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World Acro Society Nomination Process with Stacie Hansen- Circuspreneur Podcast Ep. 98
25 Plays3 months ago
#Acrobatics #Nominations #HallofFame #CircusArts #Acro
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On this episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto interviews World Acrobatics Society Secretary and Chairperson for the Gallery of Legends Hall of Fame Stacie Hansen. The World Acrobatics Society (WAS) is an exciting, growing world-wide organization whose members share a love of acrobatics. Their mission is to advance the education, communication and cooperation among all individuals and organizations interested in fostering the growth, development and safety of the various acrobatic disciplines along with preserving their histories. Shenea Stiletto and Stacie Hansen discuss the nomination process In the lead up to the upcoming Hall of Fame Class of 2025 announcement in April. Tune in to learn how you can nominate an Acrobatic Legend for 2026, and attend the Induction Ceremony happening in Las Vegas Sept. 2025.
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Transcript
Introduction to StageLink and Guests
00:00:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
This podcast is also available stage link.com, the groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts. Please support the podcast by liking, subscribing, commenting, and tagging the podcast.
00:00:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
It helps us to continue to bring the industry high level content.
Meet Stacey Hansen: Roles and Contributions
00:00:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'm your host, Shanae Stiletto. And my guest on today's Circuspreneur podcast is World Acrobatic Society Secretary and Chairperson for the Gallery of Legends Hall of Fame, Stacey Hansen.
00:00:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
Welcome to the podcast, Stacey.
00:00:31
Stacie Hansen
Thank you. appreciate it.
00:00:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you so much for being here. Yeah, it's a pleasure. And to let listeners know a little bit about Stacey. Stacey Hansen began serving in 2018 as chairperson of the Hall of Fame Gallery of Legends and in 2019 as their secretary. She is responsible for maintaining all WAZ records to date and for managing the organizational team and nominations process for the annual Hall of Fame banquet.
00:00:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
Stacey is a graduate of Western Michigan University. She was a competitive gymnast, coach, and judge in Michigan. Stacey is a champion of artistic gymnastics, having coached thousands of gymnasts over her 20-year career in Michigan and also Colorado, which included a directorship.
Stacey's Background in Gymnastics
00:01:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
at two high-profile gyms. She currently resides in Pomfret, Connecticut and is a director at Derry's Gymnastics Supply. Oh, we could go into gymnastics talk, I think, probably hours.
00:01:24
Stacie Hansen
yeah Yes, we probably could.
00:01:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
is like...
00:01:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
there is like
00:01:30
Stacie Hansen
I've been doing it a long time.
00:01:33
Circuspreneur Podcast
and sure we have, but we know so many of the same people and have so many of, you know, the same connections, and you know, in gymnastics. It's such a small world and a very, yeah, over generations, I think, you know, which would which is what I think makes gymnastics really, really special for my gymnastics listeners and audiences there because I speak about my acrobatic gymnastics career ah so often on the podcast.
00:01:44
Stacie Hansen
and
00:01:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then obviously the overlap between circus, which is another conversation that we have delve into a lot and obviously is what I love so much about WAS because it has, you know, it has everything.
00:02:01
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:02:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
It has my, you know, my, my, my kind of entry into circus.
00:02:08
Stacie Hansen
Yes.
00:02:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
and how I got there. And then it, you know, it celebrates both. So it is such a special organization.
Shanae's Hall of Fame Experience
00:02:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
i was so honored to be inducted into the World Acrobatics Society Hall of Fame. We were just discussing that right before the podcast, Stacey. I was inducted with my former acrobatic gymnastics partner, Arthur Davis. And, you know, we had some historic achievements of becoming the first world champions and two-time world champions and honorary Olympians in our sport, and then carrying that on to work in the circus now for these last you know, several years and had that, you know, honor of having that transitional period and then an organization that honors both honors the professional, ah you know, performance career and the former competitive career, which is, again, such a beautiful pairing.
00:02:50
Stacie Hansen
Yep.
00:02:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, I think very um common for our sports, respectively, in the kind of gymnastics realm.
00:02:55
Stacie Hansen
Yep.
