Portrait of the Opera Ball’s choreographer Maria Angelini Santner

Catfish cell/spach. Maria Angelini Santner is a true bundle of energy, a strong woman. The 36-year-old from Sipbachzell managed to juggle family, dance school, opera ball and dance stars – and still be in a good mood.

Maria Angelini Santner and her brother Christophe Santner have been dancing since they were children. When they were five and six years old, their parents signed them up for dance lessons. Mariah laughs today about it: “But anyone with a big brother knows that can’t work.” The siblings are only able to keep up on all eight dates thanks to mom’s brilliant bounty choices. After a year’s break, even a letter from the dance school attests to their talent. Even if Santner suspects that all the children may have received this message at the time, flattered, Maria and Kristoff start dancing again and never stop.

Santner knows that “a lot of dancing is a hobby, but not a lot of people do it as a sport,” even though it’s a fascinating sport that’s not entirely underrated. It’s not often that women and men can play a sport together, but when it comes to dancing, it’s really balanced. It just works as a couple, as a team.

World Champion of the Vienna Waltz

Since the dance school is closely associated with the dance club, the youngsters will soon be dancing several times a week. “Others go to tennis three times, we danced. It was a real pastime,” says one lively Sepbachzel resident. They finished fifth out of five in their first tournament; I was fourth out of 20 in the school tournaments and things went up from there. Her greatest successes include a state championship title in ballroom dancing (2009) and winning the Vienna World Championships in Ballroom Dancing (2011).”We’ve achieved everything in the sport of dance that you can achieve on our terms,” ​​she hints at the high costs and is content with her championship success.In 2012 Dancing Stars appeared anyway.

“The hardest time to get to know each other.”

“This is an ingenious platform that ORF provides to the dancers here,” enthuses Santner, who danced five times in total. For her third appearance in 2014, her singer, Marco Angelini, was hired. It would seem a sign of fate, because in addition to the second place, a professional dancer takes a man home for life. She is convinced that “dancing stars is the toughest time to get to know each other as a couple.” “From zero to a hundred, you’re suddenly together for hours, experiencing ups and downs and then quickly realizing whether or not you can get along with someone. And that’s why we said to ourselves: Let’s try it together in real life.”

In real life, in 2015, her dance school was set up in Wales, initially run by her brother Christophe, when Mariah danced with Dancing Stars again for about three months. After winning the ORF show in 2017 with Martin Ferdiny, the end of Dancing Stars is for now.

Opera Ball: Great honor

A very traditional project awaits in 2019 with Opera Ball. For the first time, a dance school outside of Vienna is responsible for the choreography for the opening. In 2020 and 2022, the Sipbachzell siblings will also be able to announce their waltz and midnight quadrille. Maria Santner is the first woman allowed to utter the magic words “Alles Walzer” and announce the quadrilles. “It’s an incredible honor because it’s such an extreme tradition and it was also so much fun,” said the 36-year-old happily.

The family provides support

The fact that a trained horticulturist is able to take on such complex and prestigious projects is also thanks to her family. Since September 2020, Maria Mama is little Antonia. Marco Angelini has been married since July 2022. “I have a big family that supports me and without them none of this would work,” explains Angelini Santner. “Time management is not so easy anymore, but as a mother, you also have a calmness and a sense of humor that you didn’t know before.” Parents and brother Christophe live with the family, Maria, Marco and Antonia under the care of one roof, in addition to the dancer also a lot of freedom. “Grandma and Antonia are a dream team, and the in-laws help, too,” says Maria. And of course the husband, who is now a senior physician, is also a great support. Marco also goes to Dancing Stars every week and supports me.” Speaking of Dancing Stars: last week saw the start of season 15. The winner from 2014 is now part of the judging panel for the third time.

There is not much time left for anything else. Hobbies other than dancing – none. “I’m so happy and full and busy with what’s going on right now. I’m happy when I can juggle dance school, family, and projects. I don’t get bored. But this is a phase of life that will never go back and it’s going to be a lot quieter again.”Land”.