Why Not Passing an Audition doesn’t mean you Failed

Sometimes They Love You… And Still Can’t Hire You

By Joseane Martins
Cirque du Soleil performer | Founder of Cirquenastics

I think one of the hardest things performers experience is believing that every rejection means:
“I’m not good enough.”

I used to think that too.

If I trained harder…
If I became stronger…
If I improved artistically enough…
then eventually auditions would become easy.

But the truth is, the entertainment industry is so much more complicated than that.

Sometimes you’re not ready yet.
But sometimes…

you are ready.

And it still doesn’t happen.

That’s something I wish more performers understood earlier.

Because some of the auditions that changed my career…
were actually the ones where I didn’t get hired.

My Circus Career Started With A Facebook Post

Before circus, before Cirque du Soleil, before Russian cradle, I was a synchronized swimmer on the Brazilian national team.

At the time, I had no idea I would eventually become an acrobat.

One day, I saw a Facebook post from a company looking for synchronized swimmers interested in performing in a show in Texas.

I remember looking at one of my best friends and asking:
“Should we try?”

The next day, after training, we filmed videos and sent them in.

I got selected.

And honestly, that experience completely changed my life.

The show was at SeaWorld San Antonio. It was my first real contact with the entertainment world outside of sport.

I remember walking around and seeing performers doing:
- bungee
- Russian swing
- aerial silks

And I was completely mesmerized.

There was something so beautiful about the mix of athleticism, theater, makeup, lights, movement, music, and emotion.

That was the moment I realized:
I want to perform.

The First Le Rêve Audition

While I was performing in Texas in 2013, people from a show called Le Rêve came to run an in-person audition with me and two other synchronized swimmers at the pool.

I remember feeling excited and hopeful because Le Rêve was such a huge dream show. Girls performing synchro with red high heels in this iconic Las Vegas Casino. 

But after the audition…

nothing happened.

No contract.
No real explanation.
Just silence.

At the time, it hurt a lot.

Especially because when you’re young in this industry, you often believe rejection must mean:
“They didn’t like me.”
“I’m not talented enough.”
“I’m not ready.”

But now, years later, I understand how many things happen behind the scenes that performers never fully see.

The Audition That Changed My Life

Then The House of Dancing Water contacted me.

At the time, the show belonged to Dragone, and they were looking for performers with very specific physical profiles and abilities.

They sent me a video audition.

And honestly?
When I first opened the requirements, I thought:
“There’s no way I can do all of this.”

The audition included:
- strength work
- flexibility
- handstands
- presses
- diving
- flips
- conditioning
- pistol squats
- tempo work

I had one month to prepare.

One month.

At the beginning, I couldn’t even do one pistol squat properly.

Not one.

But synchronized swimming had already taught me discipline.

And luckily, because of my background in the Brazilian national team, I knew incredible coaches from different areas:
gymnastics,
diving,
strength training,
flexibility.

So every day, I trained.

I researched.
I asked for help.
I failed.
I tried again.

And little by little, I became capable of doing things I genuinely believed were impossible for me weeks earlier.

I still remember the feeling of sending that audition video.

I was proud before even knowing the result.

Because for the first time, I realized how much the body can adapt when you truly commit yourself to something.

And after reviewing my material, they told me:
“Wow… you’re not just a synchronized swimmer.”

That sentence stayed with me.

Because deep down, I knew I was transforming into something more.

Becoming An Acrobat

The House of Dancing Water first selected me for a training formation in Belgium.(Cast change over training team 2015)

Not for the show itself, just for training.

That’s another thing many performers don’t realize:
sometimes companies invest in your potential before they even know exactly where you’ll fit.

That training changed my life.

And eventually, I received my contract in Macau.

That became my first real acrobatic contract.

And honestly?
I thought after that, getting jobs would become easy.

I thought:
“Now I have experience. Now companies will finally want me.”

But that’s not what happened.

The Silence After Macau

Around 2017, while I was in Macau, I started applying everywhere again.

This time, I wasn’t only applying as a synchronized swimmer anymore.

Now I was sending material as both:
- a synchronized swimmer
- and an acrobat

I also started posting more acrobatic material online.

And still…

nothing happened for months.