00:03:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so, I had a fantastic conversation with Vice President Rich Kinney on the podcast last year. and That was just prior to the Hall of Fame, which the ceremony happens in Las Vegas every single year, i believe, ah remind me if I'm wrong, Stacey, in September.
00:03:20
Stacie Hansen
ye
Hall of Fame Ceremony Details
00:03:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yes.
00:03:21
Stacie Hansen
Yep, usually the first weekend in September September.
00:03:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
And
00:03:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay. And could could you remind listeners, again, Stacey, the location that the um they that the ceremony happens on the Strip?
00:03:34
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, we usually have it just off the strip in a hotel called the Tuscany Suites and Casinos. They have ah just a great campus where everybody can stay and congregate and have dinners together. And then there the rooms where we have the induction ceremony.
00:03:49
Stacie Hansen
And we can have meetings and in other rooms as well. We have a welcoming party. we It has everything. So it's worked out great for us. And I foresee us sticking around for a while.
00:04:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
it Yeah, well, it has been now how many years now that you have had the World Acrobatics Society.
00:04:04
Stacie Hansen
Yep.
00:04:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
it's it's been It's been quite some time since its inception. And for folks listening, anyone can attend the Hall of Fame ceremony, right?
00:04:11
Stacie Hansen
Oh, yeah.
00:04:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's it's open to the to the public, to the circus public, to the gymnastics public, to all of the the disciplines, which I want to go into in terms of education.
00:04:16
Stacie Hansen
Yes.
00:04:20
Stacie Hansen
Yes.
00:04:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
the disciplines and then the nomination process as well, that there was a deadline um just a few days ago um to nominate. But we discussed as well, Stacey, some other facets of that process that folks can participate in, even if they're not, for example, members of the World Acrobatic Society.
00:04:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right.
00:04:42
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, i they can come to the whole weekend that we have planned for the induction. it's It's not just the induction ceremony on Saturday night, which is a black tie gala. It's beautiful.
00:04:54
Stacie Hansen
But we have also um a panel discussion with
Panel Discussions and Inclusivity at WAZ
00:04:58
Stacie Hansen
all of the inductees. And that is one of the, one of my most favorite parts because we get to, we get to hear everybody speak on real personal issues, like how they came to be, how did they learn, where did they come from? And you can ask questions. The microphone travels around the room. You can,
00:05:17
Stacie Hansen
Ask anybody anything. And it's it's so great to have a diver right next to a circus family, next to an Olympic gymnast and et cetera.
00:05:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
and be like I know. It's just like, it's, it's everything for me. It's like all of my favorite things.
00:05:32
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, like no one is left out in Waz, which is really, really interesting and unique. You know, we're all used to there being these induction ceremonies that, include like one type of discipline, you know, either it's usually gymnastics hall of fame, or, you know, it's something very specific like that.
00:05:47
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:05:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
But I love was because it's literally every type of acrobatic discipline around the world.
00:05:53
Stacie Hansen
Yes.
00:05:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
And speaking of inductees last year, folks, um the flying Caballeros were inducted, which is ah really, you know, everyone knows that name.
00:06:05
Stacie Hansen
Oh, yeah.
00:06:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
Here we go.
00:06:06
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, yeah. They were amazing. That was really fun to have a family up there talking about, you know, how the little ones are learning and coming along and
00:06:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:06:15
Stacie Hansen
And the generations that it's passed through, that's just, that was so much fun. And having the um having
00:06:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's so special.
00:06:25
Stacie Hansen
someone like Travis Pastrana being inducted and sitting in a chair for action sports, looking over in awe at another Olympic gymnast, you know, just listening, intrigued. It's just so much fun.
00:06:40
Stacie Hansen
Because, and that's the biggest compliment that I think I've heard about the event was the crossover between disciplines.
00:06:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:06:47
Stacie Hansen
But that's why we do it because, i mean, that's why the founders did it.
00:06:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
okay
00:06:51
Stacie Hansen
You know, they they came together and they found a commonality between all of these acrobats.
Founding and Mission of the World Acrobatics Society
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Stacie Hansen
Everybody was friends and they thought, let's just keep this going. Let's keep gathering and keep keep the history alive of everything.
00:07:05
Stacie Hansen
So it's exciting.
