- December 18, 2025
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For many kids, the holidays are an opportunity to enjoy time off.
For kids at the Circus Arts Conservatory's Sailor Circus Academy, however, they're a time to kick into high gear, or maybe practice the high wire.
Students in the program, which is Sarasota's premier youth circus training program, will showcase skills they've learned during the Winter's Dream show, held Dec. 26-29.
This year's troupe featuring 150 youth performers is the largest cast at least in the last several years, believes the organization's CEO and President Jennifer Mitchell.
"I think that they're being empowered to be part of production in a way that's new," she said.
Held for 76 years, Winter's Dream is one of six to eight performances the organization holds each year.
The 90-minute show features 24 acts across four rings and involves performers ages 6-18.
"I put a lot of hours into this, we all have been, but we also enjoy it, so I don't think it's all that much work per se," said Calvin Owen, 15. "It's really just repetitions so we can get our routines and get ready for shows."
Unifying the performances is a story involving two sisters on a journey in which they meet Jingle McSprig, an Elf on the Shelf who inspires them with holiday spirit.
Emmi Tvenstrup, 17, for whom this will be her eighth winter show, says performing during the holidays is a unique opportunity.
"Doing shows during the holidays, they're always special because obviously you have a lot of fun and stuff going on, and then also getting a lot of families in town and like stuff like that," she said. "They all get to come see it, and it makes it more special than a normal show; like, everyone's happy," she said.
Some of the new acts audiences can see include elves on the Cyr wheel, toy soldiers on a bungee web and aerial perch, a jack-in-the-box on a bungee trapeze, and acrobats launching into the air as part of banquine.
It will also feature returning acts like gingerbread people bouncing up a trampoline wall, penguins walking the high wire and a "blizzard" of flying trapeze skills.
Tvenstrup's excited to showcase the cloud swing, which she started in ninth grade and describes as similar to standing on a swing as a child, although it involves the performer swinging by their knees or their feet.
"It's definitely the act that everyone is like, 'Wow, that's so cool,' and I love being able to do that," she said.
It's Owen's first winter performance, and he will have the chance to showcase the Spanish web, perch pole and flying trapeze. He says while Spanish web is his oldest skill, he has really loved his flying trapeze class.
"The people, the height, the adrenaline. I'm really there for all of it," he said.
Mitchell says the performance is the reward that kids receive for the hard work they've put into the skills.
"When audiences come and applaud, that's their trophy," she said. "That's their reward. It's probably the most empowering feeling for these young students to go from training, learning, to confidence, and that confidence gets instilled by the audience, rewarding them for seeing this great journey."
She says the organization tries to ensure kids are showcased in the best light, giving them costumes tailored to their bodies and their apparatus, and professional light and sound.
Tvenstrup notes the performers are not limited to the more experienced older kids.
"You still have the wow factor, acts like flying trapeze and stuff like that, but also getting to see little kids do it, it's cute and it'll be good," she said.
She says she's been pleased to see that the event repeatedly receives good reviews.
"When everyone's like, 'You did amazing,' a lot of times it's like, I feel very grateful for that, because I know they're not just saying that," she said. "It really is a good show, and getting to see all of that together and them to enjoy it is very rewarding."
"You'll be amazed," Mitchell said. "You won't even believe that they're kids."
