Circus Sarasota is back in town for its 23rd show

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - Circus Sarasota is back for another amazing show.

There are nine acts this year, from the Dominguez Poodles to the Balancing Ladder and the Double Trapeze to the Russian Barre.

Dima Shine is a flag pole artist who showed ABC7 what goes into building the body strength needed to balance on a pole.

“There’s of course a lot of training involved, a lot of core strength and flexibility,” Dima Shine explained. “I have a fitness studio in Las Vegas and it’s created for people who are just interested. They come see the show and they’re curious how we stay in shape and basically it’s for people who never tried it, so there’s no professionals and people just come and start with their own level.”

He makes it look easy, but flag pole artistry requires more strength than the average person has.

All of the performances seemed effortless, but there are years that go into preparations. Even the clown had 19 years of training to become ‘Remarkable Renaldo.’

“There’s a lot more, and a lot more responsibility to being a circus clown, than some people realize,” said Al Calienes, the man behind the red nose. "A lot of people think that I’m just blowing bubbles or throwing a boomerang or spinning a plate and trying to give just the ambiance, but it’s two-fold. I’m giving the ambiance, but I’m also analyzing the crowd.”

A strategy? Behind throwing a hat?

“You throw the hat to somebody. If they grab it and they throw it back then that’s the kind of person you can work with," Calienes explained. "If the person catches the hat and hands it to somebody else, you don’t pick that person because they don’t want to be apart of what’s going on. But if they catch the hat and they say ‘Here! Here!’ and they’re enthusiastic and they want to give somebody the hat so they can throw it, you pick that person because that person is giving up their moment in the light for somebody else. That kind of person, that’s the kind of person you want to have in the ring.”

There was so much to see, the two hour show simply can’t be reduced to two minutes, but the good news is, there’s still time to go watch it for yourself.

Circus Sarasota has shows from Tuesday through Sunday until March 1st.

To purchase tickets, click here.

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