Where Are They Now? Betsy Zander

The GW Gymnastics Attitude Statement has traveled the globe with Betsy Zander.

A daily staple of head coach Margie Foster-Cunningham's program, the 12-sentence affirmation is affixed to the former Colonial gymnast's make-up mirror, providing a boost before every performance with Cirque du Soleil's Corteo.

Zander has carried the reminder of her time in Buff and Blue throughout the show's tour of the U.S., Canada and Europe over the past two years. Some of her castmates have even asked her to share it with them.

"It's just such a powerful statement," said Zander, a two-time All-EAGL First Team performer under Foster-Cunningham from 2011-2014. "Margie's a stickler for having it correct, but it's no wonder why. We all still know it and are impacted by it."

Zander left her mark in Foggy Bottom as a captain and two-time winner of the program's Lindsey Ferris Award honoring team spirit and dedication.

The Severna Park, Md., native decided she wasn't ready to stop performing when her GW career wrapped up with an All-Conference First Team nod on balance beam in 2014, and she's put in the time and effort to earn her place with Cirque du Soleil.

Since the fall of 2016, Zander has been part of a pair of the world-renowned theater company's productions, a rewarding run that has allowed her to see the world while entertaining crowds by the thousands on a nightly basis.

"It's still a dream job," Zander said. "For me, traveling is something that I've always wanted to do and getting to experience so many places within such a short amount of time is something that not a lot of people have the opportunity to do. To have the privilege of traveling like that while doing something that I love is truly amazing."

Zander's dream took root during her first year at GW when she was in the audience for the Cirque du Soleil show Zarkana as part of a weekend trip to New York City. She envisioned herself on stage delighting the crowd with gravity-defying acrobatics.

"A lot of the stuff they were doing I had the ability to do, too," Zander remembered. "I was like 'Wow, this would be so cool.' I'd been performing my whole life. This was just a different type of performance."

Zander took her first step toward making it reality within months of graduation with a Cirque du Soleil audition in Las Vegas. Over two days, she emerged from a group of more than 100 performers to earn a spot in the database the Montreal-based company uses to fill out its international lineup of shows.

Then came the hard part: Zander's wait to be picked certainly tested her patience. She continued training in the D.C. area, making ends meet by coaching gymnastics, working as a fitness instructor and teaching at a local trapeze school.

Zander did all she could to prepare, honing her skills through acting and dance lessons. Each month, she would film a new video of herself performing and upload it to her profile on Cirque du Soleil's database to showcase her progress and continued interest.

"I really dedicated myself to it," said Zander, who graduated from the GW School of Business with a concentration in Sport, Event and Hospitality Management. "I said I was going to give it two years and then I was just going to figure out something else to do. I still had my degree and plenty of other things I was interested in, but I really wanted to do this, especially while I still had those skills."

After 18 months, the call finally came to be part of Cirque du Soleil's new show based on the music of Argentinian rock band Soda Stereo. Zander headed to Buenos Aires in October 2016 and helped launch the part-rock concert, part-high flying circus production titled Sép7imo Día before a packed crowd at historic Luna Park the following March.

Debuting the show in that raucous environment provided a familiar feeling for a former gymnast used to performing under pressure.

"It was so much more excitement than it was nerves," Zander said. "It's the same as when I competed. I never really got nervous. When you've practiced what you're doing for so long, you just go out there and do what you've practiced."

For more than a year, Zander toured with Sép7imo Día throughout Latin America, plus U.S. engagements in Miami and Los Angeles. When that run ended in late 2018, Zander joined Corteo, a former big-top production that tells the story of a clown imagining his own fantastical funeral.

Each stop provides a new adventure, especially with Corteo's move to Europe late last year.

A typical week on the road consists of shows Wednesday-Sunday with doubleheaders on the weekend. It's a busy-yet-satisfying lifestyle, performing in all sorts of locales in front of enthusiastic audiences.

"I don't know the total number (of countries) off the top of my head, but I do know that I had to get a new passport very quickly," said Zander, who was playing Antwerp, Belgium, in March when her tour was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. "It definitely filled up. It's quite a few."

For Zander, the list of unforgettable travel highlights includes ringing in 2020 with her husband Cody watching fireworks on a beach in Portugal.

It's hard to top last summer's homestand at Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, though. She welcomed more than 100 family members and friends to those shows, including Foster-Cunningham and several former teammates.

It was especially meaningful to give her former coach a glimpse behind the curtain. The Attitude Statement has its place within Zander's pre-show routine, and the lessons learned over her time in Buff and Blue continue to make a difference in her life.

"Everybody, no matter who you talk to, will say Margie's not just a coach for those four or five years that you spend at GW," Zander said. "She has so much to give you and so much knowledge to share. I would truly not be the person I am and not have the skills that I have, just for life in general, without my time under her. I'm so thankful for her."

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