Word: aerialiste
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
There can be no higher calling even for an aerialist. To celebrate the resumption (after 41 years) of construction on the world's largest Gothic cathedral, St. John the Divine, that soaring seraph of acrobats Philippe Petit, 33, tiptoed to the church across a 250-ft. wire slung 15 stories above Manhattan. The inspiration, notes Dean James Parks Morton, came from an 18th century painting by Guardi depicting circus performers outside San Marco in Venice. Having an aerialist perform, says Morton, "is proof of faith, like nothing else." And he has that on the loftiest authority...
Acrobats have been trying to catch the quad since 1897, when, according to many accounts, European Aerialist Lena Jordan first did the triple somersault. The triple is now performed regularly, but it is still an accomplishment reserved for the very best aerialists. Yet Miguel, 17, who represents the fifth generation of a family of Mexican circus performers, was able to do the triple when he was 13. He spun so fast and flew so high that he was urged to go for four...
...style and spirit. The film changes tone, even form, with its hero's every new mood and mutation. It expands and contracts with his mind until both almost crack. It keeps threatening to go bonkers, then makes good on its threat, and still remains as lucid as an aerialist on a high wire. It moves with the loping energy of a crafty psychopath, or of film makers gripped with the potential of blowing the moviegoer's mind out through his eyes and ears. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Altered States...