![]() Additional modifications render the ticket invalid. 94 CircusArts.The ticket is valid only for the stated day, hour, event, venue and seat, is valid only with a check stub and authorizes one entry. Saturday matinees, in the Sailor Circus Arena, 2075 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, with 2 p.m. The Sailor Circus will celebrate its 70th anniversary with “Once Upon a Circus” performances April 18-27. ![]() “I really love it - it’s changed my life,” she says. She plans to study entertainment engineering at Florida State University, which also has a student circus. She says it helped her develop self confidence and learn time management skills. Johnson joined the Sailor Circus Academy six years ago. “We’ve got kids coming in the fall who will never know the arena without air conditioning.” The older Sailor Circus performers plan to razz newcomers who will enjoy 70- to 75-degree temperatures every day. “We used to have chalk and resin coming out the wazoo.” “You have to have a good grip,” Johnson says. Hanging upside down, 20 feet off the ground, is never a good time to worry about sweaty hands. Training was harder in the old circus arena, where temperatures rose to 90 degrees during summer months. Ringmistress Johnson, an 18-year-old senior at Pine View School, also performs an aerial act. “He saw the outreach programs that are so important,” Taub said. Clowns visit patients in more than 15 senior-care and special-needs facilities on the Gulf Coast. When her father was bedridden after breaking his neck, he got a close-up look at the Humor Therapy Program of the Circus Arts Conservancy. “That didn’t happen, but I said I would see it done.” “His goal was to see this through,” said his daughter, Marcia Jean Taub. Ron Taub, who had trained as an engineer, helped work on the arena renovation project before his death in 2015. The late couple donated to many Sarasota cultural organizations, but the Sailor Circus was a special concern for more than 20 years. Harris Foundation, Phyllis Siskel, the Selby Foundation, Bodil Braren, and Peter Swain and Marcia Jean Taub.īelow the entrance to the Sailor Circus Arena is a sign for the Ethel & Ron Taub Midway. Major contributors included the Koski Family Foundation, Ulla Searing Trust, James Doss Charitable Foundation, Julie A. More than 600 local donors, along with the Community Foundation of Sarasota County and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, helped raise the rest of the $4.5 million. ![]() “It’s incredible to think how far this will go.”Ī $1 million grant from the state of Florida helped pay for the Sarasota arena renovation. “It’s unbelievable to see how far we’ve come,” Jacobs-Reis said on Tuesday. This year, more than 100 student performers come from more than 30 schools in Sarasota and Manatee counties.Ī renovated arena will provide a more secure foundation for the Sailor Circus, which will begin spring performances for the public April 18. Years of training taught them the rewards of discipline and tenacity. Generations of Gulf Coast children and teenagers have passed through the Sailor Circus Academy. ![]() The longest-running youth circus in the United States celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. and Barnum & Bailey Circus - “The Greatest Show On Earth.” In 1949, Sarasota High School began an acrobatic program for students that became the Sailor Circus - “The Greatest Little Show On Earth.” “It will add to the legacy of the circus in Sarasota.”įrom 1927 to 1959, Sarasota was winter home to the Ringling Bros. “This is the largest and most cutting-edge circus training facility in the nation,” said Pedro Reis, who founded the Circus Arts Conservancy with his wife, Dolly Jacobs-Reis. The remodeled arena on Bahia Vista Street now offers more than 28,000 square feet of floor space, along with seating for nearly 1,400 people for circus performances, and up to 2,287 for other events. ![]() “It used to smell like feet,” says Grace Johnson, ringmistress of the 2019 Sailor Circus. On a muggy Tuesday morning in Sarasota, gusts of cool air greeted guests at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly renovated and air-conditioned Sailor Circus Arena.Ī $4.5 million construction project turned a dark cavern with box fans into a sleek performance space with bright lights, new offices and bigger concession areas. ![]()
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