Juniors cast spells with two awards
KHAYELITSHA can now proudly lay claim to not one but two junior magic champions as Anele Dyasi and Dion Wabanie won the 2018 Western Cape Junior Magician Championships at Bergvliet High School at the weekend.
Competing with seven of their peers, Dyasi, 20, was crowned the junior close-up while Wabanie, 20, won the stage magician award.
In addition to their Western Cape junior magician titles and awards, the young champions were each awarded a much-coveted performance slot at the prestigious Cape Town Magic Club, which opens the seventh season of its Monday night magic series at the Artscape Theatre on October 1. “I am so very excited,” Dyasi said. Wabanie said: “I am so honoured and encourage other teen magicians to enter too. “It is amazing.” This year’s supreme up-and-coming magic trophy, which recognises the most promising contestant, was awarded to Sahil Samlal, 15.
The teenager from Century City will soon be representing South Africa on a magical tour of Las Vegas and New York.
The people’s choice award, the coveted 2018 street magician of the year, went to 13-year-old Mbalentle Mahlasela from Khayelitsha.
Each year a panel of judges from across a multitude of entertainment fields adjudicate this ultimate teenage battle of the wands.
Stuart Taylor, a renowned South African comedian, an award-winning magician and a graduate of the College of Magic, said: “What an amazing show these young kids put on for us.
“The standard of magic performances was really high.
“My advice to aspiring contestants is to experiment with their acts, be true to who they are and try many things – you never know what will impress future judges.”