It’s great to be a student of life. Las Vegas magician, fire-breather, producer and host Stacey Stardust sure is.

“I love learning, I love playing and I love just feeling like a kid,” she says.

Stardust started developing her unique set of trades at age 25. First, it was professional hula hooping. Then, while living in New York City, she picked up juggling and partner acrobatics.

“When I moved to Vegas, there was no community here so I created a circus meetup once a week,” she says. “I taught people how to hula hoop, how to juggle and how to do partner acrobatics. I just fell in love with everything.”

After a roller-skating accident left her with a broken leg, Stardust turned her attention to magic. The pandemic allowed her to accelerate her training and Stardust was able to emerge as a full-time magician by the time Las Vegas opened back up. Some years after that, she started swallowing fire.

For her next trick, Stardust has become ringleader of her own Secret Circus, a variety show featuring local performers experimenting with their best and most bizarre. The next performance is December 3 at the Jackpot Bar & Grill.

I love the idea of the community passing on the knowledge of their trade with you, and you also paying it forward.

I love playing with other people. That’s why I cultivated Secret Circus. I wasn’t able to commit all that time every week, bringing all my props, teaching people, my schedule just got so crazy. Secret Circus was the next step of bringing people together who wanted to try out stage and give them an opportunity to do that once a month.

Before I got really into magic, when I was just dabbling, I went out to Fremont Street with my cast on my leg. I was hula hooping with one leg—I got more tips that way—and somebody found me there. They started following me on social media, and they found out I was a magician. But if he didn’t find me on the street and give me an opportunity to be on the stage, I don’t know if I would have pushed myself that hard. He saw something in me. So I’ll do the same thing. I’ll see people who are new on Fremont Street and be like, “You’re amazing. Come to my show.”

There isn’t anything quite like Secret Circus. Why hasn’t this happened until now?

It’s a labor of love. I’m not making a lot of money doing it, honestly, and the amount of hours I spend advertising, marketing, putting the whole cast together … People don’t see the behind the scenes of it. It’s the most work I’ve ever done on anything. I’m getting to practice myself as an artist, and I’m getting my name out there in the community. I make more money doing one hour of close-up magic than I do producing a whole month’s show. Nobody wants to work that hard just for passion. I’m willing to put in the work because I have that much passion.

Why was keeping Las Vegas circus acts the focus of your show important?

Because I love community. I moved to Vegas, and ... everybody was very cliquey, and I hated that. I want community because ... I’m involved in a lot of communities, and we’re all artists, we’re all locals. Even myself, I love to host, I love to have people over to my house. I love to nurture. I love to feed people. It’s just who I am. This gives me opportunities to do that on a big scale.

What sort of acts do you look for when you’re curating a show? Are you purposely eyeing what’s weird or shocking?

I personally love that kind of stuff. Also, there’s not a lot of venues that will accept all acts. For some people, it has to be conservative because of the venue, or they don’t want sideshow because it’s going to turn people away. I love it being so raw. Taking away what people can do takes away creativity as an artist. Sometimes artists will ask me, “Is there a theme? Is there anything you prefer?” It’s artist’s preference. If you want to do weird sh*t, go for it. I try to have as much variety as possible. I’d love everybody to get a chance to showcase stuff that you would never really think you would see on a stage.

You have another show called Circus Spectacular at Ahern Hotel. How is that different from Secret Circus?

So, Secret Circus is in a dive bar; it’s really fun. But [Circus Spectacular] is in a beautiful cabaret setting with a view of the Strip, with real curtains and real theater lighting. This is a show-show. This one has fire, and this one is the same cast every time. This is my professional show. Secret Circus was kind of my playground showcase to try out new stuff, to be a little wild, sexy. This is a show I audition people for. The next one is all female, and I think I’m going to keep it that way. There’s not a lot of all-female shows in Vegas. This is my step towards building my dream show.

Why aren’t there many female magicians?

I think representation is a part of it. Even with Disney princesses, there were no Asian or Black Disney princesses that many years ago. As a little girl, you want to see a representation of yourself. Like, I can’t be a f**king princess? What? I think it’s similar to magic. Usually females get more respect and get further along in society if they’re pretty and they focus on their looks. Males get a lot further along in society if they focus on money and charisma. It’s a combination of lack of representation and our culture. It’s also a more introverted skill to get into. When I broke my leg, I was sitting here with a deck of cards for hours. I didn’t get into it for the longest time because I’m this social butterfly. But then I was stuck at home and then the pandemic happened and I was forced to be even further stuck at home.

In the long run, could you see yourself traveling with these shows? Or would you keep them in Vegas?

I would definitely like traveling. I plan on doing a tour next summer. People ask me “Is it your dream to have a show on the Strip?” No, I do not want the same show every single night. I love variety. I love changing things up.

STACEY STARDUST’S CIRCUS SPECTACULAR November 19, 8:30 p.m., $25. Ahern Hotel, eventbrite.com.

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