Magic girl Jasz Vegas even catches flying bullets in her teeth

AS a burlesque beauty and much-admired magician, Jasz Vegas has a most-unusual double career.

However, along with the globetrotting concerts, TV appearances and fan adulation, she also has to dodge the odd bullet by the skin of her teeth literally!

Starring in BBC3’s Killer Magic series, the English lass is the only female up against four male magicians, and more than holds her own.

One of the magic tricks involves catching a flying bullet in your teeth, a feat that has killed 12 magicians just in recent years.

Fearless woman that she is, Jasz just grits her teeth, pardon the pun, and gets on with whatever magic the fans demand.

“Obviously, everything we do is in a controlled environment,” says the 25-year-old, from Kent. “We always practise tricks before we do them and, of course, say: ‘Don’t try this at home!’

“I would say that, if you are going to learn these things, make sure you do it in the presence of trained professionals.

“When I started all this, I was 12, after being given a magic kit by my parents. My dad had taken me to a joke shop when I was younger and I was really interested in the magic tricks.

“I used to perform magic for my family! It was very simple, kids’ magic then, making handkerchiefs disappear, putting metal rings on a piece of rope, that kind of thing.”

Jasz reckons today’s young generation are a lot more street-wise about this stuff, which means she has to try harder and do crazier things.

“I think youngsters today are more aware of magic tricks and how things work,” she admits. “A lot of people know how illusions work, and they know many shows use camera tricks. But ours doesn’t!

“We rely on old-style magic techniques. My big heroes are people like David Blaine and Simon Drake, who was on TV in the 1990s and did The Secret Cabaret.

“There are a lot of females involved in magic, but unfortunately not many of us have been in the commercial side of things until recently. But I do think that will change.

“More women are getting into magic, and I think it has just taken a while because when people like me were young, there were no female magicians prominent in the media.”

Jasz herself is certainly getting plenty of the spotlight, and has performed her magic and her burlesque shows across the world.

In fact, because it’s such an unusual combination, she’s even come up with a new word that will enter our dictionaries any minute now, magilesque!

She’s also, as she explains, worked her magic for a vast array of businesses.

“With Ikea and companies like that, I do things for their parties or corporate events,” she reveals.

“For example, when the internet company Google had their Christmas party, I went along to entertain the crowds with some close-up magic, in a London theatre.”

BBC, ITV, London Fashion Week, Hilton, Madame Tussaud’s, you name it, Miss Vegas has probably been the star of the show for some real giants and if it comes to swallowing needles and pins, munching on a tumbler, or biting the bullet, she ain’t one for running away.

“There isn’t anything so gruesome that I would give up on it, because I’m just not the type of girl who ever gives up!” she laughs.

So is it a completely different world, when she gets all glammed-up and does her extremely-popular burlesque shows, rather than the magic?

“Some people get very confused between burlesque and stripping!” she laughs. “Burlesque is more the art than anything like that.

“A girl won’t take her clothes off.

“It isn’t about flashing your flesh. With the magic combined, I came up with the word magilesque, so it really does what it says on the tin, a bit of burlesque and a bit of magic!

“Actually, I get a variety of people coming up to me and asking how they can get into magic, both men and women, of every description.

“I like to think I have my own style, which can’t be compared to others’.

“Besides, I don’t feel competitive with other magicians.

When a flower grows and blooms, it doesn’t look at the flower next to it. It just blooms!”

A quick glance at YouTube will soon reveal how today’s so-called social media has been a boon for performers like Jasz.

Fans get to see her tricks up close, they go on Twitter and Facebook to chat to her and tell each other about her.

Does that add pressure, or is it the best free advertising ever?

“I remember the days before all that,” she says, “and I think social media has helped greatly, to bring you to a wider audience.

“Basically, I just like to take a modern twist on old classics, like pulling rabbits out of hats. All magic, modern or old, stems from the same roots.

“But when young fans come on and ask you to do specific tricks, it gets interesting. One wanted me to swallow Lego bricks, so that’s what I did.

“They also like fire-breathing, so I do a fair bit of that, and as I like to be a bit outrageous, some of the things I do can be a bit dangerous.

“But I think if Sunday Post readers saw what I do, they’d love it and fancy trying it themselves.”

Learn much more about this unusual young woman at www.jaszvegas.co.uk/