Daniel Levi started gymnastics when he was 5 years old. Now 32, he’s turned his somersaults and cartwheels into two businesses that cater to those who want to teach kids gymnastics but with an emphasis on entertainment rather than Olympic-style competition.

He started Dan the Man’s Superduper Gym on Wheels in 2002, and five years later he bought a building to house Superkids Gym. Now he’s got employees and profits.

The goal of both ventures is to teach gymnastics, dance and circus performance to kids under 12. Students at Superkids put on a circus show at the end of every season.

Indeed, more schools here are focusing on teaching noncompetitive forms of physical fitness.

“I definitely think it’s a movement,” said Ayn Gailey, co-owner of Cool Baby Place in Los Angeles. Her school also offers circus-trick training.

Stephanie Abrams, founder and director of L.A.’s Kinetic Theory, which offers similar classes, said circus-trick schools are still a “pretty new” thing.

Levi, who came west from New York when he was 25, used his savings and some backing from his family to launch Gym on Wheels, a big truck loaded with mats and balance beams.

But he figured he needed a fixed location, too. “There’s only so much equipment you can bring and move yourself,” Levi said.

So he sought a building with 15-foot-high ceilings so kids could jump on trampolines. In 2007, Levi found a $130,000 site on Sepulveda Boulevard and financed the purchase with a Small Business Administration loan that he’s already paid off.

After insurance, maintenance costs and pay for 10 teachers of the gym plus himself, the Superkids Gym has eked out a profit of couple of thousand dollars a year money that he’s saving toward expansion.

“I started this from nothing,” Levi said. “It has grown into a huge business.”