There’s no performance act quite as exciting and scary as the tight rope. High above the ground, the tightrope walker balances on something thinner than some purse strings. Each second is terrifying, because the audience can see how far from the ground the performer is, and feel the agony of anticipation with his or her every move. The performance is exciting, with or without the comfort of a net.

 

 

 

 

Suppose, however, that the rope were much higher away from the ground. Suppose more than, say, ten feet. Suppose the rope was suspended between two of France’s highest towers. The athletes featured in  Skyliners Paris do just that. Les Mercuriales, the twin towers of Paris, stand over 115 feet tall. Acrobats Sebastien Brugalla, Tancrede Melet, Julien Millot, Antoine Moineville use the two buildings as their playground by slacklining across it. Slacklining is much like tightrope walking, but with a slightly less taut rope. This allows for some bounce against the tightrope, creating a resistance much like a trampoline’s. The athletes use that to their advantage and perform tricks high in the sky. They are, of course, attached to the rope with a cord as a safety precaution, but each second of their performance has hearts pounding.

The footage was taken by director Sébastien Montaz-Rosset, whose clever camera skills not only captured the beauty of the Parisian skyline, but added to the thrill of the video. There is something awe inspiring and terrifying about the combination of the beautiful scene, high winds, and stunning feats performed for the video. While tightrope walking has been done before between the World Trade Center’s twin towers, Montaz-Rosset captures the feat in a unique way. It is even set to the sounds of Daft Punk’s Fall M83 & Big Black Delta remix.

Click below for the video!

 

Skyliners Paris trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.