Ex-Cirque du Soleil performer Jean-Luc Martin founded San Diego Circus Center in Point Loma's Midway District in 2011. Training runs across six pillars — Aerial, Ground, Rebound, Dance, Clowning, and Foundation — with specialized aerial instruction threading into the broader Point Loma vertical-arts scene that also includes The Pole Collective. Martin previously performed with the Pickle Family Circus and Circus Knie plus two international tours with Cirque du Soleil, and the Hancock Street facility houses more than 25 instructors training students through the 9-month Preparatory Program for ages 17 to 23 and the 2-year ProTrack Program for ages 18 to 28. The Preparatory track readies students for admission to European circus conservatories including ENC, ECQ, CODARTS, and ESAC, and the recreational curriculum — trampoline, silks, trapeze, lyra, and acrobatic movement — fills one end of the Point Loma youth acrobatic training market alongside Mayo Acro & Dance. J-1 visa sponsorship for international academy students and two-year full-time ProTrack cohorts preparing for professional performance contracts represent the most complex operational commitments the facility handles.