SAN FRANCISCO, Mexico - With their gravity-defying trampoline flips, graceful acrobatics, juggling and tightrope walking, the children in San Francisco's circus school are bringing a touch of Cirque du Soleil magic to this bohemian Pacific beach town.

In jewel-coloured leotards with feather head-dresses and intricate make-up, they romp through seamless routines in an exuberant take on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with pumping music and hula-hoops, under the direction of Cirqueco-founder Gilles Ste-Croix.

Wearing an ethereal illuminated dress and carried on a litter as fairy queen Titania, Juliana Palomares Rodriguez -like many of the 150 children in the school -has set her heart on joining the world-famous Cirque du Soleil.

"I love it," said Palomares, 15, from the town of around 3,000 residents, known locally as San Pancho. "It's really exciting to be in the show - the circus school has taught me how to present myself and work in a team."

Her dream now is go to circus school in Montreal, Canada, where Cirque du Soleil has its headquarters.

Ste-Croix raided costumes and circus gear from Cirque du Soleil's warehouses for the children's circus which was set upin a converted warehouse six years ago.

Originally it worked with the Entreamigos community centre next door, whose projects aim to equip the small town north of Puerto Vallarta to meet the challenges of increased tourism and development.

"Circo has become a project for the town... it's something more than it was at the beginning, just to train kids in acrobatics," said Ste-Croix, before walking through the school where girls swung upside down on aerial hoops and stilt-walkers practised skipping. "It's not a business plan for the sake of money - it's more a human resource plan."

Thomson Reuters Foundation