The Flying Wallendas—What Makes Them Fly?

by James D. Priest

This is the first of three articles on the circus and its performers.

This article is published about 20 years after the original Tina Wallenda interview.

The cover image for these essays, Travel on a Different Plane, is of Tino Wallenda, as he commences his tightrope ascent to the top of a high-rise building.

What do sky divers, brain surgeons, and tightrope walkers have in common? They engage in pursuits incomprehensible to one man, and unremarkable to another. But there are numerous sky divers and surgeons, and very few high wire performers.

What makes a sane man step onto a half inch wire and pace 180 feet in the...

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