Barring the occasional apocalypse, snow is rare in Houston.

It’s one of the reasons Deni Yang of the New York-based Gazillion Bubble Show can’t wait to show off his favorite trick when he comes to Jones Hall on Jan. 28. He finds a little girl in the audience, usually between 4 and 6, dressed in the prettiest princess gown he can spot. Once she is brought on stage, Yang has her close her eyes and tells her a story about another little girl who had never seen snow before. When she opens her eyes, the stage is covered with a small blizzard of bubbles — many of them filled with white smoke — that resembles frosted Christmas ornaments.

“It’s like being inside a snow globe,” says Yang. “It gets them every time.”

The Yang family has been running the Gazillion Bubble Show for 15 years. Formerly, the Yangs were jugglers and martial artists, but Deni changed their trajectory when he was just 4 years old. His parents wanted to foster a performance spirit in their son, so they gave him a table filled with bubble solution and a light with which he could play and perfect tricks. The family quickly realized that while there were thousands of jugglers and martial artists, there were no bubble magicians, and from there, they built a world-touring phenomenon. Both his parents, his uncle and his sister perform variations of the show across the globe.

“It’s always hard to explain the show,” says Yang. “You say bubbles, and people think of tiny bubbles. They don’t know everything you can do with them. It’s more like a rock concert with lasers and story segments.”

Unlike other magicians, Yang is quick to share everything about his work with audiences. Not only does he do regular science events, he’s quite open about how he makes the bubbles work better than your average store-bought solutions.

“Distilled water is the key,” he says. “You don’t want fluoride or minerals in the solution. I also have to be aware of the moisture in the air because it changes the amount of glycerin needed to make the bubbles. People always say to me ‘wow, your bubbles don’t pop!’ I know. I’ve been perfecting this for years.”

The exacting formulas allow him to do things with bubbles that most people can’t even imagine. One of his signature tricks is blowing a giant bubble filled with white fog that he sends hurling over the audience’s head. As you might expect, Yang has some impressive lung power. Once the bubble is floating through the air, he then tries to pop it by blowing smoke rings at it from a pipe.

“It doesn’t always work,” he says. “But when it does, people act like you just scored a touchdown.”

But in the end, it’s the Gazillion Bubble Show, and Yang delivers that as well. The entire venue becomes filled with bubbles of all shapes and sizes, with lights bouncing off a million reflective surfaces. It turns the space into a swirling galaxy or a dazzling ocean, depending on how you look at things, and the air currents themselves become visible thanks to the swirling bubbles. What the show lacks in plot, it makes up for in wonder.

“I always say this is a great way to get kids introduced to theater,” says Yang. “A play can be two hours of talking, and a lot of kids will be bored. This is a spectacle, and we tell little stories. My favorite parts are when the kids come on stage. I am pretty good at picking the ones who want to be there. Some parents try to force it, and those are usually more nervous. The ones who stand up on their chairs and say 'pick me,' they’re ready to go. The audience picks up on it and it’s hilarious. Kid are random. Those crazy moments make an impact.”

Jef Rouner is a Houston-based writer.