It involves physical acrobatic skills performed high up in the air.
And a Norwich-based circus performer will be showing off her skills in front of 600 special guests at London's Natural History Museum on Tuesday January 9.
Natasha Rushbrooke, 19, from Beechwood Drive in Thorpe St Andrew, is one of the star attractions at the Circus250 launch celebration at the South Kensington landmark.
Circus250 marks 250 years since the very first circus event was staged in London.
Miss Rushbrooke, a former Thorpe St Andrew School and Sixth Form pupil, will perform a five-minute hand balancing act five metres in the air.
Spectators, which include experts from the creative industries as well as top politicians, will watch her contort her body into different shapes while balancing on metre-high narrow poles - on top of a four-metre-high structure.
The talented teenager, who took up artistic gymnastics at the Norwich Gymnastics Club aged five, said: 'I'm very excited about it but a bit nervous. It is a big event. I have visited the museum many times. It is a fantastic building.'
She only found out she was one of the main performers a month ago through Norwich's Lost in Translation Circus troupe, which she has been part of for the past eight months.
It has taken 20 hours of rehearsal time to perfect her routine, which will be performed to instrumental music.
Circus250 is the idea of Dea Birkett, a former circus performer and director of the project.
The launch event is being hosted by Creative Industries Federation - the national organisation for the UK's creative industries, cultural education and arts.
As part of the project different events will be put on around the UK and Ireland, including Norwich, this year.
As one of the UK's six Cities of Circus, Norwich will feature circus-themed events during the Lord Mayor's Celebration in July including a performance by Lost in Translation, which does not use animals.
Miss Rushbrooke, who trains five-days-a-week at Norwich's Oak Circus Centre on Oak Street, said: 'I'm really looking forward to coming back to perform to a home crowd as part of Lost in Translation.
'Not only are circus skills a great way to express yourself, but they are an art form.'
Norwich and Great Yarmouth to celebrate City of Circus status
Contemporary and traditional circuses, museums, theatres and archives will feature in the nationwide Circus250 celebrations.
Norwich, along with Great Yarmouth, joins five other cities which have been named as one of the six Cities of Circus for 2018.
The other cities are Bristol, Blackpool, Newcastle-under-Lyme, London and Belfast.
To mark the accolade the Circus250 logo will be projected onto Norwich Castle tomorrow.
Contemporary and traditional circuses, museums, theatres and archives will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the circus.
In July, a circus-themed parade with life-sized elephant puppets will wind through Norwich during the Lord Mayor's Celebration.
Following this will be a Big Top circus festival in Chapelfield Gardens.
Norwich City Council is using £150,000 of Arts Council England funding to put on circus-themed events across the region.
Alan Waters, leader of the Norwich City Council, said: 'The Lord Mayor's Celebration is the perfect showcase to celebrate 250 years of circus.'
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