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What Do You Love About The Circus Arts? #ValentinesDay
30 Plays5 months ago
#ValentinesDay #CircusArts #LoveCircus
On this special Valentines Day episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto discusses her own personal love of the Circus Arts. What do you love about the Circus Arts?
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Transcript
Valentine's Day and Circus Love
00:00:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'm Becca Canores. This is your host, Shanae Stiletto, and welcome to the very little special episode of Why Do I and Why Do You Love the Circus Arts? Hashtag Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day, I thought, would be a wonderful day to discuss all the ways and the experiences, or at least some of them, of why I love being in the circus and what drew me to the circus and a nice day to reflect on our love of the circus and reminding everyone that, of course, you might not like everything about an industry or an environment, but the reason that we want to fight so hard to change it is because we love it. And I think that the only way that you're able to change anything that you're in, whether it be a harsh relationship or
00:00:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, get whatever you want into the next stage of development is because you love it. And sometimes love means walking away as well. Just want to put that out there.
Circus Relationships: Challenges and Uniqueness
00:01:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
and This is not a podcast episode about how to function in a relationship, even though I have done a circus ah dating circus type relationship episode a few years back with the dating advice girl, Erin Tillman. And if you go back on to circus talk or stage link now, you would be able to find that. You can also go onto my social media for the Circus Benor podcast or at Shanice De Leto, wherever you're following the podcast on any platform, we're on every platform, YouTube, Apple podcast, iTunes, um Instagram, literally everywhere. And you can find little, either of the entire episode that is available still exclusively on Circus Talk, um or you can find a little clip of that where we dived all into how challenging and how interesting and how different it is to date in the circus arts industry and I've got some stories that you know I can I could share um you know personal and then those of experiences but I think that our industry is so unique and so interesting and you know to all of those out there that are listening to this episode that are separated from the one that they love and that they partner with, um whether it be professionally or in the romantic sense, or just exclusively you know in companionship, because we all love in so many different ways. and And I've seen that the most beautifully in so many ways in the circus industry, where folks really just do what they want in terms of relationship. and
00:02:39
Circuspreneur Podcast
and could care less about how the broader society you know views their relationships, which I think is just so so beautiful um and so inspiring. And I get asked that a lot actually in my own and my own experience in the circus industry. Almost the number one thing is how do you keep a relationship together?
00:02:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
How do you make a relationship work? What are relationships like? you know your guys's lives or Some of you are touring a lot and maybe your partner is touring a lot. Are you with somebody in the industry or are you with somebody outside of the industry? How does that work? How do you negotiate you know your schedules and the dynamics of how unique your job is and how different is it? um you know What are your biggest challenges? So I have found that I have some of the most colorful and really funny and you know kind of dramatic um conversations with people when I discuss what my relationship experiences have been like and then sharing relationships experience. So anyway, it's not really what this episode was, but I think it was important to give a little nod and a link to that because it is Valentine's Day and um
00:03:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, I think that circus relationships are are are are super innovative um from what I've seen over the years and experienced and can also again be very complex, but that's what makes us such unique individuals in this business and in
Influences and European Circus Arts
00:04:02
Circuspreneur Podcast
this industry. So, you know, my love of the circus came so many years ago and I was so fortunate to grow up in a competitive space that had circus inside of it. I'm, you know, my coaches that are from Russia and Ukraine and Bulgaria, you know, they were connected um to the circus in ways that not a lot of competitive, um you know, acrobats spaces are. And so I grew up, you know, watching so many different videos of circus festivals and circus competitions and circus shows.
00:04:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
And they had these incredible archives um of the circus arts, which I thought was, you know, just so beautiful and so inspiring at that time. And that was, you know, before even I saw a lot about Cirque du Soleil, for example, um I got to see, you know, all of the circus that was existing all over Europe, um you know, from years and years and years before when I was really, really young. And um and then, of course, again, my exposure came through Cirque.
00:05:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
through my coaches who were sending their athletes to Cirque for so many years prior to them working with me and how they really inspired that path and you know started taking me to shows and I started you know to um watch watch acrobats that i was that competed ahead of me or that competed alongside of me and you know started to go and visit them during their shows or during creations. And then obviously I started performing in circus when i was when I was still really little, when I was competing. And that's a way that we would earn
Balancing Circus and Sports Careers
00:05:43
Circuspreneur Podcast
money um to be able to compete um in acrobatics or acrobatic gymnastics. It has so many different names now, sports acro, acro gymnastics, acro. um There are so many places that, you know, my sport has gone to. um And, you know, i I love reflecting on the crossover between how many people came from the sporting world um and made some of the most amazing shows that you've ever seen circus wise.
00:06:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
and how you know how impactful that was from my experience growing up and seeing that. um And then you know being scouted you know by cer from such a very young age as a minor um and then you know performing essentially on the side you know during during that high competitive season or off season.
