Notable Neighbors

Her Life Has Really Been A Circus

Who among us hasn’t, as a kid, fantasized about running away from home to join the circus? Meet Leslie Young, who is living proof that such a fantasy can come true.

Not so surprisingly, Leslie was born and grew up in Sarasota, where the circus is legend and still a source of great entertainment. She had the right milieu in her household, too: Her mother Sandy was a dancer with the Tampa City Ballet, and her dad Wesley’s passion was playing the bass guitar with a popular Tampa band called the Rockers. “They named me after Leslie Caron,” the famed French-American actress and dancer, Leslie says. Good choice.

“My mom owned a ballet and dance studio in downtown Sarasota called Dance Unlimited, which I attended,” she says. “I was her demonstrator. When she needed someone to show her students how to do it, that would be me.” Leslie took the typical elementary and secondary school academic courses at Dance Unlimited, but there was as well a heavy schedule of ballet, tap dancing, jazz and acrobatics. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do,” she says. That was to join the circus as soon as she could. “My mom had been the choreographer for an NBC special on Disney World, and I got to dance down Main Street as Minnie Mouse and Dopey and Pinocchio there one summer.” That taste of Disney was the frosting on the cake that led her to go for the Big Top when she left school at age 15, the youngest in her class. 

“I had a job offer at Circus World,” a theme park just north of Haines City, Florida which after many delays opened in 1976. “I was an aerialist,” she says. That meant performing acrobatics high above ground on a rope or trapeze, hanging by one hand. “Another job I had was riding the elephant during the parade that took place between the two shows every day. I was also a dancer and a showgirl in the show. On the side, when I wasn’t performing I was a ringmistress at camps and other local events,” meaning she was the emcee introducing the acts and engaging with the performers and audience. 

“It was fun, and they paid me good money,” she points out. But it was also hard work. “You have to be tough. You have to do the show. You can’t say you’re not going to perform because your hand is sore.” And there was extensive training for strength and flexibility, as well as hours of practice fine-tuning her performance.

Leslie was matched up with a performing partner who later became her marital partner. When she got pregnant and had a baby girl the next year, that didn’t stop her circus career. “I kept performing until about my fifth or sixth month, and after I had the baby, my daughter Lianna, I’d bring her with me to practice or a performance. In the circus, we’re all family. I’d take my baby on my shoulder and park her next to the band, and the concessioners would keep an eye on her while I was performing.” That’s the way it was with all the performers. “In the circus you know everybody, and everybody knows you,” she says. “It’s a close-knit community and culture,” even though circus performers find their work throughout the country and even abroad.

Leslie stayed with Circus World for three years. “My husband’s family was in the business, and I joined them in their act.” Where? “On the road,” she avers. “In the circus you find jobs wherever you can get them. We lived in a trailer, and we had a booking agent who would find us gigs. They might be for one day, or a week, or even a full summer.” Their act, a generational family circus routine, involved balancing, acrobatics, juggling and sometimes aerial feats. They competed in local, national and even international events, and stayed on the road for about three years, traveling throughout the country. During that time they had a second child, Miles. They taught and trained their two prodigies, and in 1986 Miles and Lianna began performing at Busch Gardens in Tampa. Soon the two would become a part of their parents’ act.

In 1989 Leslie and her husband landed a contract in Las Vegas at Circus Circus, a hotel and casino on the Strip that housed the largest permanent circus in the world. “We did what was called a Risley act,” an acrobalancing performance in which Leslie’s husband would lie on his back and spin the others in the air. “Among other things we got a contract with the National Basketball Association to do halftime performances at NBA games, not only in Las Vegas but all around the country,” Leslie recalls, and they stayed in Vegas for seven years. They bought a home outside of town and built another house in Englewood, where they could relax in quietude and enjoy the beach. Life seemed more stable than during their traveling years.

“We ended up as the center ring performers with Ringling Bros. Circus,” Leslie says proudly. It’s not bad being featured by the circus billed as “The Greatest Show on Earth.” 

Alas, the marital couple had issues, and they parted company not long before Leslie retired in 1995, at age 34. If that sounds young for retirement, it wasn’t young for acrobats and aerialists, whose life of excitement is also one of strain, stress and endurance that only a young body can tolerate. 

Leslie’s son and daughter have continued their careers successfully on their own, and Leslie has found many outlets for her skills since retiring. She’s a ringmistress at some local events, she teaches the generational circus skills to classes at local schools and is in demand to participate in one capacity or another at area circus events at Robarts Arena. She also owns Scotty’s Pub in North Port. “I owned the Rockhouse bar in Englewood for five or six years and did my own bartending,” she says, “but I sold that property, and I have other people take care of things at Scotty’s.”

In the meantime she’s working on a new project that represents her dream for the future. It’s called “Center Ring Supercamp.” Says Leslie, “My daughter and I are going to do this together. I have all my stuff from the circus. I’m going to rent a building and arrange it so that when you come in, it looks like you’re entering the ring. We’ll feature art and acrobatics and the other circus skills for kids from age 5 to maybe 16. We’ll separate them by their skill level and offer them a genuine experience of what performing in a circus is like.” Even if the students never become performers themselves, they’ll learn to appreciate all that the circus has to offer. 

Leslie says she’ll be a teacher and ringmistress for this Supercamp, and not a performer. But who knows? “I still have my unicycle,” she admits.

Dean Laux is exploring  interesting folks living in our community. If you know of anyone with an interesting background please send an email to: [email protected]. Include the person’s name, contact info and give a brief description of the person's background.