Behind The Scenes: Shanda Sawyer

SHANDA SAWYER bosses clowns around for a living. While many managers might think that job description sounds familiar, Ms. Sawyer is the director of the 136th edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. When Feld Entertainment, which produces the circus, went looking for a new director, they "wanted to look for a director who had never worked in the circus industry, who could bring a different sensibility to it," says Nicole Feld, a producer of this edition of the circus. Ms. Feld approached choreographer and director Shanda Sawyer, who had worked on television projects such as "Extreme Makeover," "The Man Show", "Keenen Ivory Wayans Show", music videos and choreography for film and television. Ms. Sawyer, who started her career as a performer, moved into choreography and directing after developing several dance companies that often incorporated comic elements (she founded a dance troupe with her sister at the age of 14). In her work, Ms. Sawyer has mixed music, comedy and dance with multimedia presentations that incorporated film and video. This new production capitalizes on that multimedia experience, with video screens that make the performances easier to see in the big arenas where the circus plays. "We wanted to bring people closer to the action," says Ms. Feld. Beyond the Clowns Ms. Sawyer's comedy background proved important, too. The comedy in this version of the circus goes beyond the clowns -- for example, the elephants have a dance party. This production also lets Ms. Sawyer tell a story about a family whose dream of being in the circus is fulfilled. Dad becomes the ringmaster, Mom an acrobat, the daughter a dancer. Meanwhile, the son experiments with roles ranging from tumbler to animal trainer. While this isn't a standard three-ring circus (there's one performing area), it is still recognizably a circus -- right down to the pie-throwing clowns. "One of the most important things to me in reimagining the experience was to remain true to the roots and the iconography of the circus," Ms. Sawyer says. What she worked at, Ms. Sawyer says, was ensuring that the individual performers stayed "true to their essential nature," even when they weren't performing their own routines. "I wanted each clown to have his own personality, and to continue with that personality through the production numbers." One drawback to working with the clowns? Occasionally, Ms. Sawyer found herself covered with pie. A Different Learning Curve With animals, the learning curve was different. Not only did Ms. Sawyer have to get to know them and their handlers, she needed to attune herself to the animals' pace and point of view. This was especially important for the elephants, because this production calls for them to work closely with humans other than their trainers. One elephant communicated with Ms. Sawyer by blowing raspberries at her with her trunk. Ms. Sawyer, who lives in Los Angeles, says that leaving this production of the Ringling Bros. circus, once it was on the road, left her with a case of "separation anxiety." Not that she will be away for long: Ms. Sawyer is looking in periodically to make sure the show is running smoothly.
By Robert J. Hughes (Article first appeared in The Wall Street Journal