the European countries there has been a resurgence of Vaudevillian entertainment. That has even happened in the United States through shows and theaters like Ripley's Believe It or Not. You also see all kinds of specials on the Discovery channel. People are becoming more interested in seeing these kind of performances again because there are so many movies now that have special effects."
There are approximately fifty sword swallowers in the world -probably fifteen in North America. In the college market, he is the only recognized performer.
"Colleges comprise about 50% of my engagements, but I guess it's how you look at it. If I do a college show, I am only doing one performance.
Whereas, if I do a fair or festival, I will probably do four performances. The colleges are certainly a bigger production. There is more staging and props involved."

If you think Dai only does sword swallowing as his show, think again. What he does is a pretty wide variety of magic, which ends up with sword swallowing as a finale.
"I usually start out with some simple magic that might include slight of hand. I do some escape artistry. I do fire eating and a dozen or so other unique art forms. I have a lot of audience participation. By getting the students involved, they really recognize the art form. I never gross out my audiences. I am not going after shock value. I do a lot of fairs and festivals in addition to campuses. I would much rather entertain them than shock them. There is no blood and nobody gets hurt. There is a lot of comedy and everyone gets to laugh. I feel the audience is very receptive. Many people tell me they came not knowing what to expect and came away totally amazed."
While Dai does perform mostly in the United States now, he does have a friend whose family owns a circus in Europe and he hopes to be able to go out in the near future and spend some time traveling with them. Once the nomadic lifestyle gets in your blood it's hard to banish it.