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 pair of Easter bunnies socialise in the sunshine on April 4, 2021 in Brighton, United Kingdom. Earlier this week, the UK government eased rules on socialising, permitting groups of six people (or more if limited to two households) to meet outdoors. The latest lockdown measures were imposed at the end of last year to curb a surge in Covid-19 cases. (Photo by David McHugh/Brighton Pictures)
A man dressed as Hindu Lord Shiva performs during a religious procession ahead of the Hindu festival of Maha Shivaratri, in Jammu February 23, 2017. (Photo by Mukesh Gupta/Reuters)
A dancer performs before a judging panel during the World Irish Dancing Championships in Dublin, Ireland on April 11, 2017. The April 9-16 event draws some 5,000 performers from Ireland and overseas, including from both the Irish diaspora in places like the United States and Australia as well as less likely countries such as Russia and Japan. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)
Women in yukatas, or casual summer kimonos, take their selfie in front of paper lanterns during the annual Mitama Festival at the Yasukuni Shrine, where more than 2.4 million war dead are enshrined, in Tokyo, Japan July 13, 2017. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)
A girl shoots a gun armed with blanks at an weapon exhibition during a military show in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, October 14, 2017. (Photo by Dmitri Lovetsky/AP Photo)