“Focus on the center of my hand” was the command that placed 30 UA students into a hypnotic trance from Michael C. Anthony. This event every year has students at the edge of their seats ready for one word: volunteer. Students rushed onto the stage to be a part of the act. From jumping the stairs on the side, to leaping on stage and just hoping you made it out of the stampede with a stop on stage.

To narrow down the large amount of students, he puts through three different tests. The first test eliminated several people, the students had their eyes closed. The volunteers held a dictionary in their left hand, which gets gradually heavier with his command while their right hand rose in the air. By the time this test was done some students had their arms at a perfect vertical 180 degrees.

After sending down people from the first test back to their seats, Anthony started the second test. Press your hands together and the more you try pull them apart, the harder it becomes to separate them.

The final test eliminated the large group down to 30 students. Anthony placed them in a relaxed state he let their heads slope downward and get heavy. In no time the students were asleep on stage. This is where the true entertainment began.

After commanding the students to awake Anthony had them follow commands from being at a five-star resort to imaging him naked. This show had events that had the audience watching in amazement and excitement on the edge of their seats. Michael C. Anthony had everyone in the palms of his hands with the unforgettable memories that night.

Anthony borrowed a normal belt from one of the student volunteers on stage. To the audience it was a simple belt but, to the volunteers on his command, it was a snake. In fear and unadulterated terror, the 30 volunteers evacuated their seats and found safety behind the curtains and on the sides of the stage.

In a later act, Anthony had the male students sit in chairs and give birth while the women supported them.

“I placed a girl in a chokehold, bit into another girl’s shirt while giving birth to my baby boy,” Dontez James said.

Anthony ended the trance and told the men to be careful when they go back to their original spots. They might be feeling tender down there for some reason. They stretched it out in time to get ready for the dance competition. Lets just say we have some talented dancers that showed everyone what they were made of in the “So You Think That You Can Dance 2014 Competition” trance.

Remember the old saying for stage fright? Picture everyone in the audience in their underwear or naked. The volunteers didn’t have to picture anyone naked because Anthony did it for them.

For his final performance he made them think he tried to hypnotize them for two hours and did not succeed. Here’s the catch: when he dismissed the 30 students, the students stormed off the stage, the second their feet touched the ground floor, they remembered everything. They stood in shock and disbelief.

Adam Woltermann described the event as,“Incredible, amazing and different.”

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Ashlee Fields

Student is hypnotized on stage

If you missed Anthony this year there is always next fall semester, where he will need more students for his performance.