Taylor Swift's Flaming Rose act created by Lake Tahoe magician

By now you may have seen or heard about pop star Taylor Swift's ground breaking performance at the American Music Awards (AMAs) on November 23. During the production of her hit, Blank Space, Swift is carrying a rose that is set on fire by a petal she pulls off. Her hand appears to catch on fire as well.

And it's all because of Alex Ramon, the 29-year-old part time South Lake Tahoe resident and star of Illusion Fusion during its two year local run.

It has the beginnings as any true Hollywood legend. Alex is on tour with his new show, #NewMagic, and made a stop in North Hollywood. After the show a woman approached him and asked if he did consulting work. The woman, Melissa, told him that is was for a special event and asked if he could meet at her office.

Alex was intrigued and showed up. Melissa told him she was looking for a special effect involving a rose. She told him it was a secret project but gave him the gist of the effect she was looking for. When he agreed, Melissa said the event was for the biggest pop star in the world, Taylor Swift.

He pitched ideas and came up with the flaming rose and hand performance. Taylor would take a petal from a rose and light it on fire, resulting in both her hand and the rose burning.

Melissa then tells Alex "the show is in two-and-a-half weeks, can you make it happen?" Alex told South Tahoe Now that he replied like any good magician would, "Absolutely!"

He reached out to Tony Clark, the producer of his Lake Tahoe show, and asked for his collaboration because magicians are used to fire, pop stars are not. They needed to create an ultra-safe act since Swift had never used fire in this way before.

Over the next 17 days, while keeping the act a secret, there were a lot of phone calls between producers, pyrotechnic specialists, the fire marshal and show directors. Safety was a big issue for Alex as he needed to make sure Swift was comfortable holding fire.

Six days before the AMAs Alex started rehearsing with Taylor Swift.

We drilled it over and over. “Wow, Taylor Swift is very talented," Alex said. "She was fearless. You have to admire her rehearsing. She absorbed all of the information and the choreography."

"It was great to work with someone of her caliber," he said. "I was very impressed with how she worked."

Since Alex was part of the show he had a full access pass. He saw pop star after pop star, celebrities and superstars. "One minute I'm passing JLo and the next minute I'm having lunch next to Sam Smith."

Alex said it was a blast to be part of the AMAs. He was the last person to talk to Swift before she hit the stage. "I told her 'you're holding fire, do it with intention."

As soon as Swift finished her performance with Alex's burning rose, the media outlets were lit up with comments on how great it was. From Time Magazine and Huffington Post to the popular Buzz Feed, all were talking about Swift's fire show.

Alex says he is looking forward to doing something like this again. "If they want to revisit the effect hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to work with her again," he said. Swift will be using the flaming rose during her world tour next year.

Since leaving the Horizon show, Alex has been touring the west with his #NewMagic. He is now planning the Northwest portion of the tour, after which he'll head back to Southern California.

Alex still uses his crew from South Lake Tahoe and flies them to shows. He'll be heading back to the South Shore this week to catch up with friends.

"If the opportunity occurs to do shows back in Tahoe I'd love to do them," Alex said. "I love Tahoe and am honored the community accepted me. They turned the show into an attraction."

Prior to Illusion Fusion, Alex toured the states in a starring role as “Zingmaster” for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® The Greatest Show On Earth® Zing Zang Zoom where he was responsible for sensational and grand illusions as well as act introductions. His previous experience involved touring the world entertaining audiences with Disney LIVE!® “Mickey’s Magic Show.”