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 storm is seen in Sarasota, Florida, June 24, 2018. (Courtesy of Val Vasilescu/Facebook.com/Kingofsunsets via Reuters)

Toni Braxton performs at the Hard Rock Events Center held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, FL on January 29, 2019. (Photo by INSTARimages.com)

Lew Hendrix collects palm branches blown down by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, FL, early Wednesday morning, September 28, 2022. (Photo by Ted Richardson/The Washington Post)

People await the arrival of former U.S. President Donald Trump during a rally for Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at the Miami-Dade Country Fair and Exposition on November 6, 2022 in Miami, Florida. Rubio faces U.S. Rep. Val Demings (D-FL) in his reelection bid in Tuesday's general election. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

A pug dressed as Yoda from the movie Star Wars walks along the runway at the 9th Annual Pug Parade on February 25, 2006 in Bradenton, Florida. 117 pugs competed for 10 prizes in 6 categories. Proceeds from the event benefit the Sarasota County Humane Society. (Photo by Phillippe Diederich/Getty Images)

A human rainbow is created at a BASEOrlando coordinated event, “Orlando Strong Body Paint”, on Friday, June 17, 2016 in Orlando, Fl. The group created the rainbow, composed of volunteers numbering the same as that of the victims of the Pulse shooting, as a visual reminder of the amount of lives lost. (Photos by Amanda Voisard/The Washington Post)

The holder of half a dozen world records will walk across the Grand Canyon on a steel cable with nothing but the Little Colorado River 1,500 feet below on June 23. With no tethers or safety nets, the walk will be the highest tightrope attempt ever for the 34-year-old, at a height taller than the Empire State Building. Last year, Wallenda, a seventh-generation member of the “Flying Wallendas” family of acrobats, became the only person to walk a wire over the brink of Niagara Falls. Photo: Nik Wallenda walks across a tightrope 200 feet above U.S. 41 on January 29, 2013 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Tim Boyles)