Circo de los Niños de San Pancho

About this program

Circo de los Niños is a non-profit circus arts school located in San Pancho (San Francisco), Nayarit, Mexico, in the beautiful Bahía de Banderas region near Puerto Vallarta. Founded in 2011 with the support of Gilles Ste-Croix, co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, and his wife Monique Voyer, the school has grown from a community performance project into a thriving circus arts academy. The organization operates in renovated former agro-industrial warehouses, now called Las Fabricas, with over 1,200 square meters of training space. Equipment has been generously donated by the Cirque du Soleil Foundation. Since its founding, more than 1,600 children and young adults have benefited from the program. The school's mission is to encourage holistic development by improving artistic, creative, motor, and communication skills while strengthening confidence in a safe environment. Students come from six different towns in the region, creating a vibrant community of young circus artists.