Our Spotlight Series continues with Sarah Davison, Director of Casting and Performance at Feld Entertainment and a leader in performer development across large-scale live productions.In this episode, Sarah shares why self-confidence matters in auditions, how artists can show up authentically, and why planning for career transitions is essential. A valuable listen for teachers supporting dancers through auditions and helping them prepare for what comes next. 

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About Sarah Davison

Sarah Davison is a dancer, casting leader, and performing arts professional with a career spanning international performance, casting, and artist development. Originally from Toulouse, France, Sarah began her formal dance training at a young age and earned her degree in Dance and Choreography from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon at just 16.

Her performing career includes work with neo-classical and jazz companies in France, as well as original cast roles in major live productions including Céline Dion’s A New Day, Le Rêve, and Viva ELVIS. Along the way, she trained and performed across multiple styles including ballet, jazz, modern, hip-hop, ballroom, and physical theater, with appearances on television and major live stages.

After transitioning offstage, Sarah spent several years working in casting, where she supported dancers, athletes, and performers through auditions and professional pathways. She later led casting operations in Las Vegas, helping artists navigate some of the most pivotal moments of their careers. Alongside her casting work, Sarah has taught workshops and classes internationally and worked as a producer and project manager on live events.

Today, Sarah is the Director of Casting and Performance at Feld Entertainment, where she supports casting and performance development for productions including Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, Monster Jam, and other character-based and live entertainment experiences. She remains deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of performers and helping artists prepare for long, sustainable careers in the performing arts.

https://www.instagram.com/casting_by_sd/

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Loren  0:01  
Hey everyone, welcome to the acrobatic arts Podcast. I'm Loren, and I will be interviewing some of the top leaders and innovators from the dance and acrobatic industry. If you are a teacher, performer, student, or a lifelong learner like myself, you are sure to find these episodes intriguing and full of inspiration. Acrobatic Arts is passionate about providing current and relevant information for everyone, so please sit back and enjoy as we share our passion with you and the world. 

Loren  0:36  
Today's episode is part of our Spotlight series where we revisit conversations that continue to resonate across the dance community. This episode first aired on April, 21 2021 the discussion offers amazing insight into the mindset behind the audition table and why authenticity always reads louder than perfection. Before we jump back into this conversation with Sarah Davison, we asked her to share a quick update on what she's been working on since this episode first aired. 

Loren  1:08  
Since 2021 Sarah's career has continued to evolve, and she is now the Director of casting and performance for Feld Entertainment. In this role, she leads casting and artists support across major live productions, including the return of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus alongside Monster Jam and other character driven performance projects. Returning to the circus world has been a meaningful full circle moment for Sarah and her perspective on auditions, career longevity and performer readiness is just as important as ever. Now it's time to shine the spotlight on today's guest.

Loren  1:56  
Hi Sarah, and welcome to the acrobatic arts podcast.

Sarah  2:00  
Well, hi and thank you so much for having me.

Loren  2:03  
I have to say that I am thrilled to be talking to you today. You have lived a life that most dancers only dream about, and now you are using those experiences to help guide other artists and athletes through their own journeys as they start new chapters in their lives. So why don't we start by you telling us about your background, where you grew up, how you started dancing, and where that took you as a performing artist.

Sarah  2:33  
So a little bit about me. I am French, born and raised. My mom was a ballet teacher. He she had been trained at the Paris Opera school, so very traditional ballet teacher, and I fell in love with ballet and dance very, very early, like I literally forced her to take me to class when I was three years old, and that was all I was wanting to hear about. So it was pretty clear that I wanted to be a dancer, and I grew through the ranks, and I did the national schools, and I had all the awards and all this stuff. Actually graduated from Dance College at 16 before I graduated high school. So dance was really my passion. I was breathing, living, living, sleeping, dance and ballet was my primary passion. I wasn't the typical ballerina, and in a country like France, it, I will say it as a difference from America, where, where I moved later on, it's very much. You're either a ballerina or you're a jazz dancer, or you're a contemporary dancer. And I wasn't the typical type for a ballet dancer, and there were very much types to get into that career.

Sarah  3:51  
So So I had some roadblocks, which forced me to open, open my horizons a little bit. I eventually moved to Paris, where I studied my professional career, doing a lot of gigging, working with a jazz company at first, and then stumbled into an audition for a show with Franco Dragon, which had never even heard about because I was in such a strictly dancer niche, and Franco really had done circus, which I wasn't very close to, and Franco was putting together the Celine Dion show, and was doing auditions all over the world. So I just stumbled into that audition out of nowhere. I think I was working at Disney and Paris at that time, and and the rest is history. I mean, this audition really opened my mind. It opened my my horizons. 