00:07:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I think it's really beautiful. um ah Sorry to cut you out there, Stacy. Yeah.
00:07:11
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, no, fine.
00:07:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:07:13
Stacie Hansen
didn't have more say.
00:07:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
but Sorry, but yes, that beautiful combination on, and also too, and here in America, you know, with so many generational circus and so many different backgrounds, um you know, sometimes there's not those, that overlap that you find that is very common, I would say, in Europe, and something that you see there. And so I love that was, was also created to give the American base that history. Because sometimes when I speak to folks that are in America, they're, you know, they're not thinking about circus history in that same way. And sometimes you see the representation in Europe, but you remind them, no, we do have that as well here. And so it's really a great way to amplify that, I think, especially because things have gotten very modern focused.
00:07:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
um And sometimes folks forget, you know, about the history of these different disciplines and you know, and who was there before and who, you know, who kind of um crafted these environments and made them so special or who was a first um in these environments.
00:08:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
I know that it has taught me so much every single time I see and I go through, you know, the different nominations and folks that are inducted and you learn so much about the history where sometimes people are like, I didn't even know that that was achieved in that discipline, like ever.
00:08:13
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:08:22
Stacie Hansen
Right.
00:08:25
Stacie Hansen
Right.
00:08:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
I thought that no one had done it yet. And so, you know, to me, it's archival so important to have these records and to, you know, remind folks of the history of these disciplines that have been around and then also to kind of how they coalesce because sometimes people think that they're new and I'm like, that is not new.
00:08:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
Like that has been around for decades.
00:08:42
Stacie Hansen
No, that's right. That's right.
00:08:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. It didn't just, out nowhere.
00:08:46
Stacie Hansen
daan They've been acrobats as long as you've been an acrobat in your history.
00:08:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right.
00:08:51
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, it is fun.
00:08:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:08:52
Stacie Hansen
And being a world organization, it kind of unites all of us.
00:08:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:08:56
Stacie Hansen
You know, the Americans get to celebrate the Christianity.
00:08:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:09:00
Stacie Hansen
Do you know the Christianity family from, ah yes, oh my gosh, they were, that was an awesome induction too.
00:09:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
00:09:07
Stacie Hansen
That was professional acrobatics.
00:09:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh.
00:09:09
Stacie Hansen
And they they've been around since, the 1800s. So I know, but bringing that into the US, like we have it in Vegas. And so all of the, we get a lot of attendance from the US because of that.
00:09:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
be
00:09:23
Stacie Hansen
But we also have a lot of internationals that fly in to celebrate. So it's just a really nice united front with acrobatics.
Disciplines Recognized by WAZ
00:09:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
And can you go into some of the disciplines um that you know that are represented in the World Acrobatics Society, Stacey? And then maybe a little bit about, i know that you said that it was you know friends upon friends that kind of started the process, but also to kind of what you know what determined including those disciplines in the World Acrobatics Society.
00:09:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
I think that's like so so interesting.
00:09:56
Stacie Hansen
Oh, well, I do too. I wish I was there, but I wasn't there. It began back in the mid nineties. um And I think was definitely born.
00:10:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
We were barely, none of us, some of us weren't born.
00:10:12
Stacie Hansen
um So there are six disciplines that we celebrate. Artistic gymnastics, um action sports, acrobatic gymnastics, diving,
00:10:24
Stacie Hansen
professional acrobatics, and um tip tumbling and trampoline. And then we have four auxiliary awards as well. So we have um we have an internal award which celebrates somebody who's been so of service to our organization called the Charlie Pond Service Award.
00:10:45
Stacie Hansen
And we have um a lifetime achievement award, a golden achievement award,
00:10:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
more
00:10:53
Stacie Hansen
And then an acrobatic excellence award, which which is brand new.
00:10:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
and
00:10:59
Stacie Hansen
And the Blue Angels were our initial induction for that. That was fun.
00:11:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, wow. And for folks that are not familiar with the Blue Angels, Stacey, can you give a little bit of background around them? That's very special.
00:11:12
Stacie Hansen
They've been around for a very long time. um and it's a fighter jet conglomeration. I don't. They fly in unison, they fly solo, and they do tricking in the air, in their airplanes.