That period was emotionally difficult because I genuinely believed:
“After a show like this, opportunities should come quickly.”

But the industry doesn’t always move when we expect it to.

And this is something performers rarely talk about openly.

Sometimes you can be:
- experienced
- strong
- prepared
- versatile
- professional

…and still spend months hearing absolutely nothing.

The Second Le Rêve Audition

In 2017, after Macau, I auditioned again for Le Rêve in Las Vegas.

This time, I auditioned both:
- as a synchronized swimmer
- and as an acrobat

And this audition became one of the most emotional moments of my career.

Because years earlier, I had auditioned for them as a swimmer and basically heard nothing back.

Now, after years of performing and evolving, they looked at me completely differently.

I remember them telling me:
“Your artistic side improved so much.”

That sentence hit me deeply.

Because they were right.

When I first started auditioning, physically I was strong.
But artistically?
I still had so much to learn.

Years of performing had transformed me.

And this time, they genuinely wanted to hire me.

I passed the fitness tests.
I auditioned well.
They loved my versatility.

But they couldn’t make the visa work.

That was the reason.

Not my talent.
Not my preparation.
Not my conditioning.

The visa.

And honestly?
That moment taught me one of the biggest lessons of my career:

Sometimes they love you…
and still can’t hire you. 

The Cirque Du Soleil Call

What’s funny is that Cirque had already contacted me once before, back in 2015.

At the time, they reached out to me only as a synchronized swimmer.

But I had just started becoming an acrobat, and honestly, I didn’t want to stop that journey.

I had fallen in love with learning new apparatuses, discovering new physical abilities, and challenging myself beyond the water.

So I stayed in Macau.

Later, after leaving the show, I was finally ready to fully transition either into circus or another acrobatic contract.

And again…
nothing happened immediately.

So I went back to Macau for a little while.

And then one day, I received the call from Cirque asking if I would be interested in learning Russian cradle.

I remember thinking:

“Wait… training only?”

At the time, I was already performing in an incredible show and had stability. So leaving a full contract to train a completely new apparatus, with no guaranteed position afterward, felt terrifying.

But I was immediately curious.

And deep down, I knew opportunities like this don’t come often.

The Risk Nobody Sees

Something many people don’t realize is that, in my case, I wasn’t hired directly into a show.

I was first brought into a training formation called PPP.

The idea was simple:
they saw potential in athletes and performers they believed could learn a new apparatus.

So they train you first.
And later, if a position opens, you may be placed into a show.

But nothing is guaranteed.

I remember asking very honestly:

“So… are there actually positions available after this?”

Because by then, I already understood how unpredictable this industry can be.

Sometimes opportunities take years.
Sometimes timing changes everything.
Sometimes companies want you… but simply don’t have a place for you yet.

And during the entire three-month training, we still had zero confirmation of where we were going afterward.

Nothing.

No show.
No contract.
No guarantee.

Just training every single day and hoping the opportunity would eventually come.

And only on the very last day of training did they finally tell me a position had opened.

(Flying at the show Corteo by Cirque du Soleil)

That moment changed the direction of my career.

Not because everything suddenly became easy.
But because I had taken the risk before having certainty.

And honestly?
That part was hard too.

But that’s another story for another blog post.

What I Wish More Performers Understood

The entertainment industry is not always:
“Best performer gets the job.”

Sometimes:
- the timing doesn’t align
- budgets change
- visas become complicated
- they already have similar profiles
- they’re building backup lists
- contracts shift unexpectedly

And sometimes companies remember you for years before the right opportunity finally appears.

That’s exactly what happened with me.

Cirque had known my material for years before the timing aligned.

And if I had quit during the silence…
if I had assumed rejection meant failure…
if I had stopped training because opportunities weren’t coming fast enough…

none of this would have happened.

Why I Created Cirquenastics

This is one of the reasons I created Cirquenastics.

Not just to help performers become stronger physically…
but to help them stay ready long enough for the right opportunity to arrive.

Because sometimes your dream contract doesn’t happen immediately.

Sometimes the industry needs time to catch up to your growth.

And sometimes the difference between the performer who eventually “makes it” and the one who disappears…

is simply the person who kept going.