Alan Millar, The Human Knot

When comedy contortionist Alan Millar, otherwise known as “ALAKAZAM: The Human Knot,” dislocated both of his shoulders–intentionally–and flung a rod over the back side of his body with both his hands still entirely attached to the rod, the crowd did was stunned and did not know how to react. Some students yelled and clapped, flabbergasted. Some students stood up, petrified. And some students cringed toward their neighbors. But all were fascinated and intrigued by this novel display of body contortion.

On Sunday night of Academy Life Day Weekend, students and faculty of Phillips Exeter Academy experienced the performance of “The Human Knot.” For an hour from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., the laughs, claps and whimpers did not stop in the Assembly Hall.

“It was a gross and exciting performance that had me unable to take my eyes away even at the disturbing moments,” senior James Foye said. “It was incredibly entertaining.”

When Assistant Director of Student Activities Kelly McGahie planned the event, she hoped students would have experiences watching the show similar to the one Foye described.

“[I hoped] that [the students] would forget they have a lot of homework to do, and that they would laugh, and that they would be amazed, and when they were done, that they would be significantly less stressed out,” she said.

For Foye and many other students, this was exactly the case. “It gave me some time to step out of the school work or academics on Academy Life Weekend and have a good time,” he said.

Upper Connor Singh agreed with Foye, adding that watching the show with his friends further helped him temporarily forget the academic rigors of the Academy.

“It helped me forget about schoolwork,” he said. “Even though it was for a short time, it was really entertaining and I could enjoy it with friends.”

Like McGahie, Millar hoped that the crowd—faculty and students alike—would enjoy the show and have some fun. He included that he loved seeing the reactions of the students during his acts; those are what make his show special.

“I always enjoy the audience the most,” he said. “The show is always the same, so the audience is what makes each performance different.”

This incredible daredevil performance that the Exeter community experienced started years ago when Millar discovered his talent of body contortion. Since then, after years of training, Millar has been recognized by many competitions, including Australia’s Got Talent, as a runner-up in 2007, and Lenzburg Gauklerfest, also in 2007.

His path to success and fame has not been as simple as some may think, however. “The only difficulty in my job is other people’s perception about it,” he said. “I love my job and couldn’t ask for anything more, but people always think I must have some other job and this is my side hobby, but I have done this solely for 18 years now.”

This job of Millar has both excited and astounded numerous audiences. On the night of Sept. 27, the audience of Phillips Exeter Academy joined this ‘list.’

Upper Declan Saviano especially enjoyed the personal interactions Millar used to keep the audience intrigued. This personal interaction that Millar had with the students during the performance was a huge hit. Not only did Millar fascinate the crowd with his body contortions, but he also had the crowd laughing and sitting on the edge of their seats.

“I enjoyed the way he used the audience in his show, it felt more real that way,” Saviano said.

Prep Jack Stewart agreed with Saviano, praising the humor in Millar's performance.

“I really had a fantastic time,” he said. “I thought the human knot himself, Al, was very funny, very clever and very witty. I appreciated the performance.”

When ranked with other performances at Exeter, many Exonians, including upper Bliss Perry, regarded “The Human Knot” performance highly.

“I thought that ‘the Human Knot’ was definitely one of the more interesting performers I have seen during my time here at Exeter,” Perry said. “From the very beginning of the show, we audience members were astonished by his flexibility and his go-for-it, risk-taking attitude. Not to mention, he was also a funny, outgoing guy in general.”