00:11:25
Stacie Hansen
And flipping and balancing, yeah, flipping and balancing is the core of the World Acrobatic Society.
00:11:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's crazy.
00:11:32
Stacie Hansen
So that's that's by definition what makes us all united in acrobatics.
00:11:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
And what about the action in sports? Can you give a little bit of description for folks that are maybe not familiar with action sports represents?
00:11:43
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, at Travis Pastrana, who I mentioned earlier, is a perfect example of an action sports hero, right?
00:11:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
and
00:11:50
Stacie Hansen
He created the Nitro Circus. He did the first double back on a um motorbike.
00:11:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:11:56
Stacie Hansen
I mean, people like that. Red Bull, Red Bull divers, parkour guys who who just are world renowned.
00:11:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oof.
00:12:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oof.
00:12:05
Stacie Hansen
You know, Ryan Doyle was inducted. So these, the Aaron Fotheringham, They call him wheels, but he's he's in a wheelchair. And this guy is insane.
00:12:17
Stacie Hansen
But anybody who you look at who's in an athlete and an acrobat who flips and you think that's insane, that's action sports. Yeah.
00:12:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, it's all so insane and so scary. Yeah.
00:12:30
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. Yeah. Well, we all love that part.
00:12:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
Like when you discover what your limit is.
00:12:34
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:12:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Like I would not do that.
00:12:39
Stacie Hansen
That's the fun part. When we get together and everybody looks at everybody else going, no way would I do that. But then you look at that person and and that other person says the same thing about them.
00:12:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:12:51
Stacie Hansen
i So it's it's really fun, fun event. We also, yeah, what other discipline interests you?
00:12:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
It sounds like really Well, I think, I mean, all of them.
00:13:00
Stacie Hansen
Curious.
00:13:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
i you know I always go back to the competitive acrobatics because I am just, you know that's that's my foundation.
00:13:10
Stacie Hansen
Of course.
00:13:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
But I really love all of them because it was like what you were saying, Stacey. Once you are, and even when you're actually competing in gymnastics, you actually have like a lot of intersection, with a lot of those disciplines, actually.
00:13:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, i was having interactions with so many of them before I got into the circus arts.
00:13:24
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. Yes.
00:13:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
But then even once I got into the circus arts, I mean, you're really rubbing shoulders and now you're in productions with a lot of those folks.
00:13:29
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:13:33
Stacie Hansen
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:13:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, you know, there's a lot of parkour now that's introduced, um you know, into the circus arts industry too.
00:13:38
Stacie Hansen
Yes. That's right.
00:13:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
So, you know, many of those um sports have become Olympic sports.
00:13:43
Stacie Hansen
And gymnasts, like artistic gymnastics, a lot of crossover there too.
00:13:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:13:48
Stacie Hansen
And into diving as well, you know, just leaning on your head.
00:13:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Oh yeah. ton of diving.
00:13:53
Stacie Hansen
But yeah, would be
00:13:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
Synchronized swimming. Um, uh, you know, that's another big one. That's.
00:13:59
Stacie Hansen
that would be different. That wouldn't be a world that that's a great example of something that we couldn't, we couldn't induct somebody from synchronized swimming because there's no aerial flipping.
00:14:11
Circuspreneur Podcast
Interesting.
00:14:12
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:14:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
Interesting. I mean, you know, even with the way that they've kind of changed the rules now, do you think that'll be something that'll change? Because now there is a lot of actual aerial diving that was not permissible in synchronized swimming before.
00:14:21
Stacie Hansen
to
00:14:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
And now they're also having men in synchronized swimming, which was also not allowed.
00:14:25
Stacie Hansen
Oh, awesome.
00:14:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
So it's, yeah, it's fairly new.
00:14:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
They're much more acrobatic. And they've inserted a lot more acrobatic gymnastics inside of synchronized swimming. So i wonder, I knew that synchronized swimming was not a part of WAS, but i'm i'm I'm curious to see if it could be now that they've changed the roles, because now you can have the distance that wasn't allowed and the throwing and yeah.
00:14:29
Stacie Hansen
Okay, yeah.
00:14:35
Stacie Hansen
Great example.
