The troupe traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Photo: Students of the Sailor Circus Academy stand outside the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building during their trip to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival Sept. 5-7.
In the early to mid-20th century, before Elvis, TV, national touring shows and travel to Disney theme parks, there was one day that was eagerly awaited in cities across the country. It was the day the circus came to town.
Sarasota’s nonprofit Circus Arts Conservatory brought that kind of excitement to the Smithsonian Arts + Industries Building on The National Mall in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 5-7. As part of its residency at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the CAC’s professional artists and students ages 8-18 in its youth education arm, the Sailor Circus Academy, performed in the rotunda of the historic building.
Founded in 1846 by an act of Congress with a bequest from the estate of British scientist James Smithson, the Smithsonian is the largest museum complex in the world. In addition to 11 museums located along the National Mall, it includes six others and the National Zoo nearby and two in New York City.
Free and open to the public, the Smithsonian’s museums attracted 14.9 million visitors in 2025.
Built in 1881, the red brick Arts + Industries Building where the Sarasota troupe performed is the Smithsonian’s second-oldest building. Both it and the flagship Smithsonian Castle, which originally opened in 1855, reopened this year after several years of renovations ahead of America’s semiquincentennial.
This year also marked the reopening of the Smithsonian Carousel after a three-year restoration process. It provided a colorful backdrop for a group photo of the Sarasota team, as well as for selfies.
This isn’t the first time the CAC and the Sailor Circus have participated in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. In 2017, an entourage from Sarasota set up a big top on The Mall and performed underneath it. As exciting as it was, that trip lacked the fanfare surrounding the many celebrations taking place this year under the umbrella of “Our Shared Future: 250.”
Reached for a telephone interview on Sept. 11, CAC President and CEO Jennifer Mitchell said, “I’m still riding the high.” Mitchell explained that the trip involved “more than bringing a circus to the nation’s capital. It was an exceptional engagement showcasing Sarasota’s circus heritage.”
Some of the people who came to see Sarasota’s student and professional performers remembered the group from the 2017 Smithsonian Folklife Festival appearance, Mitchell said. “They were so happy to have the circus back,” she said. “There was an overwhelming feeling of connectivity. The audience was impressed to see young people involved in such creative and physical activity.”
According to Betty Aquino, program curator of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Sarasota circus residency attracted more than 30,000 visitors to the Arts + Industries Building, where the CAC installed a free-standing aerial truss to support its performers.
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One of those performers was 17-year-old Ava Weller, who trains with the Sailor Circus Academy through a curriculum offered at Sarasota High School, where she is a senior. Through its magnet programs at Sarasota High and Booker Middle School, the Sailor Circus Academy is currently training 150 students in circus arts.
Weller got interested in aerial silks when she was stuck at home during the COVID-19 quarantine and had lots of time to scroll through Instagram and TikTok videos.
When she returned to school, Weller began training with the Sailor Circus, learning the Spanish Web, a classic circus act performed with a rope that features special loops for the performers’ hands, feet or neck, and with the aerial silks.
Four years ago, when she joined Sailor Circus, Weller says she had absolutely no experience in gymnastics, ballet, sports or any other physical activity. “I joined because of the videos,” Weller says. “I didn’t know how much physical strength was required.”
In a given week, Weller says she spends two to three hours each school day involved in circus arts training. On weekends, she does a “lot of stretching to keep my muscles loose.”
Traveling to the Smithsonian to perform was a “lot of fun because I was with my friends. When we weren’t performing, we manned booths and talked to people about the circus. The building was really pretty and there seemed to be so much joy during our time there,” Weller said in a telephone interview.
Weller says she feels joy each time she performs on the aerial silks and Spanish Web and is strongly considering pursuing a professional career in circus arts.
In addition to 26 students from the Sailor Circus, the Sarasota entourage included professional performers from Circus Sarasota, which holds shows during the height of season in February and March under a big top in Nathan Benderson Park and during summer in The Ringling’s Historic Asolo Theater.
Leading the charge was Chris Allison as host and clown, aerialist Emma Grace, contortionist Urnaa Angarag, Los Polemicos Musical Clowns and others.
Given the Smithsonian’s scientific heritage, it was fitting that the Sailor Circus brought a version of its Marvelous, Miraculous, Circus Machine with it to Washington, D.C.
The Rube Goldberg-type contraption demonstrates cause and effect and brings into focus the math, science, engineering, art and team problem-solving skills necessary to mount a circus. The Marvelous, Miraculous, Circus Machine has provided an interactive experience for thousands of elementary school students in Sarasota and Manatee counties. It was also a big hit with the youthful visitors to the Smithsonian, says CAC Outreach and Education Manager Karen Bell.
Historically, the circus arrived in town by train. But the group from Sarasota traveled to Washington in a caravan that included two trucks for equipment. The negotiations between the Smithsonian and the CAC about the scope and logistics of the residency began nearly 18 months before the latest appearance on The Mall, Mitchell said.
Bell, a graduate of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College (formerly located in Venice) and a former Ringling Bros. clown, was glad that this year’s performances and attractions at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival took place primarily indoors.
Student performers win high marks
To call attention to their performances in the Arts + Industries Building, the CAC had stilt walkers, clowns and acrobats parading on The Mall, a marketing technique once referred to as “ballyhoo.” But most of the action was thankfully indoors.
Even though Sarasota has been weathering temperatures of at least 90 degrees for much of the summer, Bell said the mercury hit at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit over the Labor Day Weekend in Washington. “The humidity was even worse than Florida,” she said.
When Bell was attending clown college in the mid-1980s, just 12 of the 58 students in her class were women. It was also a male-dominated world when she was part of Ringling Bros. Red Unit, which traveled by train. Today, Bell says there are more female clowns than ever, especially among the ranks of those who perform at children’s birthday parties and other private events.
Bell said she was attracted to clowning from an early age because of the opportunities to interact with the audience. “Unlike traditional theater, the circus has no fourth wall. You know, the invisible one that separates the performers from the audience. The audience becomes your partner,” she says.
Bell says people have shorter attention spans due to the internet and the acceleration of life through technology. “People expect things to happen quicker. So you have to do something to catch their eye right away. Toddlers respond to color and lights. Older kids can see the mastery involved,” she says.
Asked what she liked best about the residency at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Bell says, “Our students blew me away with their attitude and professionalism. Our kids were helping to teach juggling and working the audience. Talking to the public isn’t the easiest thing, but they aced it.”
Source: https://www.yourobserver.com/news/2026/sep/16/sarasota-sailor-circus-nations-capital/
