Introduction Menageries Aerial Acts High Wire Acts Trick Riding Clowning Balloon Ascents Side Shows and Freak Shows

Dutch Ropewalker

Rope walking originated in the fairs of the 18th Century. Rope dancing was the main attraction at Bartholomew Fair in 1700. Below is a woodcut showing two popular rope dancers, Barnes and Finley, from the London fairs. Barnes specialized in rope dancing and his partner Finley was a tumbler. Their act was depicted in this woodcut bill advertising their Booth in 1701.

There are three types of wire acts:

1. Slack wire: a drooping wire suspended between poles, usually for comedy acts or sword fights.
2. Sloped wire: attached to the ground at one end and a pole at the other.
3. High wire: a taut and springy wire many feet above the auditorium. Performers carry poles up to 12 metres long, which help them to maintain their balance by lowering their centre of gravity. High wire artists usually use drooping poles to lower the centre of gravity even further.

The most famous high wire walker was Charles Blondin who crossed the gorge at Niagara Falls seventeen times on a tightrope. Many people tried to emulate Blondin. Here is a picture of a woman crossing the River Thames on a tightrope in 1861. She was known as the Female Blondin.

Blondin carrying Mrs Blondin