FADCA Alumni Spotlight: Kayla Danforth (née Hunt)
“Just because you become an adult and take on adult responsibilities doesn’t mean that your time as a circus performer has to end.” - Kayla Danforth
Kayla Danforth did not simply grow up with circus in her hometown. She helped create it.
Kayla has been part of Florida Aerial Dance & Circus Arts since 2015, when both she and our young circus community were just beginning. Over more than a decade, she has grown from a student with “stick arms” and tremendous stage fright into a powerful aerialist, compelling actor, featured performer, mother, and mentor to the next generation of FADCA artists.
Her story is not one of instant confidence or effortless strength. It is the story of what can happen when a young person finds a place where she belongs—and stays long enough to discover just how much she can become.
Boynton Beach, Florida
Where It Began
When Kayla first stepped into aerial training, the physical demands were a shock.
“I always had stick arms growing up, so aerial work was a huge shock to my system,” she remembers. “When my arms started showing some muscle tone, I was so excited!”
Building strength was only one part of the challenge. Performing in front of an audience felt even more formidable. Kayla still remembers waiting behind the curtains before her first full show at the Children’s Theater in 2016—close enough to hear the audience on the other side, and filled with pure anxiety.
She went onstage anyway.
That choice, repeated over years of classes, rehearsals, and performances, slowly transformed her. Circus gave Kayla a place to practice courage until courage began to feel like part of who she was.
ArtsFest in Memorial Park. Stuart, FL
When Circus Became a Way of Life
The turning point came when Kayla joined the original Cirque Prêt performance troupe.
Earning her place in Prêt was an accomplishment in itself, but it also opened the door to something larger: more opportunities to perform, friendships that deepened with every rehearsal, and a community that began to feel like family.
“It felt more like a family and a lifestyle,” she says, “rather than just a class I go to.”
That distinction matters. Kayla was not merely learning aerial skills. She was helping establish a circus tradition in this community—one that younger FADCA students now get to inherit.
As Lady Norma in Piratical.. Duncan Theater, Lake Worth, FL
Finding Her Voice as an Actor
For someone who once found acting uncomfortable and even embarrassing, Kayla’s evolution as a theatrical performer is especially meaningful.
As she grew older, she learned not only to execute choreography, but to inhabit it—to use character, intention, and movement to tell a story. Acting, once one of the hardest parts of performing, became one of her favorites.
“Getting to tell a story through acting and incorporating that into choreography is one of my favorite parts of performing.”
That growth culminated in 2024, when Kayla earned her first true leading theatrical role as Lady Norma in Piratical. The period leading up to that production remains one of the chapters of which she is most proud. She was pushing herself physically, deliberately training to the edge of failure to become stronger, while also becoming more assured and expressive as an actor.
She had become the very kind of performer her younger self could scarcely have imagined.
The greatest role
Circus, Motherhood, and Holding On to Yourself
Kayla’s life today looks worlds different from the life she knew in 2015. She is now a mother to her son, Zeke, and motherhood has reshaped her priorities in profound ways.
It did not, however, erase the artist she had spent years becoming.
With the love and support of her husband and parents—who care for Zeke during classes, performances, and professional gigs—Kayla continues to train and perform. Her experience offers a powerful answer to a question many young artists quietly carry: Does growing up mean giving this part of myself away?
Kayla’s answer is no.
“Being a mother and a circus performer doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive,” she says. “Priorities may shift, things may change, but with intention and a good support system, circus can still be a part of who you are, even as an adult.”
The Sunrise Theatre, Fort Pierce, FL
Coming Full Circle
After more than a decade, Kayla sometimes wonders whether people realize that the accomplished woman performing before them is the same young student who began at FADCA in 2015. Then someone remembers an early show, an old routine, or a nearly forgotten moment—and she is reminded of just how much history she carries.
Now Kayla brings that history back into the studio as a mentor to Cirque Prêt.
Her hope is not to produce younger copies of herself. It is to help each developing artist discover the part of circus that brings them happiness—and then encourage them to pursue it with courage, discipline, and imagination.
“I hope to give them a safe space to express themselves and find that same sense of family and community that I found.”
For the next generation of FADCA performers, Kayla is living proof that strength can be built, stage fright can be transformed, artistry can deepen with age, and circus does not have to be something you leave behind.
It can grow up with you.
The Lyric Theatre, Stuart, FL
