Circus school provides magic and hope

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 colorful leotards with feather headdresses and intricate makeup, 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 Cirque co-founder Gilles Ste-Croix.

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