- Dolly Jacob grabs hold of two long straps dangling down from the shadows of the big top. She hoists herself up...and begins to fly. From 50 feet below, what the audience can't see are the lines on Dolly's smiling face. Few of us have ever given a second thought as to what happens to these artists 'off the wire' after they've spent their lives entertaining and inspiring us. This film takes a unique look at a tightly drawn community in Sarasota, Florida, one with a deep value system that seems almost out of place today. With humour and warmth, these bigger-than-life characters are determined to support each other through thick and thin, at a time when they need it most: the end of their careers as Circus performers. When the march of time forces them to step out of the ring, After Circus depicts how performers survive without their lifeblood of the glittering spotlight and fervent applause.
- Sarasota, Florida has historically been the center of the circus world in the United States, it the off season home for most circus performers. As that center, it has also become the center of the circus world's retirement community as most circus performers, either past or active, live for that connection to the circus, with those who have married marrying within the community, and with many having the circus as a family legacy. A handful of retirees talk about their past circus life, and despite it not being a lucrative career, speak of not changing their past if they had to do it all over again in viewing it in hindsight. However, as many retire without a nest egg, the need to provide supports to the circus retirement community is discussed. What is also featured is a circus performing life in "retirement" as husband and wife Pedro Reis and Dolly Jacobs, in the latter half of their lives, have started the Sarasota Circus featuring acts of performers from their generation, including themselves.—Huggo
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