Explorer
Schooled Under the Big Top
As performers stand atop one another’s shoulders in a pyramid formation, carried by circus legend Nik Wallenda across the Circus Sarasota ring, not a wobble is seen. A misstep may mean major injuries, if not death, but performers maintain a cool look throughout the show. The risk comes in service only to entertain an audience, where children guffaw and adults hold their breath, bracing for a disaster that most assuredly will never come. For instructors at The Circus Arts Conservatory, though, the moment serves not to feed fear but to swell pride. “Five of the seven who are part of the pyramid are Sailor Circus alums,” boasts Jennifer Mitchell, managing director of the Sarasota performing arts institution.
Sailor Circus, a decades-old program once run by the local police athletic league in this circus-rich town, was purchased five years ago by Circus Sarasota, which rebranded then as The Circus Arts Conservatory operating in town today. The former students standing literally on the shoulder of a performing giant serve as testament to an enduring art form, even at a time when the very future of the traditional
American circus seems in question.
News of the closing of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus hit communities on Florida’s west coast particularly hard. The Greatest Show on Earth, which ends in late May in Uniondale, New York, and dates to the 19th century, at various points had maintained winter headquarters in Sarasota, Venice and Tampa. Parent company Feld Entertainment moved all its properties to a campus in Palmetto, Florida, in 2012. As a result of that history, generations of circus families have settled in this area and the circus heritage has become part of the fabric of the community. Before skywalking across the Chicago skyline on national television a few years ago, Wallenda conducted similar stunts in downtown Fort Myers and Sarasota, and he’s often seen practicing at an outdoor facility beside The Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota.
And according to Mitchell, that circus spirit still flows in the area. As of this spring, 105 students remained actively enrolled in the Sailor Circus after-school programs held by the Conservatory, and more than 700 students are expected to enroll in summer camps hosted this year. “We have seen our programming blossom and
WHAT WE ARE SEEING IN YOUNG PEOPLE TODAY IS THAT IT’S LESS ABOUT SPECTATING AND OBSERVING AND MORE ABOUT ENGAGING AND DOING.” —JENNIFER MITCHELL, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE CIRCUS ARTS CONSERVATORY
grow,” Mitchell says. “What we are seeing in young people today is that it’s less about spectating and observing and more about engaging and doing. It’s not just people sitting butts in seats.”
Whether children learn the aerial art of spinning on silks or turning to the rhythm of a wheel of death, the program offers rich experiences that combine athleticism with the crafting of performance art. The school, one of 250 such programs in the country recognized by the American Youth Circus Organization, has grown into one of the greatest caretakers for the legacy of the big top. The organization celebrating 20 years― founded by veteran Ringling performers Pedro Reis and Dolly Jacobs in 1997 as The National Circus School of Performing Arts―quickly evolved into Circus Sarasota and turned its focus on exhibition. In 2013, the education roots came back to the foreground for the nonprofit.
Reis is an experienced aerialist stressing that circus training can add value to any child's life, even if his or her future isn't on the high wire. “The self-esteem and pride is monumental to kids who don’t do other athletic-type programs,” he says. “That is another return investment. We are absolutely turning out stellar students who will succeed in life, no matter what.”
Mitchell notes that only about 10 percent of graduates of Conservatory programs go on to be professional circus performers. She notes that even with the end of the Ringling Bros. Circus, many still find homes in other major performing troupes such as Cirque du Soleil. Of course, many go into related fields, whether at theme parks or other live entertainment.
The Conservatory also regularly sends performers into area nursing homes and to share the arts with students in schools. And as the effort expands, it also has grown a new presence at colleges in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.
All the while, Circus Sarasota continues to put up its big top each spring.
Jacob Ogles is a professional journalist living in Southwest Florida.