Sarah  4:47  
I was hired onto the show. We did six months of crazy creation in Belgium, where we had to train acrobatics. We had to train aerials, we sang, we did percussions on the top of. Dancing, creating, really, that opened my mind to Ooh, there's a lot more than point shoes and to choose and something else. And that's kind of what I want to do. So eventually, that brought me here to Las Vegas, 1918, years ago, so that it's been a minute. We did about five years with Celine. It was a fantastic, fantastic show, a fantastic cast. And after the five years were done and the show closed, I decided to stay. I was very lucky to move on and keep working with Franco at Le Rev when they created the ballroom section, I did this for about three and a half years, and always had my eye on Cirque. 

Sarah  5:46  
So Cirque du Soleil, I mean, ever since working with Franco and going to O and Mystere, when we first moved here was, was a very much a dream company to join. And eventually I was offered a contract and joined the show Viva Elvis, where I danced for a little bit less than two years, they announced the closing of the show. And once they did that, I really was in front of a big turn, and I had a big fork in front of me where it was like, either you continue dancing or you start thinking of the next steps. And that's when I realized I was married at the time, I had done three of the major productions here in Las Vegas. I mean, that was beyond any of my career expectations at this point, and I was ready to take on a new challenge and step off the stage. And that's when I was lucky enough to get hired at the casting department here at Cirque and and the rest is history. I sell at casting for about eight and a half years, held many audition eventually grew into the head of the department here in Las Vegas, and really being on the other side and helping young artists into their dreams was so much more fulfilling than being on stage.

Loren  7:05  
That's absolutely amazing, Sarah, as I said, truly living the dancer's dream, and even above that, because you get to continue by working with the other arts and athletes. So it didn't stop for you.

Sarah  7:19  
I think what I've been lucky with is that I've been on both sides of the room, you know. So I didn't just become a casting agent out of nowhere from a production, you know, I really came from an artist. So I I would look at an artist and be like, I know exactly how you feel, buddy. So you get to shake it off, because you have the gift, and we see it, but unless you give me the best of yourself, it's not going to happen. And they would look at me like, like, she just talked to my soul, you know what I mean? And I think that really helped with with successful auditions, you know, because I would go in bare feet, I would go like, at some especially like for clowns and stuff like that, we would get the table away. There would not be a table there. Would just be in the room with them. Like it's just knowing how to become a part of their group and making them relate to you so that they respond better. Otherwise, it's like, oh, it's a casting agent. There's a table. My resume here, and then I'm here, but they feel judged. So that's what I loved about Cirque, is that we really wanted to make it a human connection with people, versus a judgment call. It was a fun gig.

Loren  8:37  
Now, I know it must have been a difficult fork in the road that you had. How did you know it was time to stop performing, and what was it like transitioning into, as some people would say, the real world?

Sarah  8:50  
So for me, it was always something I had in the back of my mind. You know, as I said, my mom was a ballet teacher, so I was always in the production aspect in everything she did, I would teach. I would take care of lightings. I would take care of making sure the music was right. I was always in, you know, the lighting booth, or whatever, during the shows, even when I was performing, we would always have shows on the side. And I would never be scared to be like, well, you know what on this one? I'll actually help with costumes, or I'll do a little bit of stage management or, you know, so I had always wanted to see what was going on elsewhere, and I think that that's a big thing to keep that open mind and to stay aware of what's around you, because that could eventually become your transition. 

Sarah  9:39  
I think transitions are really hard, you know, transitions from students to professional, transitions from athlete to artists, transitions from artists to whatever else you want to do after, you know, yeah, I think transition is a big thing, and it's a thing that's not really talked about by a lot of people. Like there everybody's always in the now. And we don't always think of like the plan B and, you know, or how to prepare for those futures. And for me, it was really time for me to not work at night anymore. I never saw my husband. We were married for three years, and we had completely opposite schedules, and I just wanted to be home at night, you know. And I was lucky to transition into a role that was still doing what I loved, that was still using my expertise, that was still in the middle of the world that I was passionate about, and on top of it, I was helping people. So this role at casting was very it's a key role in a production, because you really are the, the first person the artists meet when they come to the company. So it's a big responsibility. You're kind of an ambassador. And that really, that made me, you know that that gave me the chills every single time I had audition and I had 300 dancers in front of me.

Loren  11:07  
Wow. I know a lot of dance teachers and studio owners can relate to the working at night and not seeing their significant others. We all sort of go through that part of it and want to create a better life for ourselves, where we can actually be with the person that we want to be with. So as you said, it's so amazing that you got the opportunity to have a job still in the industry that you love, but that fit into a better time schedule for you and your family. So that's you know, I love when things work out like that for people who are awesome. Now. Sarah, what advice would you give artists as they start auditioning and presenting themselves to the world?

