by Leisa Parsons, Area Media Specialist
Trust is a fundamental component of our most valued relationships. Human relationships are stymied without some level of trust. The principle of trust is one that Cassie Sandou is well acquainted with from years of soaring 20-25 feet in the air over a Russian bar. She works without a safety net, in fact one time on TV, she was blindfolded and had a bed of very large nails sticking up awaiting any mistake. Obviously, she has learned to trust her team.
Her teammates who hold the bar that she lands on are called “porters.” She’s known as the flyer in the act, and fly she does! She trusts her porters, likening them to the iron rod, saying they are “steadfast, unchanging and constant.” She continued, “I knew they were always going to give 100% effort at keeping me safe so I could do my job.”
Sandou said their show, with the porters providing a foundation that was so steadfast, can be likened to the foundation of building upon Christ and Heavenly Father. She said, “the trials in our life are going to refine us and help us become more like Christ.” Just as she would focus on holding her position while in the air, she knows she needs to hold her position steadfast with the Lord. This principle of trust took on added meaning last month as she held her infant son during his very brief stay in mortality.
Kayson Craig Sandou was born on September 6th, 2022 and lived for 52 minutes. He was born with Trisomy 18. When she received the diagnosis for Trisomy 18, she was also referred to a pediatric cardiologist. As she left the cardiologist’s office a line from her patriarchal blessing came to her mind. She went home and reread the line. Sandou said, “It was so powerful. Heavenly Father really knows us. He knows what is ahead of us.” In counseling with her Bishop regarding this overwhelming diagnosis and her son’s upcoming birth, she was reminded of a scripture from the Book of Mormon, “And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.” (Mosiah 24:15) Sandou said, “We have to rely on the Lord. It doesn’t make it easy, but it makes it easier to bear.” She continued, “We have to know opposition in all things in order to truly know grace and happiness and pure joy. We have to understand sorrow and sadness.”
Sandou hopes that Kayson provides an eternal focus for her other children, Kaylie (9) and Kiril, (4). She said, “It is now our responsibility to live in such a way to live with him eternally.” She continued, “It’s been my opportunity to really talk with the kids, to help them understand that it’s okay to be sad and it’s okay to cry. It is okay to show your emotions and you don’t have to hold that all in. We can pray to Heavenly Father and He can bring us peace. Knowing that Kayson is in the arms of Heavenly Father and he is in the best place possible gives me so much comfort.”
Sandou said she has acutely felt the Lord’s hand directing her life. She acknowledges many tender mercies surrounding Kayson’s birth and the timing, further allowing her to know that Heavenly Father is very aware of her. She said, “I can’t quite think ‘what if’ because that is not what happened. That was not his journey, I have to accept that and be okay with that. I have to rely on the fact that Heavenly Father has the perfect plan and I need to rely on that…. And I keep thinking that Kayson was just too perfect for this world.”
Sandou is currently getting back in shape to continue with the act. She acknowledges that the Lord has really blessed her throughout her 16 years as an acrobat, and she has felt His directing hand. She came to tumbling and gymnastics later than most, but her natural aptitude quickly brought her up to speed with her peers. Her father was in the military and so she moved a lot as a youth. Her family was in San Antonio one summer when she applied to be an acrobat in one of the shows at Sea World. It is there that she met her husband, Konstantin, who was also in the show. He worked out of Las Vegas and he and his brother owned a circus training company, and were at Sea World for the summer. She said, “It sounds cliche, but I ran off to join the circus!” Her move to Las Vegas came after much prayer, fasting and counseling with her parents.
Sandou trained with Konstantin and his brother Sergei for only a month and a half before performing for the first time on the Russian bar. Sandou continued her schooling, which made for a very hectic time in her life. She and Konstantin were married in 2008. They worked at Circus, Circus in Las Vegas. Since then, they have literally taken their Russian Bar and other acts on the road. In 2009, they had the opportunity to spend almost a year touring with Britney Spears’ World Circus tour visiting 13 countries. During this tour, she was able to meet the rest of Konstantin’s family in Moldova. One of her prize souvenirs was a Church hymnbook in Romanian, her husband’s native language, that she was given. “It is so cool to me to have that!” she said. They have performed in numerous shows and venues in Las Vegas. They were one of many specialty acts with Vegas the Show for over 10 years in Las Vegas. That show allowed them the freedom to perform at NBA halftime shows and corporate events throughout the years doing numerous circus acts. They performed in other variety shows at Planet Hollywood and with Cirque du Soleil over the years. They even were in the season finale of a TV show, Baskets on FX.
