Staying Castable on the Road:Training, Strength & Studio Etiquette with Elise Southwick

What does it actually take to sustain a career on tour?

In this episode of The Artist Behind the Art, I’m joined by professional circus artist Elise Southwick, currently touring with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. From cruise ships across the Mediterranean to bus tours across the U.S., Elise shares what it really looks like to maintain your discipline, your strength, and your professionalism while constantly on the move.

We begin with something simple — but powerful:
 How you introduce yourself matters.

Elise shares the exact approach she uses when reaching out to studio owners while on tour — and why professionalism, clarity, and preparation are what open doors.

We also dive into:

• How to maintain your primary discipline while performing a different track
• Strength training for aerialists (yes — barbell squats and deadlifts)
• Why lifting heavy doesn’t mean “bulking up”
• The difference between ship contracts, bus tours, and resident-style work
• How to structure training when you’re performing 8 shows a week
• The importance of habits for physical, mental, and spiritual longevity

Elise speaks honestly about finding the “sweet spot” between overworking and underworking — and why career sustainability comes down to the habits you build when no one is watching.

If you’re an emerging circus artist, currently touring, or dreaming of your first big contract, this conversation is a masterclass in how to stay ready — and stay professional.

Own the Stage Act Creation Mentorship begins March 23rd: If you’re ready to create an act that makes an audience lean in and feel time stand still, I would love to invite you to apply and see if it’s the right fit.

📩 Email: Jennifer@aretementorship.com

📱 DM: @arete.actdevelopment on Instagram

Reach out, and I’ll send you the application details.

Thanks so much for listening to The Artist Behind the Art.
This podcast exists to support performers in building sustainable, aligned, and castable careers — beyond just the skills.

Ready to Unlock What’s Next?

If you know there’s more inside you than you’ve unlocked on your own…
 If your skills are strong, but you’re unsure how to shape them into something undeniable…

You don’t have to figure that out alone.

Inside the Own the Stage Act Creation Mentorship, we bring personalized feedback and clear strategy to your creative process — so every moment of your act is masterful, connected, and intentional. From entrance to bow.

The mentorship begins March 23rd, and the founding members round will be intimate and focused.

If you’re ready to build an act that makes an audience lean in and feel time stand still:

📩 Email: Jennifer@aretementorship.com

📱 DM: @arete.actdevelopment

I’d love to see what we can create together.

🎙 Follow the podcast on Instagram:
 https://www.instagram.com/theartistbehindtheart/

Remember — you already have what it takes.
 The question is: are you ready to prove it to yourself?

Until next time — show up big and own the stage.

Transcript

Speaker: 0:01

Welcome to the Artist Behind the Art, the podcast that lists the curtain on what it takes to thrive as a professional performer. I'm your host, Jennifer Pierce, artist coach, creative strategist, and lifelong advocate for performers who are ready to go from unsure to unforgettable. This is where the gatekeeping ends and your journey to thriving in the industry begins. Let's dive in.

Jennifer Pierce: 0:29

Alright guys. Today we are joined by Elise Southwick. Welcome Elise to the podcast.

Elise Southwick: 0:36

Thanks for having me, Jennifer.

Jennifer Pierce: 0:38

Thank you so much for being on., We met because you reached out to me while you were on tour to be able to keep yourself in shape while you are in Orlando and, when I received your email about looking for training space, I was very impressed with how detail oriented you were in, um, who you were, what your qualifications were, that you were really willing to be very flexible in timing. And it just, it really, um, it caught my eye and I, that's why I wanted to have you on the podcast because. I think there's a right way to go about approaching studio owners that instills confidence that, you know, you know, that you, um, you're gonna show up and be very respectful of the space. So, I would love for you just to share about what is your approach, when you reach out to studio owners.

Elise Southwick: 1:34

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for having me here at Orlando Aerial Arts. Thrilled to be here. Um, so basically when I set out on this tour in August of 2025, I knew I was gonna be needing to keep up my aerial training because the show that I'm in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, um, I am doing an aerial track in that show. Um, however, it is not my main discipline, so I knew I was gonna need to. Maintain my discipline, maintain my strength and flexibility. Um, and I needed to have places to do that along the way, which would be all over the United States. So I wrote out a template, uh, which basically introduces myself, um, as a professional circus artist who has done a, you know, a variety of shows, which I'm sure I'll go over. Um, with you and, uh, I explained a little bit about my background, um, having gone to the New England Center for Circus Arts, um, and finishing a program there, which I think shows, you know, competence and reliability. Um, and then also, you know, rigging potentially like, um, teaching that I've done as well in the past. So I try to, you know, start with a really like. Presentable and like nice sounding greetings so that it doesn't sound really like pretentious or anything, but it just sounds like, Hey, I'm a professional circus artist and you can trust me. Um, this is a little bit about who I am in that first paragraph. You know, the second paragraph I'm explaining that I would like to. Come to open gym and these are my, you know, time availabilities, which that is like, that's been the biggest issue really is finding a match for that time because we do have shows that are. Basically almost every evening and weekend, which is the exact opposite that most people are training. So, and then I just put a little, you know, I put my cv, I put my demo reel, my latest demo reel, and this template is what I use just to send out, um, in a, in a couple weeks in advance, uh, to each studio as we go along the.