Sarah  11:49  
That's a really good one. There was a phrase that we used to say at every single audition, and we would start with, don't try to show us what you think we want to see. And this one was key. I think, especially at Cirque, there was a preconception of what was needed. And you know, there were so many projects and so many projects that weren't even happening yet that we may have kind of in our head. And you know, we had to look for in the download that I think the biggest advice is, be you. If you can be the most honest you, and, of course, the best version of yourself, then you can't do anything wrong, because you may actually be what we're are looking for. 

Sarah  12:42  
I think this advice is important also, because once you get on stage, you don't want to, you want to be something that is true to you. You want to. You want to be able to be happy on stage. So if you're not honest in your audition, then you may bring the wrong image and therefore be cast for the wrong role for you, you know, so, yeah, be being honest to who you are as an artist, of course, you know, follow all the directions. Bring your A game, technically, really be open to what's happening in the room. Listen, listen. I don't know one casting director or director or choreographer that will not give you a million hints while they teach while, you know, while they throw notes. Take it all in. I mean, it's a learning it's a learning process as well. When you're in the room, whether you get the gig or not, you should really take this as let's take it all in, and I'm going to get out of here grown and with something that I didn't have when I first came in.

Loren  13:51  
Words of wisdom from Sarah Davidson. That's so true in everything in life, every experience we have, we need to learn from it, and that's how we grow as people and artists. So when you were working with Cirque du Soleil as part of the casting team, it sounds like you worked with dancers, but also a lot of high level athletes. And there is a difference between being an athlete trained for specific physical events and as opposed to an artist who has to go on a stage and tell a story. How would you help these athletes become artists?

Sarah  14:27  
So for us, really, at the audition stage, it was to see where they were, as far as their artistic level and artistic abilities and what the potential was. You know, are they able to pick up choreography? Can they move well? Are they dynamic? Are they able to communicate with an audience? Are they able to portray a character? So these were all things that we would test, and we would have little games and little exercises just to make them loosen up. I mean, often. It was really just about loosening up and getting that fear out of the, you know, out of their mind, because it's not their expertise, right? 

Sarah  15:10  
So it was really just just take it as another movement time, and we're just going to play. And I think once you bring the word play into it, then it becomes different. It's not work. It's not, it's not, you don't see it as something new. It's just, it's just a game. It's just play and see where it goes. And for us, seeing artists that didn't necessarily like they weren't necessarily there, but they had an open mind, and we saw them trying and grow through the audition. That was huge. Because if you can see an artist changing in the span of two days, then imagine how much they can change in the span of four weeks when they're integrating a show. Right?

Loren  15:57  
Would you say that there were any sort of common downfalls, or common things athletes or artists would do that would definitely hinder their chances at getting a job with Cirque.

Sarah  16:09  
I think that the worst thing that you could do is not believe in yourself, usually, especially with Cirque, by the time you get into the audition room, there was, I don't know, maybe 2-3, 2-3, things that you had to go through, that you were selected through. So you are in the room for a reason, and that's because we've seen something that we like. So the worst thing you can do is not trust your abilities once you're in the room, because once you're there, sell yourself, you know, and then I think just having a closed mind and be like, Well, I don't know how to do this, so I'm not going to do it is probably not going to go in your favor. And some athletes, and you know, are, you know, they're very much in their lane of like what I've worked for 20 years into this. Why would I have to do this as well? And I get it, but at the same time, if you wanted to get into a protectionist Soleil, then you have to become this well rounded artist. So again, the open mind is probably the key to doing it all. I think in the end, we would have, we would prefer hiring an artist that was slightly less skilled but with much more of an open mind and a growth path in front of them, rather than somebody that is extremely skilled but doesn't want to do anything else.

Loren  17:39  
I think you're a great example of that, because you did mention you wanted to be a ballet dancer. That was your dream to be a ballerina. How cool is that? But you weren't the typical ballerina. And so then you ended up in a jazz company, and then from that, you went on and trained in all these other different genres. And so you really became versatile. And then I'm sure that's what appealed when people were auditioning you, that you would, you know, try everything, try your hardest, that you've already expanded your knowledge in that way. You're a great leader for the arts coming up as well, to show them that, yeah, don't be so stuck in on one thing, because you can do many things, which is great to pass on to everyone. Is there anything else that you would say to help artists? Maybe that we're in the same position as you they're performing, and they're at that point where maybe it's the schedule, or maybe it's their body that can't keep up with the work anymore. What would you say to them to help them figure out if it's time for them to stop performing?

Sarah  18:50  
Um, I mean, if it's your body, you'll know, obviously. But I think once you start getting that itch of, should I keep doing this, then it's, it's the latest. You should start looking at what other interests you have in your life, and it could be something related to performance, or it could be something completely different, you know, like, I don't know you like, into your design, then, then get into this. I mean, especially if you're on a show schedule, then you should have at least half a day where you should be able to take that time to put towards your next path. But I really wouldn't wait until that itch. I really would start thinking. I mean, I tried to think about what was next when I first, when I was in my 20s, you know, because it could stop. It could very easily stop quickly. We know injuries happen, you know, and sometimes you just can't heal out of it. And you're, if you're in front of that door, and you don't have a plan B, then it. It's, it's almost too late. At the same time, it's really reflect on on you and don't, don't, you know, let's say you do have an injury and it stops quickly. Then be kind to yourself, let your body heal and take the time to figure out what you really want to do. 

