In 1949, LIFE magazine sent famed photographer Nina Leen to document the daily life of a sassy troupe of young women who had run off and joined the famous Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, Fla. What developed was a portrait of a sisterhood formed over acrobatics that mixed high-flying wire acts with fashionable high-waisted shorts. Sarasota was once considered “the home of the American circus”. Here: an aerialist smoking while rehearsing for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Sarasota, FL in 1949. (Photo By Nina Leen/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

A Chinese ethnic Lisu honey hunter holds a large piece of wax from a hive while gathering wild cliff honey in a gorge on May 10, 2019 near Mangshi, in Dehong prefecture, Yunnan province China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A woman dressed up as a zombie participates in a zombie walk in Stockholm, Sweden on August 19, 2017. (Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP Photo)

A damaged traffic signal is pictured along a street at a residential area flooded by the Kinugawa river, caused by typhoon Etau in Joso, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan, September 11, 2015. Unprecedented rain in Japan unleashed heavy floods on Friday that tore houses from their foundations, uprooted trees and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes. (Photo by Issei Kato/Reuters)

A man smiles as he carries firewood he bought on a street amid ongoing fuel and cooking gas shortages in Yemen's capital Sanaa December 2, 2015. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

Firefighters use flashlights to search for survivors among the rubble of collapsed buildings after a landslide hit an industrial park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China December 20, 2015. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

North Korean women in colorful traditional dresses are surrounded by flower blossoms known as “Kimilsungia” as they wait to guide guests at a flower exhibition in Pyongyang, North Korea, April 14, 2014. The flowers, named after Kim Il Sung, are on display to celebrate the late leader's official birth date of April 15, 1912. (Photo by David Guttenfelder/AP Photo)

A devotee holds incense sticks while celebrating the Sindoor Jatra Festival on April 15, 2015 in Thimi, Nepal. Sindoor Jatra Festival is celebrated each year in Thimi, on the outskirts of Kathmandu, to welcome the Nepali New Year and celebrate the coming of spring. During the Festival, devotees are smeared with vermillion powder and 30 chariots containing the images of several gods and goddesses are carrying by the devotees around the town, while others sing, dance and play musical instruments. (Photo by Omar Havana/Getty Images)