Jennifer Pierce: 3:43

Awesome. Yeah, it just, it really instilled a lot of confidence. I was able to see where you've trained, so if I wanted to reach out to anybody that I happen to know, I, you know, I, I would have confidence to do so there. Um, and then seeing your demo and seeing that you were very clean artist, you were technical, so I had confidence that you were gonna come in and, you know, respect the space and be safe. So I thank you for, um. Sharing that with everybody because I think that's definitely, if you're on tour and not doing your main discipline, it is essential that you find the space to be able to be ready for your next contract that, uh, is in the discipline that is, you know, being asked for from the directors.

Elise Southwick: 4:27

That's so true, and it takes a lot, right? We know in this field, it's, it's not just you get here and you're done and you've, you've made it, but it's a constant upkeep just to maintain that strength and flexibility and skillset.

Jennifer Pierce: 4:40

It is. Definitely. And so when you come into spaces, what is your focus for keeping yourself. In your in shape for you? Mm-hmm. What, what does that look like for you? Because for everybody it's different. Um, but what does your training program look like when you go into a space?

Elise Southwick: 4:58

Yeah, so it's definitely different on tour, um, than it would be if I were say, at home, um, or, you know, on a different kind of tour. Um, all of these are. Different, definitely different training programs. Um, but I am at the moment, since I am on tour, doing eight shows a week, um, trying to get at least one aerial training in per week that focuses more on, uh, skills because I have a point to work with. Right. And that's like more of my specialty, like working towards a certain goal that I have or just maintaining skills or sequences. Um, or like, you know, kind of more artistic side really. Although I do incorporate, always incorporate some conditioning. I always do a little bit of that,

Jennifer Pierce: 5:42

yes,

Elise Southwick: 5:43

but I save my real strength. Conditioning for the, what we call the muggle gym. Like you know, we have access to the YMCA or whatever gym we have along the way. I'll go there and I will do my squats and my dead lifts. I will do overhead presses. I will train handstands, I will train flexibility. All of that can be done in a regular gym. Or, you know, at home in the Airbnb. So you gotta get a little creative sometimes to make it all work, but that way I can really use the, the time I, the little bit of time I have, um, on a point that's like really working towards my skill sets or maintaining my skill sets.

Jennifer Pierce: 6:24

I love that. No, that's really great. And just for everybody listening, did you hear the squats and the deadlifts in there? We just had, on a podcast, we had a physiotherapist, and her greatest wish is that, uh, acrobats, circus artists will strength train. Um, so just because you, you creaked open that door, I, I would love to hear what does your strength training regimen? Look like, because we had this conversation that often circus artists are scared of bulking up, but the strength is really where the longevity is. So what does that kind of look like for you?

Elise Southwick: 6:57

Hmm. Yeah. So, um, a few years ago I was. Introduced to the starting strength model, which is not the only way about going about weightlifting, but, uh, it is a very, it's been a very helpful program to follow through their book. Um, but basically it just takes you through a simple squat with a barbell. This is all barbell exercise. So a barbell squat, a barbell deadlift, not one of those, um, trapeze. Uh, trapezoid shaped ones. Oh yeah. Yes. Not that one, although I'm sure it has its uses. I don't know. I've never done it. Um, uh, but yeah, so barbell deadlift, um, barbell overhead press great for handstands. Um, and sometimes the bench press, but also, you know, I try to focus more on the overhead press'cause it's more of a. More applicable to handstands. So basically you go through what's called a novice linear progression, where you start super low weight and you're just learning these movement patterns. Um, and I even did it with what I call a Bambi barbell. Um, it's the little, you know, 30 pound barbell instead of the 45 1, and it's a little bit smaller and it kind of fits my hands a little better. And that's what I started with so that I felt confident. And then increasing by five pounds every session. And so over the. First year I think I put on, you know, I don't, I can't remember exactly for each lift what I put on, but a lot of weight, like I got a lot stronger. And I have to say, like, I didn't really get that much bigger.

Jennifer Pierce: 8:25

Awesome.

Elise Southwick: 8:26

So I would say don't, like, if you're worried about getting that big, like you would have to try so hard. And those people that do like, they do work so hard to be that size. Right. And that, that's what, that's a different, you know, trajectory for. Power lifting or Olympic weight lift, whatever that skillset set is, that's a different skillset than being an aerialist. So I'm talking about being an aerialist that also strength trains. Um, and I don't think you have to really worry about putting, putting on a lot of bulk.