Sarah  20:18  
The transition is hard in itself, because, you know you, you, you are basically paid to do what you love like it's not a job. It was never a job. So you need to figure out what you're going to be able to do with your life, where you're going to have that as close of a feeling of this not being a job, is this going to be transferring your skills into something close to performing, maybe coaching, teaching, creating, you know, going into rigging, going into casting, staying in the production area. Or will you bring all the skill set, like the hard work, discipline, the all of that, and just completely switch from, I don't know, to like a community career in communication and go back to school for business or whatever it is that make make you happy. I think the gift that we have as performers and athletes and dancers is that we are skilled with so many and I don't like calling them soft skills. They're really human skills. We are gifted with so many human skills because we have to go through some of their harder schedules. We have to take care of our bodies. We really have to keep a mental strength all the time that we can do whatever we set ourselves to do. It's really about taking the time to look at yourself in the mirror and decide what that's going to be true.

Loren  21:55  
You know when you said you need a plan B, that became evident last year, when the pandemic started, we all didn't matter whether you were a performer or anything. We all needed a plan B. And I think you're right that dancers and athletes, we just do have that mindset. We can overcome all the obstacles that are put in front of us. We just have to figure out a way.

Sarah  22:21  
We are a small community, but we are mighty community. And I think to to realize that there are people around you that are willing to help you through that journey and figure out who these people are like, if you're in a show, I am sure that your show directors, you know, any your coaches, anybody who knows you and who knows your quality can help you through that process as well. So, so it's you know when, when we looked at something like last year and the pandemic and the world stopping and no more live entertainment and all of that, we all turn to each other and say, Hey, so how? How can we? How can I support you into what you want to do next, so that you know you can make it through and when it comes back, you can go back and be in the best shape possible type thing. So So I think that the power of the community and the people around you is really important.

Loren  23:16  
I agree with that 100% surround yourself with same goal orientated people, and they'll lift you up. Is there anything else that you'd like to tell our listeners about performing or transitioning or Cirque du Soleil?

Sarah  23:35  
I think what I didn't realize when I was a young artist is to what I didn't do well, is to really trust my gift. And although I've been extremely lucky with the career that I've had, you know, there were many, many no's to get to these yeses, even towards, you know, even once the quote, unquote success came, but, but I think it's really trust in the fact that you are doing the best you can, and if you're if you did the best you can, then you can go home, whether you get the gig or not, whether you win the middle or not, whether you know, whether you get to the results you want. It as long as you are your best at every single moment when it when it matters, then just go home and feel good for yourself, because it's, it's a win in its own. And that's something I didn't do well when I didn't get the gig, you know, I would beat myself up. I mean, we're the worst critics of ourselves, and it helps us in the growth, but he also, I think, slows us down at times. So So, yeah, trust in your own ability. I'm not saying be cocky about it, but, but I think having that, that quiet confidence about yourself will really take you a long way. That's.

Loren  25:00  
Absolutely, and just before we say goodbye, I have to tell you that Las Vegas is one of my favorite cities to visit, and you've been living there for almost 18 years. So do you have any favorite shows or restaurants that I can hopefully go to the next time that I go there?

Sarah  25:16  
Of course, I mean, O is the messy, because it's the classic and it's, it's, it just doesn't get old. It's a masterpiece that will live on for ever and ever, that will be my favorite show forever. It's the show that made me cry and fall in love with circus arts. I would say, as far as restaurants, it really depends on what you like. I have a few favorite Thai foods, maybe off this trip, that are kind of little hidden gems that I'd be happy to recommend.

Loren  25:56  
Okay, so what happens to people that live in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Sarah  26:04  
It's not a bad life down here. It really isn't.

Loren  26:07  
It must not be. You did, you know, show up there 18 years ago and you're still there, and that's where your family is. So I can imagine that it's it's pretty awesome. And definitely when I go to Vegas next, which will hopefully be sometime soon, I will ask you for those recommendations. Sarah, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today.

Sarah  26:31  
Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure.

Loren  26:42  
If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe and follow so you never miss an episode. And if you know a dance teacher, student or parent who would love to hear this discussion, send it their way. 

Loren  26:54  
Sharing the show is one of the best ways to support the podcast. Until next time, find power in your strength, freedom in your flexibility, and know that we are here to support you on your acro journey. 

Loren  27:11  
Thanks for listening everyone and have a great day!