I’ve often wondered if I should get only only get half a ticket to the latest Circus Sarasota because of all the thrill acts I half see because I watch with my hands in front of my eyes.

I’ve seen numerous iterations of the Wheel of Steel act (also known as the Wheel of Death or the Space Wheel), which generates a lot of excitement in the performance by the Cardenas Team in the new Circus Sarasota show “Epic.” Whatever the device is called or who is performing on it, I always feel a knot in the pit of my stomach while watching.

It’s a large metal contraption with two wide open circles at either end. As the whole thing spins around, one perform gets inside each circle and they alternate doing jumps and flips as they keep moving at an increasing speed, at times suspended in mid-air. (At one point, one of the performers steps onto the outside of the circle where there’s less protection and casually jumps rope, as if he might not fall off at any second.

How do they do that? How do they not fall?

Those are questions that you can ponder throughout this exciting new edition of Circus Sarasota, which features one strong act after another.

I was most impressed watching Rubel Medini balancing himself on the rolla bolla, a wooden platform placed precariously on top of a metal cylinder, creating a sort of mini teeter totter. Medini is partnered with Quincy Azzario (who also does an impressive solo hand balancing act). At one moment, she’s standing upright on his shoulders as he rocks his body sideways on the board. And then she flips herself upside down so his head supports hers, balancing them both as he descends a few steps or rocks some more on the board. 

The husband and wife team of Matias Cienfuegos and Micaela Leitner perform as Duo Sirca Marea doing an aerial act that may look familiar to fans of “America’s Got Talent,” where they were finalists last summer. Cienfuegos hangs upside down from a mid-air platform, while Leitner flips around in the air, somehow always catching his arms or legs. Duo Disar from Uzbekistan performs a graceful aerial ballet, seeming to float in the air. AT one point they support one another high off the ground with just their teeth holding onto a connecting strap.

You also can marvel at Florida Blümmel who rides a bicycle around the ring in ways that the manufacturer surely never intended. He maneuvers it on just the rear tire, sometimes sitting backwards on the handlebars to do so.

The Olate Family Dogs, past champions on “America’s Got Talent,” feature an assortment of adorable animals who push wheels, climb stairs and ride down slides and jump with seeming joy. Several of them also walk around the playing space on just their hind legs.

Danyl Lysenko creates beautiful images and a sense of grace as he juggles an ever-growing number of large thin circles, which he tosses high in the air and manages to get around his neck as they descend.

Returning clown Chris Allison is an expert at getting children and adults to do things they might never have considered, like balancing a peacock feather on a finger, or twirling large beach balls on their hands.

This year’s show has an extra new and welcome element. A group of young performers from the Circus Arts Conservatory’s Sailor Circus Academy join together for a display of clowning, trampoline, swing and other acts. It’s a chance for the Conservatory that operates Circus Sarasota to showcase the potential future and the variety of skills the young artists are developing.

As he has for many years, Joseph Dominic Bauer serves as an amiable Ringmaster using his voice to add an extra level of excitement as he introduces each new act.

‘Circus Sarasota’s Epic’ runs through March 8 under the big top at Nathan Benderson Park, 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota. Reviewed Feb. 22. Tickets are $40-$100. circusarts.org; 941-355-9805.

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