00:06:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, um, you know, the impacts that had on me with, you know, really my entire life being shaped by this industry of the potentials and what was possible and on such like a global level, because I was seeing the most of, you know, circus come in so many different forms. I remember, you know, going to w Ringling when I was really little, my parents,
00:06:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
love taking us to the circus and you know at that time there were animals and I have pictures from when i'm you know when I was a little of riding elephants um ah you know and obviously that that era has mostly passed but you know that was again something that was part of my life even even before i I got into so to sport to you know define this love that I had and this passion of seeing you know wow, I can really you know take my my my my background and my skills. And it doesn't have to end there because for so many people that I was around, particularly in America, they imagined that you know previously, not in the time that there is now where you can go on to AGT and you know go on to all these different shows and you know show off you know doing Acro and everything.
00:07:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
It was starting, but it wasn't you know what it is now. And so that was um that was you know really a cool and interesting pathway of saying like, wow, I can make this my career because I can't go to NCAA and compete as a collegiate gymnast because my sport doesn't allow that because we don't have NCAA recognition yet. Not fully but it is coming and there are pockets of it. I always like to respond back to people saying oh but there's a little bit of this here and a little bit of that there and I'm looking forward to the day where that does happen.
Artistic Development and Individuality
00:08:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
But anyway back to the circus talks and back to the way that um you know I just remember seeing
00:08:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
the various performers that inspired me um you know so much and growing up with them and meeting them and knowing them and and seeing their journeys through circus and through the shows that they did and thinking one day I'm going to do that act.
00:08:40
Circuspreneur Podcast
one day that will be me. And one day you know I'm going to be able to express myself in those ways and take my technique and take my skill level and hence and have someone mold me and shape me. and um And one day I'm going to be able to develop my own ideas on stage, um you know which I've done, and you know take the ideas that I have in my own mind.
00:09:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
and get them stage ready and promote them and you know get folks to to want to have me um you know in their shows and to participate as an artist because the development of and of an artist is a very special and unique thing. And to me, that's one of the most valuable things that I've ever experienced as well. um you know And this the amazing setup I have coming from my particular form of gymnastics that is so performing arts based and that is so beautifully artistic where you know a routine can just have a few tweaks here and there and then suddenly it can go on stage. I mean, that's ah that's a rare thing for a sport to be able to have that particular type of crossover um into the arts. And so you know once I started, i I never looked back and I knew that this would always more or less be my path, even though you know I had all of the other experiences with people telling me to, you have to get a real career eventually or a real job or what are you going to do when you stop doing this, which is what you get your entire life. What are you going to do when you can't do circus anymore?
00:10:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
um What are you going to do when, you know, when your time is up? You know, when your circus career is just, you know, I mean, it's, you know, it's not like you're, you know, you always hear it's not like you're 15 anymore. i mean Which, you know, I've always, I've always reviewed that ever since I was little. And I think that, you know, coming from this space of people telling me since I'm the age of like 14 that I just have a few years left to enjoy this thing that I love to do and that, you know, um I've learned to excel at.
00:10:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know has is is has been a great jumping off point for me and just owning where I've been at in any stage of my career. Because if you're lucky, I tell you know everyone you'll get to several stages of your career if you're lucky, if you're fortunate, and that your career never really ends. It just kind of transforms, and you should follow it where it's trying to take you. um And it doesn't always have to be the same way that it has been. And um that's been really great advice for me over the course of my circus um arts career and what has allowed me to continue to try to find new ways to love the circus arts industry and to be a circus artist and in this field in a field that is ever evolving and changing and you have to grow and evolve with it and um how fun that can be and how painstaking that can be to try to push yourself as an artist and going in and out of shows and working with so many different employers and directors and choreographers and you know, pulling and and moving in into so many different backgrounds um and, you know, allowing that to kind of overwhelm your life and take you over and, um you know, learning how to carry yourself in this environment has been one of the things that I have loved the most, you know, being a professional.
00:11:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
and um taking this work very seriously because it is an industry and then taking it into levels of advocacy as a performer as I still am.
Performing and Advocacy
00:12:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
A performer has also been a unique journey, you know, advocating for this industry. I could have done it after I decided to stop performing.
00:12:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
right when I was no longer trying to be a competitive artist in this space and industry worker. But I have I decided that you know I didn't want to wait for that and that I wanted to experience the changes of this industry while still being an active participant on the stage which is how I started and which is how I love to be even though I i wear so many different hats in this industry you know my love of performing comes first and um you know going and and and and exploring this industry all over the world like I have and continue to, you know is also what keeps me advocating so much because I'm so inside of it that I continuously come up against those similar challenges that other people are feeling being in the industry. And all of our challenges are unique and and different and not all the same, um which is in any industry in any field, but there are unifying factors within our industry that are very consistent. And that's why I continue to perform
00:13:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
and advocate at the exact same time, no matter how challenging and difficult it is. um I continue to do that and to say the things and out of love for this industry, out of deep love for the people that have been in industry in this industry and that have shaped this industry and that have worked so hard to make this industry what it is off of their own backs, off of their own merit, off of their own skill, off of their own time, off of their own families and um respecting that, respecting the lineage um that I've gotten to, like, you know, hold space for and and have coffee with and, you know, and talk and then respecting your own lineage that you have
00:13:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
In a space that you're in however long you have been in it you are now creating your own lineage lineage is something that continues because your lineage matters to someone that's coming after you or someone that's coming you know um that you know will potentially be here.