00:14:42
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:14:44
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. um Okay, so that's a lot of what I do. I get um through the nomination process. I get a lot of questions about where would this person fit best, which category, or do they qualify at all in this?
00:14:59
Stacie Hansen
So synchronized swimming or synchronized diving for sure. I'm sorry. i was thinking swimming in the pool.
00:15:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:15:10
Stacie Hansen
But if um if somebody came to me and asked about synchronized swimming, I would have to do an evaluation of it and just look and see if it fit the criteria of, you know, our core values, so to speak.
00:15:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:15:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
Interesting. i mean, that really reminds me of, um he's a very famous synchronized swimmer.
00:15:25
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:15:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
He was in the Cirque du Soleil production of Oh, His Name is Bill May. And do you know Bill?
00:15:33
Stacie Hansen
Oh, I know I haven't, but that's a great show.
00:15:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
Have you heard of Bill May at all? He is... and
00:15:39
Stacie Hansen
Of course.
00:15:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Great show. One of my one of my original favorites. And yeah, i would he he is legendary now because he was in O for like over 20 years, like probably from the beginning of creation.
00:15:49
Stacie Hansen
Okay.
00:15:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
And then he went for the Olympics last year. And he's also been advocating for men and ah for the mixed come ah the mixed category, I think, to be permissible um moving forward.
00:16:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
that like This last Olympics was the first Olympics that men were part of it. That's why I know so much about it. um And it was very much, but what was great about Bill is that he was going back and forth between the competitive space and the circus space at the same time, which is becoming so popular nowadays too.
00:16:14
Stacie Hansen
Oh, wow.
00:16:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
So he he seems like someone who should definitely be nominated if he hasn't been, and then inducted if he can eventually meet that criteria, which is again, another great question, Stacey, of what is the criteria to nominate
00:16:16
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:16:21
Stacie Hansen
Okay.
00:16:26
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. Yeah.
00:16:30
Stacie Hansen
I know.
00:16:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
um someone to be potentially inducted into the world acrobatic society and who takes care of the nomination process and then how can we participate in that nomination process?
00:16:42
Stacie Hansen
Oh, good question. um We actually have our criteria online on our website, worldacro.com. And you can, if you click into the nomination section, you'll find a sheet that says to click here for the nomination criteria.
00:17:00
Stacie Hansen
And it categorizes each discipline and each award. And we have just got a general, yeah it's been a tightened up a little bit over the years, but you'll see, and I'll read to for example, um
00:17:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:17:17
Stacie Hansen
for um For an acrobatic gymnastics and or cheerleading legend, um you'd have to have a minimum of five years as competitive athlete, two years at the national level, and two years at the international level.
00:17:35
Stacie Hansen
And these are actually just questions online. It doesn't mean that you can't nominate somebody for that category. These are just our recommendations If you want somebody who we consider would be ah legend, they would have at least these things.
00:17:56
Stacie Hansen
You know, so it's I mean, there are a few more things on there, but that gives you a good idea of what kinds of things we look at.
00:17:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay. and be
00:18:04
Stacie Hansen
um And then we ask about their impact on the sport beyond that. And, you know, everything is everything is left up to um our board at the end of the day.
00:18:18
Stacie Hansen
You know, i mean, we have nominations that come in um through the end of this year.
00:18:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
okay
00:18:23
Stacie Hansen
It was through the end of March online.
00:18:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:18:27
Stacie Hansen
When those are submitted, they come to me after they come to me. um I review it and I I distribute it to my committee chairs and then they do an evaluation of each nominee.
00:18:43
Stacie Hansen
So these are these committees are made up of specialists in that area. So if you were one of my committee chairs, I would send you all of the nominees for this year and you would go through them and just evaluate is this criteria fitting the criteria we've asked for and created.
00:18:48
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh.
00:19:01
Stacie Hansen
And then you just submit yes and no. And then you give us your committee's ranking so you can have three to four people on your committee with you vetting the I'm not sure if they really got first place.
00:19:14
Stacie Hansen
or if it was second at this event, so let's check it out. you know you We do need to make sure that we're not stealing somebody else's award from the past, you know make sure that everything is right.
00:19:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:19:26
Stacie Hansen
And then you'd submit that back to me and I put it into a presentation and give it to the board, which I'm also on the board. So we all vote at the end of April and um we're left with our induction class of 2025. It's gonna exciting.
