Jinger Leigh

The Jinger Leigh Years

Jinger began taking dance lessons when she was four, and by age fifteen she was working as a professional dancer. She worked as a dance instructor while performing for companies like Disney, Fuji Television and in Southern California dinner theaters. Ms. Leigh has been involved with magic since 1991.

The Kalin & Jinger Years

At a resort in Guam she met Mark Kalin, and was instantly impressed by his magic and his rapport with the audience. As they began working together, Jinger became an integral part of the show. From the start, I realized that those standard “magician and assistant” roles just didn’t fit us, Mark explains. We had to find a special combination that made the most of our performances and created our own sort of magic. Their signature illusions, the Fire Spiker, Circle of Fire, and their amazing Sawing in Half illusion combined with a unique performing style quickly earned them a reputation among audiences and professional magicians alike.

In the mid 90s, they began creating their own shows. “Before Your Very Eyes,” “Carnival of Wonders,” and “Illusionarium,” garnered accolades throughout the entertainment industry and set records at showrooms across the United States. Working with comedy magicians Jeff Hobson and Mark Kornhhauser, these performances were more than critical successes; they were experiments in magic that allowed Kalin and Jinger to explore different presentations and utilize their combined skills. Carnival of Wonders, for example, packed all the fun of a traveling carnival into an evening of entertainment, hinting at dark mysteries and deeper wonders that surround us in our everyday life. It was a surprising vision for a magic show, incorporating dance and character to create an emotional bond with the audience. When their show came to Reno, Nevada, it was voted the city’s best production, and audiences returned again and again. In the summer of 2008, Kalin & Jinger returned to Atlantic City with their newest production, “Real Magic”.

Whether appearing on network television, at the most exclusive, high-powered corporate functions, or within the framework of their own theatrical stage productions, Mark Kalin & Jinger Leigh are respected around the world as powerful performers and creative, trend-setting producers.

Mark Kalin

The Mark Kalin Years

Mark wanted to be a puppeteer until one day, at age 9, when he looked on a shelf at the library and found a book on magic. ?I enjoyed the puppets, but the idea of magic really intrigued me. I tried to do a few tricks and found out it was something that I could master?. Ten years later, as a young man, he was recognized as one of the top magicians in the world. Kalin performed around the globe, bringing his innovative routines to theaters, casinos and clubs.

That was when he met a performer named Jinger Leigh. Jinger had taken dance lessons when she was four, and by age fifteen she was working as a professional dancer. She worked for companies like Disney, Fuji Television and in Southern California dinner theaters. At a resort in Guam she met Mark Kalin, and was instantly impressed by his magic and his rapport with the audience.

The Kalin & Jinger Years

As they began working together, Jinger became an integral part of the show?. ?From the start, I realized that those standard ?magician?and?assistant? roles just didn?t fit us,? Mark explains.? ?We had to find a special combination that made the most of our performances and created our own sort of magic.? Their signature illusions?the Fire Spiker, Circle of Fire, and their amazing Sawing in Half illusion?combined with a unique performing style quickly earned them a reputation among audiences and professional magicians alike.
In the 90s, they began creating their own shows. ?Before Your Very Eyes,? ?Carnival of Wonders,? and ?Illusionarium,? garnered accolades throughout the entertainment industry and set records at showrooms across the United States. Working with comedy magicians Jeff Hobson and Mark Kornhhauser, these performances were more than critical successes; they were experiments in magic that allowed Kalin and Jinger to explore different presentations and utilize their combined skills. ?Carnival of Wonders,? for example, packed all the fun of a traveling carnival into an evening of entertainment, hinting at dark mysteries and deeper wonders that surround us in our everyday life. It was a surprising vision for a magic show, incorporating dance and character to create an emotional bond with the audience. When their show came to Reno, Nevada, it was voted the city?s best production, and audiences returned again and again. In the summer of 2008, Kalin & Jinger returned to Atlantic City with their newest production, ?Real Magic?.

Whether appearing on network television, at the most exclusive, high-powered corporate functions, or within the framework of their own?theatrical?stage productions, Mark Kalin & Jinger Leigh are respected around the world as powerful performers and creative, trend-setting producers.

Peggy Hickey

Award-winning choreographer Peggy Hickey continues her long and fruitful association with Mark and Jinger Kalin with this season?s work on ?Carnival of Wonders”.

Hickey’s previous work includes contributions to opera, theater, film, television, and video. ?Her contemporary style is demonstrated by her MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography for “The New?Pollution” by Grammy Award-winner Beck. Her television and film credits include the box-office hit “The Brady Bunch Movie” as well as?the new ?90210? series on the CW Television Network; ?Samantha Who? and “General Hospital” for ABC; and ?Passions? and ?Days of our Lives? on NBC.

Hickey has worked with the Los Angeles Opera for more than ten years choreographing many of their most memorable productions including? “Pagliacci” (with director Franco Zeffirelli), “Carmen” (with Placido? Domingo), and “Don Giovanni” (with Thomas Allen). Additionally, Hickey?has worked for opera companies around the world including Lyric Opera?of Chicago, Seattle Opera, the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and the Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland.

Hickey’s numerous theater credits include “My Fair Lady” and ?Most Happy Fella? at Lincoln Center, “Gigi”,? “Brigadoon“, “South Pacific“, “The King and I“, and “On the Twentieth? Century“, which won her the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for? Outstanding Choreography at the renowned Goodspeed Opera House.

Jim Steinmeyer

From 1981 to 1987, Steinmeyer was the magic designer for Doug Henning He invented impossibilities in four Henning television specials, six touring shows, and numerous television and Las Vegas appearances. He served as a consultant for?Siegfried?and Roy, David Copperfield, and Lance Burton. For one of Copperfield’s television specials, Jim proposed the idea and “secret” by which the Statue of Liberty could “disappear”, making headlines with the mystery.

In 1994, his illusions were featured in the Walt Disney Company’s “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway. This earned Steinmeyer a Drama Desk Nomination. In 1991, he was awarded the Creative Fellowship by the Academy of Magical Arts, recognizing his continuing inventions. The Fellowship Awards are magic’s “Oscars” and constitute a lifetime achievement in the art. At 32, Steinmeyer was the youngest person ever to win a Fellowship.

Since 1987, Steinmeyer has worked as a concept designer and consultant for Walt Disney Imagineering, the creative development division of the Walt Disney Company. In this capacity, he was responsible for overall concepts as well as show outlines and scripts

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Joanie Spina

For eleven years Joanie Spina was an integral Co-Director, Choreographer, and Artistic Consultant for one of the most successful entertainers of our time, David Copperfield.

Spina worked together with Copperfield developing and performing new material for ten annual CBS television specials (1985-1995) as well as ten years of the touring stage production of “The Magic of David Copperfield”. And In 1997, Spina’s creative work could be seen in Copperfield’s Broadway production of “Dreams and Nightmares” (breaking box office records and becoming the highest-grossing show in Broadway history.)

Critics worldwide note that the results of her collaboration with the world’s most respected conjurer raised the stature of magic to new heights in the eyes of the public and ensured the viability of the art form into the 21st century.

Originally trained in legitimate theater, Spina’s style is undoubtedly New York-based. She has joined the creative team as Director and Artistic Consultant, bringing with her a diverse background in theater, dance, and magic.