Marianna
De Sanctis

Marianna De Sanctis was born on the first day of autumn, 1988, in Catanzaro — a city in the very south of Italy, by the sea, under scorching sun and swept by strong winds, shaped by a southern mentality she describes as not easy to bear. She left home early to pursue her future.

Until the age of nineteen, she made excellent coffee and cappuccinos. Then she packed her bags to travel the world — and discovered circus. At that point she had no prior circus training, had never hula hooped, and had never done gymnastics. Everything that followed was built from nothing, through sheer determination and a circular object she found she couldn't put down.

"I started to play with the hula hoop and found that it helped me to release repressed anger. Later I played with this circular object in various performances on open stages — and decided to study something beyond the techniques I'd learned from videos."

Introduced to the hoop by her friend Silvia Pavone, Marianna went from open-stage street performances to formal circus training — a rapid ascent driven by raw talent and an emotional connection to the prop that has never faded in over 17 years.

Marianna trained at two of Europe's most respected circus institutions — a path that transformed her raw instinct into refined, school-level technique, while preserving the emotional authenticity that makes her performances impossible to forget.

She graduated into a professional landscape and never looked back — earning her living entirely through circus performance for over 11 years, building a career on her own terms.

Marianna's performance CV spans the full spectrum of contemporary European circus — from avant-garde collaborative companies to spectacular cabaret venues with audiences in the thousands. She is both a repertory company artist and a solo creator, moving fluidly between poetic experimentation and crowd-filling entertainment.

Her venue credits are equally impressive — spanning iconic European stages:

Beyond her collaborative work, Marianna creates and directs her own productions — ambitious, personal, and rooted in autobiographical circus. Her solo work in particular has placed her at the forefront of contemporary European hoop art as both artist and author.

Marianna's approach to teaching is inseparable from her philosophy as a performer: the hoop is not only technique — it is a vehicle for emotional development and personal expression. She has formalized this into EmoHoop, her signature teaching methodology, which she has taught at workshops and hoop conventions across Europe.

"The hoop is not only technique but also a form to develop their personality. I would like to share my unique style as well as the business aspects of being a professional hooper — because the business can be difficult and distract from why you started in the first place."

• Born 1988, Catanzaro, south Italy
• 17+ years devoted to the hoop
• No prior training when she started
• FLIC Circus School, Italy (2008–2010)
• LE LIDO Circus School, France (2010–2012)
• 11+ years earning a living from circus
• Gandini Juggling
• Martin Zimmermann
• Théâtre des Champs-Elysées · Paris
• Flic Flac · GOP Varieté-Theater
• Triennale Milano — LAVATRIX
• Italia's Got Talent 2015 — unanimous YES
• MOTHER.WOMAN.ARTIST — solo · touring
• HOOPX8 — 8-hooper collective creation
• EmoHoop — teaching methodology
• IJA Juggle Jabber podcast (Ep. 11)
• @mariannadesanctis — 27K followers
• Teacher, art director & coach