00:19:43
Stacie Hansen
gonna be exciting
00:19:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:19:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
wow
00:19:44
Stacie Hansen
And I wish I could speak about the nominees that we have this year, but I think I should just keep them at bay for now.
00:19:52
Stacie Hansen
During the evaluation process, it's important that they get a good chance to evaluate before we announce to the public who we've got
00:19:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
Nomination Process for WAZ
00:20:02
Stacie Hansen
on the table.
00:20:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
So you announced the nominees and then what is the part that we can kind of be engaged in on that level? As like the general, as the general public, is there a space for us to be included in that?
00:20:16
Stacie Hansen
Oh, yeah, yeah. If you wanted to nominate somebody, you would just look for somebody some athlete that makes you say, wow, they should they are an absolute legend.
00:20:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:20:25
Stacie Hansen
Then you can read our criteria. To nominate somebody, you'd need to be a member of the World Acrobatic Society.
00:20:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:20:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
ah Okay.
00:20:33
Stacie Hansen
That's $35 for an annual membership.
00:20:36
Stacie Hansen
And that's really good.
00:20:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:37
Stacie Hansen
That's for a whole year. You know, you get to partake in our meetings that we have throughout the year. you You'd get a say in how things are
00:20:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:45
Stacie Hansen
how things are run. So that's kind of fun. And sometimes you get an insight on what's going on and then you get to meet people and it's really fun thing to be a part of.
00:20:49
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, that's great.
00:20:56
Stacie Hansen
But um you can keep an eye on the website. If you're not nominating somebody, you can just keep an eye on our announcement on Facebook or on our website. At the end of April, after the board votes, we'll be announcing the induction class of 2025.
00:21:12
Stacie Hansen
And then you can determine
00:21:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, that's great.
00:21:14
Stacie Hansen
And then you can determine whether you'd like to come to Vegas and celebrate them. And you get to meet them and talk with them, ask them questions, intermingle. It's a really fun weekend.
00:21:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, that's so amazing. And so when does that nomination process open up again, Stacey, since you're like at the tail end um of the, of announcing the nominees um at the end of April, when can someone submit if now they've missed like that March deadline?
00:21:27
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:21:41
Stacie Hansen
um We usually open it back up after the event.
00:21:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, okay.
00:21:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:21:47
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, so not until late fall.
00:21:50
Stacie Hansen
um but But to be honest, I mean, I have people emailing me throughout the year.
00:21:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:21:54
Stacie Hansen
My email is online on the World Acrobatics Society.
00:21:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
goodby
00:21:58
Stacie Hansen
i I know right after the and the announcement, usually there's one particular person, thank you, Freddie, who always emails me and says, I've got somebody.
00:21:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
and but
00:22:09
Stacie Hansen
It's going to be great, and it always is. So,
00:22:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, I'm sure it like gives people ideas after they see who's who who are the nominees for this year.
00:22:17
Stacie Hansen
yes. Yeah, yeah. That's right.
00:22:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
They're like, oh, this person would be perfect for that. um And then are there any other things that you need to submit ah to nominate that person?
00:22:24
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:22:28
Circuspreneur Podcast
um is Does that person still have to be living to be nominated? um Can it be an extension?
00:22:35
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:22:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
Do you have to be related to them since there are so many generational families um you know that are nominated, especially on the circus side? So are there any kind of specific... specifics that you need to know when you want to nominate someone if you feel like, well, am I allowed to do that?
00:22:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
Or do you need to, for example, submit them via more than one person um for them to be considered? Or is it just kind of like a direct, like just one person, one nomination?
00:23:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
do you need to give archival videos? do you need to supply photos, something that represents the history of their career and their accomplishments, just kind of outside of answering those questions?
00:23:10
Stacie Hansen
yeah Yeah, anything you can offer during your submission process is helpful. um That's when we really receive the most material, actually.
00:23:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:23:20
Stacie Hansen
So um photos and videos are so helpful.
00:23:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:23:24
Stacie Hansen
We have We have a particular place once once somebody is inuc going to be inducted, we have a particular place that we'd like up ah we'd like those photos and videos uploaded to.