00:14:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
when your time has transitioned into something else very, very special within this industry. And I continue to encourage you know circus workers and circus people and circus folk, you know don't leave this industry entirely. you know Just come to it with something in some other way, in some other shape, way, shape or form. It doesn't have to be how it's always been. And obviously we know that or else the industry wouldn't be the way that it is now.
00:14:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right. um You know, my advocacy is informed. I've taken a very different route than I've seen so many folks that we've been on very similar paths in our career, for example, um and and have pivoted and have, you know, are doing very different things now um with our circus experience and our circus knowledge. And so.
00:14:59
Circuspreneur Podcast
I hope that you enjoy Valentine's Day, celebrating your relationship to the circus and your soulmate love to the circus hours because believe me, it's got to be soulmate love if you're in it and if you stay with it.
00:15:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
I always tell people, a marriage of the circus arts is not for the faint of heart, um but the amount of joy and pleasure that we're able to bring people all the time with just the simple things that we do. I mean, people light up when I just say that I'm in the circus. so When I say them in the circus arts, that enough is is just an amazing way to exist and live your life, where you have to say one word and people get excited.
00:15:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
and That's never lost on me. um Even when I'm going through challenges in my life, or even challenges in my career, because you will face challenges in your career um at some point. um Maybe they won't be on a 10. Maybe some people's challenges will be at a 15. Maybe yours will be at a seven or a four or a three. you know it's Who knows? it's all you know we We can't say. But when I come back to thinking about those early days of me thinking about being on stage and um the love from the audience, the impacts
00:16:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, the conversations after the show, the conversations after your act and the things that people say about how you've inspired them so much in their life in that moment. And you can't know where that inspiration is going to go. And sometimes that actually comes back around and you see that inspiration, what it looks like, you know, a few years later, I've had people say that as well. You know, again, you've inspired my journey, you've inspired my career, you inspired me.
00:16:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know to double down on certain things that I've wanted to do and showing me like how multifaceted a circus artist can be or a circus worker can be or someone coming from the competitive space can be and how you know your career can can continue to last if you tend to it, if you take care of it, if you respect it because ultimately that's what it comes down to. It comes down to the respect that you have for your circus arts career in any capacity because I'm just speaking about there are so many roles that you can have
00:17:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
in this industry i mean it's absolutely boundless and that's what continues to make it precious and valuable um and i think that again it comes back to our love for it means that we want to do everything we can to lift it up in the ways that it deserves, in the ways that it can be protected, in the ways that it is equitable for everyone involved, in the way that we preserve the sense of humanity and circus, and in the ways that we you know want circus arts to level up and level up like all the other industries are leveling up um around
Unity and Collaboration in Circus
00:17:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
us. We don't want to be left behind.
00:17:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, we know our worth. We know our standards and, um you know, by continuously coming together with those standards and being powerful as a collective in our industry, because we are powerful together. We are more powerful together.
00:18:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
And I can't say that in enough, um you know, when you're on the same page with your partner or in the circus or whoever you're working with or whoever you're in dialogue with, that is when you are the most powerful in anything that you're doing, in anything that you do. And you're also the safest when you when you do that. Imagine when you're not on the same page page as your partner in circus.
00:18:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
what that is or what that could turn into. I've experienced that one or two times you know and my face has suffered ah because of that, unfortunately. I've got some stories um you know where either one of you were just not on the same page and not running in sync with each other. So that is the drastic form. But you know the ah this this the short form of that is that you know you um you don't you don't give give give justice and love and credibility where credibility is due.
00:19:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
And that's what we need to continue to do with the circus arts industry. Let's talk a different game. it's Just like when you're in a relationship and it's not going well. And one of you is just not carrying your weight. One of you is evolving and growing. The other one just feels like they can phone it in. Let's not phone in.
00:19:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
our circus arts industry. Let's not allow other people to do the work for us like what other people may get caught up in in their own personal relationships when someone else is willing to do the things for you that the other people or person won't do for you um and how that starts to you know breed difficult things. So we don't need others to do for us what we can do for ourselves and our relationship with the circus arts industry We've got the tools. We've got the experience. We've got the knowledge. Everyone is so intelligent and creative and beautiful in this industry. I see it all the time. And so let's not work against ourselves. Just like you don't want to work against yourself in your own relationship. Let's not work against ourselves when it comes to supporting our industry.
00:20:05
Circuspreneur Podcast
and um getting it through to the next phase of development that it deserves. So celebrate Valentine's Day. Celebrate the circus arts. Celebrate your relationship to the circus arts. I appreciate everyone for listening in to this Valentine's Day special of the Circus Panera podcast. I'm your host, Shanice De Leto, and I'm just sending you all of my love and all of my support and sending you my circus hearts as well.