SARASOTA, Fla. — Before the lights. Before the cheers. Before the performance — it’s a quiet stage and an empty house.

What You Need To Know

  • Summer Circus Spectacular continues through Saturday, Aug. 12

  • One-hour show filled with circus arts

  • 18th year at the Historical Asolo Theater at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota 

  • Created by Pedro Reis, founder and CEO of the Circus Arts Conservatory

Tersit Dersu is the opening act for the Summer Circus Spectacular at the Historic Asolo Theater at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota.

Dersu warms up by softly bouncing balls off a clear apparatus that she and the crew wheeled on stage.

“Juggling is practice and patience,” she said.

Dersu adds more balls to the flow, creating a double two-bounce roundabout of a circle whirring of white.

She said she knew at 15 that she was destined to perform.

“It’s been like 10 years of practicing,” she said.

“Circus makes the impossible possible,” said Pedro Reis, the founder and CEO of the Circus Arts Conservatory. “They’re juggling. There’s aerial, there’s grace. It’s a combination of movement and dance.”

Reis started the show after retiring from his own international adventures on the high wire.

Dersu’s performance skills have taken her from her native Ethiopia to stages around the world.

“You do what you love, you travel,” she said.

Dersu said meeting and working with people from different countries and cultures has been amazing.

“I love my job,” she said.

And when she does her job, the crowd — they love it too.