00:23:37
Stacie Hansen
And um it is a little bit of work to do the nomination. You have to be committed. You know, like I really want to help make this happen. That's the best attitude you could possibly have to nominate. So I would like that if somebody did that.
00:23:53
Stacie Hansen
um So we'll reach out to you. If let's say you have a hero that you admire from afar, that would probably be the hardest one, but you know maybe the most desirable to nominate.
00:24:06
Stacie Hansen
If you wanna nominate um you know Mary Louretton for the World Acrobatic Society, let's say.
00:24:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
He's already in. He's
00:24:16
Stacie Hansen
um She's I know, don't think she is, if you can believe that, yeah.
00:24:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
not already inducted.
00:24:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
My God, that happens though.
00:24:23
Stacie Hansen
um I know.
00:24:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
I don't know if you saw, but Gabby Douglas just got, um she's being inducted to this year's USA Dramastics Hall of Fame. And I thought that she was already inducted, you know, years ago at this point.
00:24:35
Stacie Hansen
yeah
00:24:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah, was I was shocked.
00:24:36
Stacie Hansen
Oh my gosh, yeah. Well, it's nice to, it's actually nice to have a little time go by so that you can see how they're doing in this board. If they've continued, if they've, you know, how has their career been received? And it's just, yeah, Gabby definitely should be in there.
00:24:54
Stacie Hansen
I'm excited to hear that.
00:24:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
Gabby and Mary Lou.
00:24:58
Stacie Hansen
Oh, yeah. um So.
00:25:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
Now it starts to make me think of different people. I'm like, oh God, do I need to nominate this person?
00:25:04
Stacie Hansen
I know.
00:25:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
Do need to nominate that person? He needs to start making some phone calls, sending some texts.
00:25:09
Stacie Hansen
Yes. Yes, I want to hear that. I want to hear who you're looking at. um But you do need to have a little information on that person. We can always help, you know, but if you reach out, we we can help get it done. But we're all volunteers.
00:25:27
Stacie Hansen
We all have. We all have a ah life of our own and our jobs. and Most of us have jobs still and a family and all of that. So it is extra, but it's a labor of love for all of us.
00:25:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
And it seems like such a labor of love. And I really appreciate all of the work that you do, Stacey, and everybody connected to WOD. And could you also, too, go in a little bit, Stacey, of some of the nominees over the years that maybe have stood out to you um you know, just to kind of continue to pique folks' interest of who they might be able to nominate um and kind of, you know, what backgrounds they've had, some that maybe stand out to you in the last 20,
00:26:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
few years that could be, um you know, that that are, yeah, just highlights for you, I think, in terms of being a part of WAS for this long and for giving them so much beautiful work as well.
00:26:14
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
Notable Inductees and Contributions
00:26:21
Stacie Hansen
Yeah. So um before I was the chairperson, um i was working the event because I've been a board member for a while.
00:26:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:26:31
Stacie Hansen
And um somebody said, somebody leaked that Olga Kovic was going to be inducted.
00:26:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:26:38
Stacie Hansen
And i yeah, I flipped out.
00:26:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
i flippped I just flipped. I've re-flipped out.
00:26:45
Stacie Hansen
It was so fun.
00:26:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Not Olga.
00:26:48
Stacie Hansen
She stands out. Svetlana Boganskaya. She, I mean, can name a lot of artistic gymnasts, but Nadia, A.B.
00:26:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
um Oh. Oh. Of course. Keep going. I love Svetlana.
00:27:00
Stacie Hansen
Grossfeld. Yeah. All these people.
00:27:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
Oh, I love Nadia and Bart. We go way back.
00:27:04
Stacie Hansen
Oh, yeah. They're so sweet.
00:27:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:27:07
Stacie Hansen
Yeah.
00:27:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
They're so sweet, so special.
00:27:08
Stacie Hansen
Very good people.
00:27:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:27:10
Stacie Hansen
Yep. And give back, like,
00:27:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:27:14
Stacie Hansen
Incredibly. So um let's see.
00:27:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:27:18
Stacie Hansen
um The golden achievement is probably one of my favorite awards.
00:27:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mmm.
