So this is a question that came together in my head from a variety of other posts. There was just that post about "your child is not going to go pro" which made me think, "There really is no professional gymnastics." Which made me think of a thread from a number of months ago, where Dunno (I think) said, "Yes, there is professional gymnastics. There are the elites that accept endorsements and there are Cirque du Soleil performers." I am not quoting exactly, but if I remember correctly, that was the gist of it.
So, prefacing this question with the fact that my daughter has never expressed ANY interest in being a performer in Cirque du Soleil or similar show, how hard is it to get into a show like that? Do a lot of those performers come up through USAG? Is it the equivalent of saying, "My daughter had the lead in her high school musical. What are the chances of her being on Broadway?" Or is that kind of strength/skill set apply to a small enough subset of people that it's not as competitive as one might think? Do you know of gymnasts who joined the actual circus? Do they usually go to some sort of circus/acrobatic school first, or, again, is the level of strength and flippiness they achieve through upper-level gymnastics enough to get them there?
My daughter (13) says she wants to be a wildlife biologist and is just trying to decide if she'd rather specialize in sea creatures, reptiles and amphibians, or birds of prey, so this is truly just out of curiosity.
So, prefacing this question with the fact that my daughter has never expressed ANY interest in being a performer in Cirque du Soleil or similar show, how hard is it to get into a show like that? Do a lot of those performers come up through USAG? Is it the equivalent of saying, "My daughter had the lead in her high school musical. What are the chances of her being on Broadway?" Or is that kind of strength/skill set apply to a small enough subset of people that it's not as competitive as one might think? Do you know of gymnasts who joined the actual circus? Do they usually go to some sort of circus/acrobatic school first, or, again, is the level of strength and flippiness they achieve through upper-level gymnastics enough to get them there?
My daughter (13) says she wants to be a wildlife biologist and is just trying to decide if she'd rather specialize in sea creatures, reptiles and amphibians, or birds of prey, so this is truly just out of curiosity.