A woman 'born into the circus' who took to the ring aged just SEVEN - and is now a circus director leading her own shows.

Kourtney Pavlov, 28, was taught circus skills from the age of four by her mum, Jacqueline Courtney, 61, a trapeze artist and contortionist, and her dad, Vladimir Pavlov, 57, a gymnast.

She began performing in nightly shows with the family business, Circus Vegas, from the age of seven - when she took to the ring doing hula hoop performances.

Her family travelled the UK performing every night - while living in caravans full-time.

Fearless Kourtney specialised in hula hooping, aerial chandelier and aerial hoop - sometimes swinging as high as 12m in the air, with no harness.

At 23, she left to carve her own path - and now runs her own independent circus performer agency.

She lives in her first non-mobile home with partner, Tim Cullen, 28, who runs a vintage carousel company, and while she'd never rejoin a travelling circus, she'll "never stop working in entertainment" and still tours Ireland performing."

Kourtney, who lives in Dublin, Ireland, said: "My grandmother started a road show with her seven children - including my mum."

"As I grew up we all lived in caravans and we were constantly travelling to new towns."

"My first performance happened aged seven when one of our hula hoopers broke her ankle and I had to step in last-minute."

"These things are ran like the military - it's like a machine that always keeps going."

"People do it as a passion but when it's a family business you have to keep running, it's a lifestyle."

Kourtney was raised in caravans alongside her 20-odd family members - cousins, parents, aunts and uncles and grandparents.

Her family would travel to different locations with all their kit, put up their tents, do two shows a day for five days then pack up and move on.

The children, including Kourtney, would have school lessons by local schoolteachers wherever they performed - although she quit education aged 14 to perform full-time.

She said: "There would be no booking days off for other peoples birthdays or weddings. The show must go on."

She began taking on more risky stunts from the age of 16 - training in aerial skills, with no safety nets, as high as 12m up.

She said: "There was an element of life risk - thank God I didn't have any accidents!"

"But you're always performing so you never stop training - you get to be really good."

Once she learnt her aerial skills, she travelled abroad to perform in high-budget Christmas performances independently of her family.

She said: "I did dinner shows - performing in a heated theatre instead of a freezing cold tent, and staying in a hotel rather than a caravan." "

In her early 20s, when Covid hit and shows were paused, she took time to assess her future career.

She said: "As a performer, you only have so much career time, your body can only do these things so long."

"Once you can't perform, you're selling candy floss and popcorn on the sidelines."

"So when I was 23, I made the terrifying decision to leave the circus."

"It was all I'd ever known, I had never mixed with the outside world and I didn't know my own interests or passions."

"I moved back to Ireland and settled down for the first time, and met my partner."

Kourtney began offering children's birthday party events and took private bookings for hula and aerial hoop performances in nightclubs.

She eventually launched an agency and worked with other self-employed circus performers - and now runs circus shows performing at weddings and festivals.

And while Kourtney can never see herself leaving the entertainment industry, she prefers a life where she has put down roots.

She said: "I am pretty much a circus director now."

"I have my own time. I can go on holiday, I can book time off, I wanted the choice."

"I still perform - one day, if I settle down to have kids, I'll probably stop performing but I hope to always entertain people."

"Not many people leave the circus like I did, but I still have a good relationship with my family and I do go and visit them as much as I can."