At 7:45 AM on a recent morning in Livorno, Italy, while most tourists were still nursing their morning espresso, Hayden Rivas was already scaling the Leaning Tower of Pisa with his camera in hand. By 10 AM, he was flour-dusted and laughing in a Florence cooking class, learning to make fresh pasta from Italian nonnas. That evening? He was back on stage aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line, delivering a full-throttle performance of Beetlejuice to a packed theater floating through the Mediterranean.
This is life for the 22-year-old South Surrey, British Columbia native, whose unconventional career trajectory has taken him from Disney sets to USC’s prestigious dance program to the constantly moving stages of cruise ship entertainment—a journey that’s redefining what it means to be a working artist in 2025.
“I walked into that Beetlejuice audition thinking I knew what to expect from a cruise ship gig,” Rivas recalls, his voice still carrying traces of exhaustion from the morning’s adventure in Italy. “But this completely shattered any preconceived notions I had about the caliber and rigor of shipboard productions.”
The Making of a Multidisciplinary Artist
Rivas’s path to the high seas began early, with formative experiences working alongside Kenny Ortega on Disney’s Descendants 3 and contributing to Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist as both on-set talent and as a skeleton dancer. These early glimpses behind the curtain of professional entertainment sparked something deeper—a hunger not just to perform, but to understand the entire ecosystem that makes art possible.
At USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, Rivas immersed himself in a world of technical rigor and artistic exploration, studying under luminaries like Kyle Abraham and Dawn Stoppiello, and performing works by choreographic masters including Jiří Kylián and Christopher Wheeldon. But even as he honed his craft, his curiosity extended beyond the studio walls.
In his third year in college, Rivas was given the opportunity to originate and perform “5 Minute Dance: You Drivin'” at the Joyce Theatre with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. This exemplified his approach to seizing opportunities that expand his artistic horizons.
This holistic approach led Rivas to simultaneously pursue a Master of Studies in Law with a Media and Entertainment Law Certificate—an unusual combination that reflects his commitment to artist advocacy. “I wanted to understand the legal frameworks that govern our industry,” he explains. “Too many artists get taken advantage of because they don’t understand the business side of what we do.”
From Studio to Ship: A New Kind of Performance Space
The transition from land-based performance to life at sea has been, in Rivas’s words, “a masterclass in adaptation and resilience.” The audition process alone—spanning four days and requiring approval from both Norwegian Cruise Lines and the actual Beetlejuice creative team—was more intensive than many Broadway auditions.
“There’s no watering down for the ship,” Rivas emphasizes. “It’s the exact same movement vocabulary that audiences see on Broadway, which means the technical demands are just as high.” The production, directed by Catie Davis (associate director of the Broadway production), maintains the integrity and artistry of the original while adapting to the unique challenges of performance at sea.
Those challenges are considerable. The show runs as an abridged version with no intermission, requiring performers to maintain Broadway-level intensity for the entire production, twice in one evening, with just a 30-minute turnaround between the 6:30 PM and 9:30 PM performances. Add to that the constant motion of the ship, which affects everything from balance to costume hang, and you have a performance environment unlike any other.
“Your core is constantly engaged in ways it wouldn’t be on land,” Rivas explains. “You’re already working harder just to maintain your balance and execute choreography cleanly, and then you have to sustain that extra effort across two full performances.”
Creating Community in a Floating World
Perhaps most remarkably, Rivas has found ways to maintain his artistic growth and sense of community within the unique constraints of ship life. The cast—a diverse group hailing from the United States, Ireland, Scotland, the UK, Australia, Italy, and Canada—has formed bonds that go deeper than typical show relationships.
“We’re not just colleagues—we’re essentially roommates, neighbors, and creative partners all at once,” he reflects. “When your entire world is contained within the same ship, your castmates become your family.”
This international community has become a source of inspiration and learning. Rivas and his fellow performers have created traditions around their port visits, researching local specialties and seeking out unique experiences in each destination. His current top-rated ports include Livorno and Rome in Italy, St. Martin in the Caribbean, and Barcelona in Spain—each offering opportunities for cultural immersion that inform his artistry.
“Going from the vibrant Caribbean energy of St. Martin to the ancient history of Alexandria to the sophisticated food scene in Barcelona—each place offers something completely different,” he says. “It’s like getting a crash course in world cultures while also performing Broadway theater every night.”
The Art of Staying Present
For an artist accustomed to growth and variation, performing the same show repeatedly might seem like creative stagnation. Instead, Rivas has found it to be a lesson in presence and responsibility. With cruise audiences changing every 7-10 days, each performance represents someone’s first—and possibly only—encounter with live theater at sea.
“Every week, we’re performing for people who have never seen Beetlejuice before, who might have saved up for this cruise as their big vacation,” he notes. “When I think about it that way—that this might be someone’s first or only time seeing this show—it puts the responsibility into perspective.”
This mindset has led him to find inspiration in subtle variations: the ship’s different movements on rough seas, audience reactions that shift with each crowd, small adjustments his fellow performers make that offer fresh perspectives on familiar material. He’s developed personal challenges within the established choreography, treating each performance as an opportunity for refinement and growth.
Beyond the Stage
Even while immersed in the demands of cruise ship performance, Rivas continues to think about the broader landscape of artist support. His work as an Associate Manager at PILOT MGMT under Garen Scribner allowed him to advocate for other performers, while his legal education provided tools for understanding industry contracts and protection.
His interdisciplinary approach extends to his creative work as well. His film “the construct of one” earned honors at multiple North American festivals, while his involvement in “Body of Mine VR”—which won a special jury award at SXSW 2023—demonstrates his willingness to push boundaries in how dance and technology intersect.
“I’m interested in how we can expand what it means to be a dancer, a performer, an artist,” he says. “Whether that’s through virtual reality, through legal advocacy, or through performing Broadway shows on cruise ships—it’s all about finding new ways to connect with audiences and support fellow artists.”
Charting New Waters
As his cruise contract continues, Rivas remains focused on the dual responsibility of artistic excellence and cultural exploration. His Instagram feed offers glimpses of this unique lifestyle: behind-the-scenes moments from Beetlejuice performances juxtaposed with sunrise shots from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, cast bonding sessions in the crew quarters alongside videos of cooking classes in Florence.
“I’m getting paid to perform Broadway-caliber theater while traveling the world,” he reflects. “Even on the hardest days, when I’m tired and the last thing I want to do is put on that costume again, I remind myself that this is an extraordinary opportunity that most performers never get.”
For Rivas, the cruise ship stage represents more than just another performance venue—it’s a laboratory for resilience, community-building, and artistic exploration. In an industry often defined by instability and competition, he’s found a way to combine steady work with constant adventure, artistic growth with cultural immersion.
“The compressed intensity of it all creates this unique adrenaline that’s almost addictive,” he admits. “There’s something exhilarating about knowing you can rise to that level of demand and deliver the show that audiences deserve, no matter how tired you are or how much the ship is rocking.”
As the entertainment industry continues to evolve and diversify, artists like Rivas are charting new territories—literally and figuratively. His journey from Disney sets to USC studios to Mediterranean cruise routes offers a blueprint for the modern performer: adaptable, entrepreneurial, and deeply committed to both craft and community.
In a world where traditional career paths are increasingly obsolete, Hayden Rivas is writing his own map—one port, one performance, one adventure at a time.
Photography by Lee Gumbs, Hannah Doerr, and Evelyn Wong. Hayden Rivas is currently performing in Beetlejuice aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines.
