EVERY child dreams of running away to join the circus but few have the courage or skills to make their living under the Big Top.

This is exactly what Harley Fox from Hollingdean has done though.

“I came to be in the Circus of Horrors because I went to see the show," she said.

“I can remember sitting in the audience at the age of 12 with my mum and dad and thinking ‘I want to be that hula-hoop girl.’

“It’s bizarre to get to the age of 24 and realise, I am that hula-hoop girl.”

Hula-hooping started as stress-therapy for Harley when she attended Plumpton College studying animal management.

“I found it incredible therapeutic. It was something I did just for me.

“It helped with my confidence, it helped with losing weight, it was an incredible stress relief.

“There’s probably a lot of people who knew me at college who would just remember me as that mad girl who always had her headphones in and a hula hoop going round and round her body.”

After a performance at the summer ball in her final year at Plumpton, Harley decided to abandon her plans for a full-time career in animal welfare and pursue a life in the circus ring.

She has retained her interest in animals, and still spends time rescuing dogs and tracking dolphins and porpoises.

But within 12 months of leaving college five years ago, she had joined the circus.

“I went to see a show with friends, and they all said ‘why aren’t you doing this?’ so I waited and when there wasn’t a hula-hooper in the show I asked for an audition.”

Harley loves the circus life, despite the long hours of hard work and the constant travelling.

“We work really really hard, we have a show almost every night, often in a different place but I love it.”

The Circus of Horrors put on its rock-and-roll show at the O2 for ten days over Christmas but Harley’s troupe will be visiting Sussex later this year.

Their nationwide tour will come to Crawley on January 21 and Hastings the following evening, before playing at the Capitol in Horsham on February 28 and the Theatre Royal in Brighton on Monday, March 14.

Harley said: “It’s an incredible show, we’re very proud of it.

“It’s very sexy and very rock and roll - we do advise people that it’s most suitable for an audience over the age of sixteen.”