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World's first womens' magic festival to be held in Kerala

May 26, 2010 15:36 IST

The worlds' first womens' magic festival--Maya 2010--will be held in Thiruvananthapuram on 30 May. Noted women magicians from across the world will participate in the festival .This was announced by magician Gopinath Muthukad, founder of the Magic academy which will organize the fest.

World renowned women magicians like Luna Shimada and Losander from the United states are also participating in the festival, Muthukad said. The festival will be inaugurated by noted poet and environmentalist Sugathakumari and will be presided over by Usha Titus, secretary, state woman and social welfare department.

Muthukad said that Maya 2010 will showcase the performance of women magicians and would prove that women have learned the technique of magic themselves and perfected and have risen into professional magicians rather than being assistants in stages of male performers. There would be exclusive competitions for participants and lecture classes by leading women magicians like Luna and Losander.

The innovative item is Kitchen Magic which is a new section for the participants to contest, Muthukad said. He added that women contestants would dress in the traditional local attire and use vegetables and kitchen utensils to perform magic. A woman will be jury to the contest.

As a curtain-raiser to the event, three magic girls would ride motorcycles blindfolded from the state secretariat to Gandhi Park. During the blindfold act, women magicians Ammu from Kerala, Indushree from Karnataka and Pearl Bhumgara from Maharashtra would herald equal rights, equal opportunities, progress for all, the theme of this year's International Women's Day, the magician said.

The state health minister P K Sreemathy would inaugurate the closing ceremony and state sports and youth affairs minister M Vijayakumar would distribute prizes to the winners.

Arun Lakshman in Thiruvananthapuram