I am so excited to be catching up with Caytha Jentis, Producer, Writer, Director, and now Aerial Hoop Artist!

Caytha and I last spoke in 2021 when her coming-of-age road trip comedy film Pooling to Paradise was released.

I have been keeping my eyes on everything Caytha has been doing. When I saw her post about starting aerial arts in her early 60s, I knew I had to lean in, which is why I was so excited to find out she was one of the co-producers of Cirque du Gold Standard, a night of circus performers between the ages of 50 - 70 years-old!

In this NEW interview, Caytha once again answered my call, but this time around she shares:

• How she hopes Cirque du Gold Standard will help inspire audiences
• Why it's important to have events that showcase performers over 50-years-old
• What made her want to try aerial arts in her early 60s
• What advice she would give to someone who wanted to try something new at an older age
• So much more

Connect with Caytha: Website, Facebook, Instagram

Defying age and gravity, Cirque du Gold Standard will present an electrifying night of aerial and circus arts showcasing the raw power, grace and sensuality of performers over age 50 for one night only!

Presented by Let Them Eat Cake, this event will present New York City’s best professional and amateur performers spanning the ages 53 – 70!

Among the performers are Kristin Olness, who played Helga in the award-winning 1998 Broadway revival of Cabaret, as well as the 2014 revival. She has enjoyed an extensive career as a singer, dancer and aerialist across the country and around the world. Fran Sperling who has performed on Late Night with David Letterman, for the Big Apple Circus and at Lincoln Center, and Amazing Amy, a 70-year-old contortionist and unique yoga dancer who is known as the Little Old Limber Lady.

The Master of Ceremonies will be Bobby Hegdlin-Taylor who is a pioneer in the NY Circus community with 40 years in the performing arts as a "multi-hyphenated artist” with featured work on Broadway, Off Broadway, cruise ships, rock concerts, reality shows, singing, impressions, and standup comedy.

Caytha and her producing partner Eileen Katz created the Gold Standard Arts Festival, a weeklong festival on the Upper West Side, that featured cabaret, jazz, short plays, stand-up comedy and films all by artists over the age of fifty. They thought a night of incredible circus performances by people over the age of 50 fit perfectly with the festival’s mission.

Cirque du Gold Standard will take place at The Slipper Room in NYC on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 at 7pm EST! Click Here for tickets!

1. On April 2, you are co-producing Cirque du Gold Standard at The Slipper Room in NYC as part of the Gold Standard Arts Festival. Cirque du Gold Standard features an entire cast of circus performers between the ages of 50 - 70! What made you want to add this kind of event to the festival? For context, a couple of years ago my film producing partner Eileen Katz and I created the GSAF (Gold Standard Arts Festival), a weeklong festival to celebrate older emerging and established artists in various disciplines since we thought it was important to showcase this marginalized demographic since many older artists feel stigmatized by their age since ageism is the last socially acceptable bias.

This was something we had recently experienced in the film business when working on a comedic episodic project about women in midlife and knew we weren’t alone. What we learned is that not only are there a plethora of talented older artists, but it became apparent that art extends and enhances ones’ life, and we wanted to continue to spread that message.

When I started to learn aerial hoop in my early sixties, I loved that I was not judged by my teachers nor fellow students and became part of a diverse nurturing supportive community of aerialists of all levels.

I then discovered a handful of others of my generation who were also at various stages on their aerial journey. Since there are circus/aerial events that celebrate various diverse groups, why not have an event to celebrate older aerialists and then put it under our festival’s umbrella?

2. How do you hope showcasing circus performers between the ages of 50 - 70 will help inspire audiences? I hope that when they see that this show is as good as any other circus/aerial show it will inspire audience members to realize that age does not need to be a factor or inhibitor in trying something new and going for it.

Amazing Amy, The Little Old Limber Lady
70-year-old contortionist, Photo Courtesy Alan Miller PR

3. What do you get from putting together the Gold Standard Arts Festival & Cirque du Gold Standard that you don't get from producing TV/films? It’s more that my producing and creative skills from film/television compliment what I’m doing as a performer and as an event co-producer. When creating an aerial act, the performer tells a story.  As a producer it’s about making something happen that hopefully connects with an audience.