Jennifer Pierce: 8:57

I love that. Yes. Yeah. Thank, thank you for, uh, kind of segueing into that and, uh. She was also saying that like to put on the bulk, you have to eat the calories to be able to feed that muscle growth. So I, I love that you said that because I think the more, um, circus artists in general can invest in their strength training, just the more they're going to seek career longevity and just output. So I love that, that, that you do that in your training regimen.

Elise Southwick: 9:26

Yeah.

Jennifer Pierce: 9:27

So other than, um, right now where you are on tour with Harry Potter and the Curse child, you've also toured, um, going on a bus. You've been on ships. Uh, let's talk a little about ships because that is also a different place where, um, depending upon the company. You either have good amount of theater time or you don't. In your experience, um, what did you encounter for you and how did you stay on shape and what disciplines were you doing on that contract?

Elise Southwick: 9:59

Hmm, great. So I, I've only worked for one cruise company, um, and that had. About 13 ships in its fleet. So I did a couple different ships and different class sizes, um, but I only worked for AIDA Cruise lines. Um, and that was between about 2017 and 2020, right up until the pandemic actually I was supposed to go on my fourth contract. And of course that didn't work out in 2020, but, um. So the first ship I worked on was at the time their biggest one, their newest one. Um, it was the Aida Parallel, um, and we were touring in the Mediterranean. Amazing. Which was lovely and beautiful. Um, but yeah, so actually Aida has a really unique setup where their theater is actually in the middle of the ship instead of in, I think a lot of them have it in the back, perhaps

Jennifer Pierce: 10:52

back or front. Yeah, yeah,

Elise Southwick: 10:54

yeah. So they're in the middle. Um, and. Because of this. They are on, they're on, on Perla. We were on deck six with a basically like theater in the round. So the theater encompasses three different decks, so it'll start on deck six. Where the floor is and the stage is, and the pe you know, the first layer of audience. Then you have deck seven with another round layer of audience around you. And then deck eight as well. I think it was 6, 7, 8, something like that. Um, slightly different on the smaller ships, but you get the picture that it's like this. You're inside the ship, but there's also floor to ceiling, like these three decks full of just glass, like all around.

Jennifer Pierce: 11:38

Amazing.

Elise Southwick: 11:39

And so it's, well, I mean, of course, uh, they bring in the shades for a show to make this, the lighting work. Right. But during the day, um, they would let us train on like, um, sea days, for example, when everyone's stuck on the ship anyway. Um, so that's when we did the most of our training, which would've been, it would've amounted to about. Maybe twice a week.

Jennifer Pierce: 12:02

Okay.

Elise Southwick: 12:02

Once, once or twice a week, um, depending on your dance captain, right? Yes. Some dance captains were less involved and not wanting to rehearse and do extra work. And then some were really wanting to. Give the artists a lot of time to not only train, but also create more shows. Like the last contract I did, we had all these extra shows when we toured, uh, going through New York City. Um, we had a New York show and then we had like an extra Halloween show and all these extra shows they wanted to make. So we did get a lot of extra time for that. Um, but outside of those couple of times, which would've been maybe two hours at a time, um, they do have a gym on the ship that you can train. Um, they didn't have barbells, um, but I wasn't using barbells at the time. So I, um, you know, I would just use their cable machines. I would use free weights, whatever I could find to stay strong. Um. Yeah, they have stuff you can hang from. So you can always be doing your leg lifts and your pull-ups and everything. Um, I also trained a lot of handstands during that time. Nice. Which for better or worse, you know, you get some rough sea and that's very difficult on the ship. So I gave myself grace around that. But there's plenty to be done in the Muggle gym. Really? Uh, lots of stretching. I was doing a lot of stretching and handstands at that time. Kind of what worked with the gym, but, uh, so these days I do focus more on strength and as I age, try. Maintain that strength.

Jennifer Pierce: 13:31

I love that. And did you enjoy your experience on ships?

Elise Southwick: 13:35

I really did, yeah. You know, it was my first like big contract outta circus school and so yeah, I mean, who wouldn't love like being on this cruise ship performing almost every night in Europe? You know, you're getting off the ship in France and Italy and Barcelona and Palma de Mayorca. It was incredible. Um, and I would've kept going had the pandemic actually not cut that short. Um, the only reason I didn't go back is because of Harry Potter, actually. I started getting that contract and then ended up doing it again now for the tour. But, uh, yeah, they were, it was a really good experience for me.

Jennifer Pierce: 14:14

That's awesome.

14:15

Yeah.

Jennifer Pierce: 14:15

And with Aida, how many shows typically, um, in a voyage? Mm-hmm. Did you have, because it really, you know, the voyages, if you have the shorter cruises, it's definitely more work intense. If you have three and four day cruises, that can be, uh. Really an intense schedule. So it's something just to keep in mind, if you're an up and coming artist, definitely inquire how many shows there are because if you have longer voyages, sometimes the demand is less. So what was your experience?

