The 23rd edition gets under way as we announce the first four numbers to be taking part in the competition.
As usual, the Festival’s production office will continue the tradition of announcing the cast of this 23rd edition a few at a time: the first performers to be presented come from Japan, Ukraine, Colombia and Italy, having the honour of representing their countries of origin in Latina’s popular Circus ring.
A Japanese artist for the first time at the Italian Circus Festival
1. NAOTO OKADA
🇯🇵 JAPAN – JUGGLING WITH YO-YO
Naoto Okada was born in Hiroshima, Japan, on December 15, 1987. Naoto is presenting a yo-yo juggling number at Latina. In his seven-minute performance, entitled The King of Yo-Yo, this young performer, a double world champion in this skill, surprises the audience with different yo-yos. Verve, timing, precision and speed are the keywords of this performance, which is accompanied by intriguing choreography and soundtrack. Trained at the Souri International Circus School in Japan, Naoto débuted as a performer in 2009, and has already appeared in many important circus and variety shows across Europe, and in particular in Germany.
Ukrainian performers pay homage to their Homeland in an acrobatic performance created especially for the Italian Festival
2. DUO VIVA
🇺🇦 UKRAINE – AERIAL STRAPS
Alesia Pavlova and Mariia Sushko were both born in Ukraine in 1999, Alesia in Zaporizhya and Mariia in Pershotravensk. After finishing their schooling at the Dnepropetrovsk College of Culture and Arts, these two performers completed their training until 2021 at Kyiv National University of Culture and Arts. Their artistic partnership, Duo Viva, is aimed at paying homage to their whole country in representation of the Ukrainian State Circus Company: ‘holding hands’ is a fundamental part of any aerial number, but here it also alludes to recovery and to giving each other a hand to overcome sad and painful events. This performance was conceived in April 2022, as war continued.
Two hand to hand champions from Colombia performing at the Italian Festival
3. HERMANOS ACERO
🇨🇴 COLOMBIA – HAND TO HAND
Charly jr. and Wuilder Alexander are two Colombian brothers born respectively in ’96 and ’97 in Cartagena. They were 8 and 7 years old when they started their circus careers, under the watchful eye and tutelage of their father: since then their career has been non-stop; the Hermanos Acero have performed in Japan, Spain, France, Switzerland and Germany as well as in their native Colombia. At Latina, they are presenting a hand to hand number, an acrobatic discipline that requires great physical strength as well as strong technique in order to execute the complex movements of this performance; the final trick, a ‘head to head’ is particularly difficult as it is done without the use of a donut.
The exceptional return of legendary performer Jonathan Rossi to the festival, representing Italy
4. JONATHAN ROSSI
🇮🇹 ITALY – BIKE-TRIAL
Jonathan Rossi’s appearance at this year’s Italian Circus Festival is a welcome return: his last time here was in 2010 at the 12th edition of the Festival, as a young performer blazing around the ring with a high-adrenaline acrobatic bicycle number. Specialising in bike-trial, and member of a prominent Italian Circus family, Jonathan has further developed the skills that have made him world-famous since 2008. Since then, he has taken this discipline to the best theatres and variety shows, which had previously not hosted this type of performance. His popularity has also been increased by numerous TV appearances, which have helped him gain a big fan following.