4. Why do you feel it's important to have events that cater to performers over 50? Many older people, especially women, complain about feeling invisible. This is a way to be seen and celebrated as an older artist. I think it’s important to provide opportunities to showcase and monetize their art since there is still an ageist glass ceiling.

5. In addition to co-producing this show, you are also performing in it. How do you let go of your producing duties to solely focus on your performance/rehearsal? Since I’ve produced and written many of my films, I don’t know how not to multi-task!  But that said, I have partnered with Let Them Eat Cake, a monthly pre-professional aerial/circus/pole/burlesque show dedicated to providing space for aspiring performers and high-level students to showcase their work at The Slipper Room. They will be doing the actual show producing. My role as co-producer was finding the performers and marketing the show.

Caytha Jentis on the aerial hoop
Photo Credit: Josh Pacheco

6. You started your own journey with aerial arts in your early sixties. What made you want to try the aerial hoop at this stage of your life? I have always loved performance art – specifically neo burlesque - and had just seen a show called the Dirty Circus at the House of Yes and decided I wanted to give aerial a try.

At a minimum I knew it would be great to write about since my motivational mantra is to “Live Life for the Story.” I assumed I’d take a class and then write a fun memoir essay about it which I did. Another unconventional thing I’ve done was being a nude art model in my mid-fifties just to write about it. Both essays were published!

7. What were some of your fears, if any, with doing this at an older age? My main fear is that while I’ve been a lifelong athlete, I have no dance training and it’s very much a form of dance. I am very bad at following dance steps and knew that there would be aerial routines to learn. My other fear or vulnerability has been my lack of grace and having to consciously think of pointing my toe!  Also, I do have a spinning fear since I get motion sickness. I’m working on that too.

8. What was your first day of aerial arts like? I went to the studio with awe and anxiety. Fortunately, the instructors know how to work with new aerialists. I have innate strength, which an aerialist must have to be able to do even the most basic of skills. That’s been my saving grace – I’m strong.

Caytha Jentis performing on the aerial hoop
House of Yes in Brooklyn, NY
Photo Courtesy Caytha Jentis' Social Media

9. How has performing aerial hoop helped you in your producing life? Once a producer always a producer. I co-chaired a youth soccer tournament as preparation for producing my first film! Eileen and I had never produced a festival before, yet we made a profit! I have experience in producing storytelling events and a background in sales. To me it’s all a form of storytelling.

10. What advice would you give to someone who wanted to try something at an older age, but was afraid to start? Don’t be afraid to try something new because what do you have to lose? Will you regret not doing more than doing it? And… It’s now or never.

11. What is something we didn't get to talk about in this interview that you'd like my audience to know about you? We hope that the success of this show – it’s almost sold out – will lead to more performances featuring these artists as well as others we’ve learned about since locking our roster.

Also, given that I am a filmmaker, we are working on a companion documentary about the history of the neo burlesque scene in New York City through the eyes of some of the performers in our show who have been in the scene since the seventies.

More Caytha Jentis Interviews:

2021 (Read Here): Pooling To Paradise
2011 (Read Here): Finding The One

Caytha Jentis
Photo Credit: Josh Pacheco

More on Caytha Jentis:

Caytha is the writer, director and producer of films, plays, and short series such as And Then Came Love, The Other F Word, Bad Parents, and Pooling to Paradise. Her stories challenge the old tropes of motherhood with pathos and heightened reality humor. Her stageplay Sex Work, Sex Play had a successful Off Broadway run in the Fall of 2023.

Caytha has produced storytelling for The Covey Club and Next Tribe. She recently co-chaired the Gold Standard Arts Festival, a week-long festival that celebrates film, theater, and comedy emerging and established artists who are a minimum of fifty years old.

She has guest lectured at Syracuse University, NYU, Emerson College, Wheaton College to name a few.  She has also been on panels at festivals such as The Big Apple Film Festival and LAFemme Film Festival.

She began her career as a literary agent in New York. She has an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA and a BS in TV/Film from Syracuse University. Caytha was profiled by the Writers Guild as well as Screenwriter Magazine.

The mother of two, Caytha currently lives on the Upper West Side.