2011 was the first season they performed in America’s Got Talent. They started the competition with their Russian Bar act and as they progressed to semi-finals they were doing several other routines including a flying piano act. Sandou said, “If a producer really wants to push and act through they can do it. If they want you to sound good they can make you sound good. They are about ‘making good TV’ so they will bash the act. In the moment it was hard and really difficult to hear what they said. I took those comments really personal, and it was really hard.” She continued, “It isn’t what launched us, we were already established as an act, but it was nice to put on the resume.” She and her husband formed their own company named Cirque Entertainment. They provide cirque style entertainment for corporate and sporting events.
In 2017 they filmed the movie The Greatest Showman. What was initially a two week commitment turned into a six-week time frame with delays. Despite the delays, Sandou said, “I would do it again in a heartbeat.” She continued “What an experience.… It was so much work, but it was incredible. I had a great 10 to 15 minute conversation with Hugh Jackman. He was genuinely interested in how I got into what I do. We talked about kids and family and performing and life. My respect for him is just through the roof! He was just so nice and so kind.” There were many of the performers in the movie that had also done the Britney Spears tour with them and so it was a reunion of sorts for the Sandou trio. They were also able to go to the premier in Los Angeles for the movie.
That year she also became pregnant with her son Kiril, she was able to work until she was four and half months along. They were able to get a flyer in to take her place in the act. She wasn’t sure if she would return to the act, but curiosity led her to see if she could return. She said, “It was kind of like riding a bike.” She said so much of the act is mental, and she was also motivated by America’s Got Talent. They were doing their champion season. Despite getting only to the semi-finals originally, they were invited to come back during the champion season to perform the Russian Bar. Sandou said they turned down performing on that season and continued their work in Vegas. America’s Got Talent reached out to them again, this time they agreed to perform. “We really trained, and we did the blindfold. There’s a lot of things in magic, you’ve got the blindfold and you can kind of see through that, but with the show, we really trained so that I used a legit blindfold. During the first show that we did when I was blindfolded, I almost over-rotated. And I remember landing back on the bar and thinking, ‘freeze, just hold it!’ I took off the blindfold and my reaction was just so genuine ‘holy moly — we did it!’”
In the next round of competition they used fire. The bar she was on had fire on it. For the finale, they did something they didn’t think other Russian Bar troops would even attempt. “We’ve done the nails, we done the blindfold and fire, now we’re going to do the nails, and the fire with the blindfold. For us it was something so epic. It was crazy what we did.” She continued, “It is truly having the trust and faith knowing that they are going to catch me. They are going to be there for me…. There are no mats, there are no cables.” Simon Cowell came back and told them to use the experience to get videos to use for promos and social media. They did get a lot of work and events from doing the champion season.
Throughout this time she was finally able to finish her bachelor’s degree after a long hiatus from school. At the same time, they were putting together a new show called Celestia at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.
When covid hit everything closed down. Their show permanently closed, along with a lot of other very successful shows. “It was a hard time for all of Las Vegas… we had no idea how long it would last.” She enjoyed the “mother time” and being with the kids. They sold their house in Las Vegas, and headed to Texas to be closer to her family. “That was a really hard decision, it was such an end of a chapter. The entertainment community out there is just so small and supportive and I have such a wonderful ward and the support from them was so fabulous.”
Since coming back to Texas, they reconnected with Sea World and have done work with them again, and when the NBA opened back up they were able to resume halftime performances. In March of this year she became pregnant again, and worked until she was about 4 months and went on maternity break. Sandou said “The day we received the Trisomy 18 diagnosis, that was a very, very difficult day.” Her mom was with her at the appointment. She continued, “Just finding out that these babies don’t live long…. You have all of these thoughts when you’re pregnant of kids growing up together and the wishes and dreams you have for them. Then, all of a sudden, knowing that’s not going to happen. I had to rely that Heavenly Father had a plan.”
Kayson was born very prematurely, but even with that, Sandou acknowledges the hand of the Lord in the timing of his birth. She said there were so many tender mercies surrounding the timing. Sandou said, “I’m finally in that chapter of life that family is so important. I need to be mom, I need to be there. Could I get back on the Russian bar? Certainly. Is it something I feel I should do, I’m not 100% sure.” Sandou said, “With a lot of prayer, going to the temple I know I will get the answer to those decisions as to what is the next chapter. What is the right thing for us and our family. I know that I have to rely on the Lord because we can make decisions, but I want to make the right decisions for my family.” With Sandou‘s characteristic trust she acknowledged, “I know I’m only going to get that confirmation if I go to the Lord and ask Him.”