High Wire
High Wire acts are generally over 15 feet off the ground, the high wire is a tight wire anchored between two platforms anchored to the ground.
Wire Acts
A routine performed on a rope or a wire that is anchored horizontally between two points. Despite the technical Latin name of “funambulist” ropewalker or ropedancer tightropes have rarely been seen since hemp was replaced with copper wire in 1858. Today they are usually 5/8th inch cables of tightly wound steel strands. For that matter, tightropes haven’t necessarily been tight either. But in one form or another, rope walking is one of the oldest of “circus” entertainments. Wire walking is a universal tradition spanning thousands of years and many widely diverse cultures. The great wirewalker, like the great trapeze artist, offers stunning images of man surviving, even excelling, in a hostile environment of precision, balance, and fear, far beyond the scope that most of us think we can reach. It is little wonder that those images have been so often used by writers and artists to explore the questions of mans metaphysical place in the universe, the nature of the artist, and the quest for human freedom. In Also Sprach Zarathustra, Nietzsche wrote that man is a “ rope strung between animal and superman, a rope above the abyss.” The wirewalker and the trickster clown who can make him fall represent the two great opposing forces in mankind: the affirmer and the skeptic. (Marion Faber, Angels of Daring (Stuttgart: Hans Dieter-Heinz, 1979) p.71)
This rope or wire was usually stretched between posts, but the some of the most famous wire acts were performed outside of the circus arena. The high wire artist Jean François Gravelet (aka Blondin), completed the first wire walk across Niagara Falls on June 30th 1859.Slack Wire
In a Slack Wire act, the perfomer must constantly bring the wire below his center of gravity instead of keeping the center of gravity over the wire. Artists head and shoulders remain stationary while the feet and legs are constantly in movement.
Low Wire
The low wire is usually 6-8 feet off the ground, anchored to a platform on either end. There are 2 different types of low wire acts, Tight and Bounding Rope
Tight: On the low wire, there is more emphasis on style because the performer is close enough to the audience for them to notice any faults. Low wire walkers sometimes use parasols or fans for balance, as opposed to the balance poles seen in high wire acts.
Bounding Rope: A bounding wire is an adaptation of tight wire that is fitted with springs at one or both ends. The springs allow the performer to bounce, which facilitates acrobatic tricks like summersaults. Con Colleano first accomplished the difficult forward summersault on the bounding rope in 1923 at the New York Hippodrome.