00:27:24
Stacie Hansen
and And you don't have to have been an Olympic athlete to get this award, but you do have to come from a discipline that was celebrates. So for example, um we've had Whalen was a gymnast, an excellent,
00:27:44
Stacie Hansen
college gymnast, he may have been national team, um maybe not known on the world stage internationally, or maybe he was, he's going to kill me, or everyone will kill me if I don't remember this, I'm sorry, Jay.
00:27:58
Stacie Hansen
um But he's had an incredible career outside of that. And that that's what this award is about, the golden achievement, where you take the discipline that you've learned from all of your hard work as an athlete, and you apply it
00:28:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
and been
00:28:13
Stacie Hansen
to make the world better. Yeah.
00:28:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
and And I see so many of you know our fellow acrobats doing that in the world where to me, it just goes to show how special this environment is because folks that are in the acrobatic space in any capacity end up giving back so much.
00:28:23
Stacie Hansen
That's right.
00:28:34
Circuspreneur Podcast
They end up you know, giving um so much beautiful service to, you know, to their communities, to their environments, they end up in some really different and unique spaces, but they bring that kind of like core value wherever they go, because it's such inclusive space.
00:28:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, i think whatever you develop in that space is so hard worn. And even for myself, I wanted to gift whatever I got
00:28:56
Stacie Hansen
Yes.
00:29:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, to the upcoming generations and not even upcoming generations, just the folks that are around me that feel like they could really benefit from that because I feel like you get so much integrity out of being in the acrobatic space and,
00:29:11
Stacie Hansen
Absolutely.
WAZ as a Global Acrobatic Community
00:29:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. And reflecting that through WAS, through the World Acrobatic Society has been so special. We are in the last, I would say, about minute. Stacey, this has flown by speaking to you.
00:29:20
Stacie Hansen
Okay.
00:29:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
You're so fantastic and so wonderful.
00:29:25
Stacie Hansen
Thank you. This was really nice.
00:29:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
So excited for folks. Yeah. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate it, Stacey. And thank you for your time. And so would you like to close? and out the podcast and with any other special things that folks that aren't familiar with was or that are familiar and that can be more involved and yeah any other perspectives that you'd like to share about the specialness of the world's acrobatic society.
00:29:50
Stacie Hansen
Gosh, well, I just hope everybody who's listening gets a chance to come attend the event. And I would encourage you to to come for the whole weekend from Friday nights, welcome party, all the way through the induction ceremony, because then you really get a taste of what it's all about.
00:29:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
hmm.
00:30:07
Stacie Hansen
And um it's really become like a family for everybody who has been a part of it. It's just nice to know that you, I mean, artistic gymnastics for me was always um my my own club, my safe space with everybody.
00:30:26
Stacie Hansen
And then we became part of something much bigger. And it's really amazing to realize how big that is. So having ah having a family that crosses disciplines like that, I just would love for everyone to come experience it for themselves.
00:30:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yes, a global family from all over.
00:30:44
Stacie Hansen
that
00:30:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
And we get that from when we're very little. And then we get to see how that translates into the rest of our lives. And that's just what it makes me feel like. You just get to celebrate your family from all over the world and from backgrounds and that you never knew, you know, that you'd be able to meet such special and unique and fascinating individuals that accomplished really unique and
00:30:59
Stacie Hansen
Yeah, that's right. Yes.
Conclusion and StageLink Promo
00:31:08
Stacie Hansen
You're
00:31:08
Circuspreneur Podcast
groundbreaking things.
00:31:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
So thank you again so much, Stacey. time. I will close out this episode with the Circuspreneur podcast.
00:31:11
Stacie Hansen
welcome.
00:31:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's also available on stagelink.com, S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C a g e l y n c dot c o m The groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts that provides unmatched access and connection to this vibrant world of shows and entertainment. If you're a professional in the performing arts, visit stagelink.com slash pro, S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C-P-R-O. Stagelink Pro offers industry professionals higher visibility, networking opportunities, and tools to support and enhance their careers.
00:31:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
and so Until next time, everyone, I'm your host, Janice Stiletto. Thank you so much for tuning into the Circuspreneur podcast and enjoying our fantastic guest, Stacey Hansen.
00:31:53
Stacie Hansen
Thank you.