Australia's world-renowned Flying Fruit Fly Circus school is focused on an upcoming show at the Sydney Opera House as it soars on the back of record federal funding and a global talent deal.
The specialised school in the border city of Albury in NSW trains the next generation of circus performers, with classes made up of students aged eight to 19.
The school recently celebrated its 45th birthday, was awarded record funding in the May federal budget and became one of six training centres worldwide to join a talent scouting deal with Canadian contemporary circus juggernaut, Cirque du Soleil.
"It's been a really big year," acting chief executive and executive producer Tahni Froudist told AAP.
"It's kind of always like that here at the Fruities.
"There is something that's magic about these young kids here in Albury Wodonga, incredible things ... follow in their wake when they work so hard."
The Fruities are developing their upcoming show, Big Sky, which will be performed at the Sydney Opera House in September.
"Big sky, open sky, blue sky is metaphorically about freedom, about lack of restrictions, about space, about creativity," the school's artistic director and former Circus Oz aerialist Anni Davey told AAP.
"And yet the experience of living in the country can sometimes, for some kids, be very claustrophobic by restricting rather than offering that openness."
The show explores a dream-like world between dusk and dawn where 28 young performers push the boundaries of reality and possibility.
Ms Davey noted contemporary circus wasn't bound by the need for a narrative, unlike traditional theatre.
"We don't even experience our lives like that," she said.
"Actually it's an accretion of meaning, isn't it? There's an experience, then that's overlaid by another experience, and another experience and when you leave, you have a rock with a whole lot of different layers."
In a new partnership, Cirque du Soleil will scout upcoming Fruities talent for particular skills needed for their various shows across the world.
The Flying Fruit Fly Circus is the only Australian organisation in the deal and one of only six globally.
"At the moment I think we've got eight recent graduates in various Cirque du Soleil ensembles," Ms Davey said, with even more historical Fruities alumni vaulting around the world with their skills.
"It just attests to the growth of contemporary circus around the world, that there are jobs out there for the kids that we're training."
The federal budget included $7.3 million in funding for the group, the largest amount in the organisation's history.
The upcoming show is currently in the development stage, where specialist trainers help students learn their routines and technical staff are gradually added to the production team.
"You get more injuries when you're developing new work, rather than training or performing," Ms Davey said.
"But we don't get that many injuries, really."
Lucie Mariethoz, 15, last year suffered a broken toe on the first day back at training, but it didn't stop her from honing her skills.
"I couldn't do anything for six weeks, except handstand and juggle," she said.
She is in her sixth year in the Fruities' full-time program, after joining in grade five.
"I just love the atmosphere that's here," she said.
"We're all the same kind of people and we have one, big loving community and it's great being able to perform, go out and show people what we can do."
Elliott Mancer is Big Sky's youngest performer at 11 years old, but he's feeling confident to perform at the Opera House in September.
"I'm feeling pretty good about it," he told AAP.
"My favourite trick is when Dakota and Frankie get disappeared and I just reappear there," Elliott said.
He won't reveal how they achieve the feat.
"It's magic," he said.
Big Sky will be performed at the Cube in Wodonga on the last three days of August ahead of a week-long run at the Sydney Opera House from Saturday, September 28.