Elise Southwick: 14:45

Yeah, so like you said, I mean it really depends. Um, you know, the shorter cruises could be like four days, and then some of the longer cruises I did were a month. And given those constraints like. We only, you know, as artists can offer so many shows, right? Because we go into Hamburg, Germany and we rehearse for two months, and you've learned, I think we had about three, like full length, you know, 45 minute shows. And then you'd have like your Prime time, which was like your solo number. So you know, three to four, let's say shows, although you do perform those three shows, double. On Aida, at least they have a seven o'clock and then a nine o'clock. So you would do it twice. Um, so it wasn't every night that I was performing, but if it was like, say a one week cruise, like I had, my first contract was a one week cruise. It was kind of perfect'cause I was performing like three or four nights a week and then I'd have like three nights off. Right?

Jennifer Pierce: 15:46

Yeah.

Elise Southwick: 15:46

Something like that. Um, to watch the other shows that, uh, the dancers were doing or the singers were doing, or. Work on some of my own stuff in the gym or whatever it may be. Um, read a book, even take a rest day, which is great.

Jennifer Pierce: 16:00

Yes.

Elise Southwick: 16:01

Um, so that was kind of the perfect happy spot for me. Um, then you'd have like the shorter cruises where yeah, you're right. Like you could be performing every single night. Um, it was kind of un, I mean, it just depended like what the show captain really wanted. Right. Like the, the, or the manager wanted, because sometimes we. They wanted more dance, you know, they wanted more dance or they wanted more singing or whatever they, they thought would be best for that cruise. Um, also maybe depends where you are that yes has to pertain to the theme, but overall, yes, you're working a lot more on these shorter cruises. Then I was on several trans cruises where we would cross the Atlantic and it took a whole month and because there was a potential of people. Actually, uh, passengers booking that entire month, they can't repeat any of the shows.

Jennifer Pierce: 16:53

Yes. Right. It makes it more of a quandary there.

Elise Southwick: 16:56

Exactly. So you're just like, okay. So I still am performing my four shows in one month.

Jennifer Pierce: 17:03

Yes.

Elise Southwick: 17:04

So that's a little bit too much downtime for me.

Jennifer Pierce: 17:07

Yes.

Elise Southwick: 17:07

Yeah. I like to be busy. I like to be working. I don't like to overwork, but there's that sweet spot of like about a week, week to two weeks was really good.

Jennifer Pierce: 17:17

Yes. Totally agreed. So, last question for you, for up and coming circus artists, what piece of wisdom, what advice would you like to share?

Elise Southwick: 17:29

Hmm. Okay. So I would say for me, the thing that has helped me maintain myself, like body, mind, and spirit throughout. Tours, you know, whether I'm on a bus, a plane, trains, automobile, all of this craziness, right? That this career brings. Um, the thing that has helped me the most is creating good habits. So creating good habits around your training. Of course, like we've been talking about, staying strong, staying flexible, and having reasonable expectations around that, right? It's gonna look different Yes. In different times of your life and in different times of your career. Um. Also finding ways to maintain your mental health as well, and your spiritual or your inner child, whatever you wanna call it.

Jennifer Pierce: 18:22

Yeah.

Elise Southwick: 18:22

Um, so finding ways to play, you know, dance to your favorite song. Like maybe it's go to church, like whatever that is for you. It's so important to figure out what these habits are gonna be for you, um, while you're in a space. You can experiment with that, find what works for you mentally, physically, spiritually, um, and then once you develop those habits, like you're gonna do those habits, whether you're on tour, on a bus, and you're on a ship or whatever it is, like you're gonna just be set up for success.

Jennifer Pierce: 18:56

I love that. That is such fantastic advice. Thank you for being on the podcast.

Elise Southwick: 19:00

Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 19:02

If you're an artist who knows, there's more inside you than you've unlocked on your own. If you feel strong in your skills, but unsure how to shape them into something undeniable, you don't have to figure that out. Alone. I had mentors who believed in me, and I truly believe every artist deserves to have someone that sees and helps them find that magic inside them. Inside own the stage. Act, creation. Mentorship. We demystify act creation through a flexible structure, personalized feedback, and a practical strategy. So every moment of your act is masterful, connected. Crafted and intentional. From entrance to bow, the mentorship. Begins March 23rd and the founding members round will be intimate and focused. If you're ready to build an act that makes an audience lean in and feel time stand still, I would love to invite you to apply and see if it's a right fit for you. DM me at. Act development on Instagram or send me an email. The address is in the show notes and I'll send you the application. I would truly love to see what we can build together. Until next time, show up big and own the stage.

20:16

I.