French tightrope artist Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga impressed hundreds of Parisians on Saturday with a performance that featured a walk on a rope suspended 35 metres (115 feet) above the ground in the city’s hilly northern district of Montmartre.
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Bongonga, 34, walked on a rope suspended by a crane at the base of the hill’s steps towards the Sacre Coeur Basilica, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, without any safety equipment, a gesture many in the audience found nerve-wracking.
“It’s very surprising and very dangerous. It really impressed me, actually. I noticed that she was not secured. There was a lot of acrobatics. I had a really good time,” spectator Jennifer Mandelbaum told Reuters.
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Acrobats practicing tightrope walking — also called funambulism — maintain their balance by positioning their centre of mass directly over their base of support, a rope or a wire.
Bongonga, who prepared for the show for a year, has been performing tightrope walking since she was 8.