Hungarian high-wire artist pulls off daring stunt over the Danube

Multi-award-winning high-wire artist László Simet Jr turned the primary particular person to cross Europe’s second-longest river, the Danube, by tightrope in Budapest on Saturday, as a part of a undertaking by Hungary’s Nationwide Circus Arts Centre.

The spectacle marked the grand opening of the tenth Worldwide Theatre Olympics on World Circus Day.

“It’s a bit symbolic that we’re passing on our cultural values, as a result of what’s the activity of artwork in wartime, within the post-Covid-period, however to hold the values of our fathers and grandfathers to the opposite facet, to cross them on to our youngsters, to posterity. It’s a staff effort, a miracle within the making,” stated Péter Fekete, director of Hungary’s Nationwide Circus Arts Heart.

Simet had spent weeks getting ready for the efficiency. And whereas the solar didn’t make an look, the stunt star stated he was relieved that the wind and rain held off too.

“Certainly one of my essential issues was how a lot the wind would push the pole. The cameras fastened on it gave an additional floor space. The pole itself was mild, however with the cameras, it ended up being fairly heavy,” he revealed afterwards.

However Simet managed to carry his nerve on a rope measuring 300 meters lengthy and simply 22-millimetre-thick, with out the insurance coverage of a security harness.

Hungary’s Nationwide Circus Arts Centre has stepped up efforts each nationally and internationally to advertise the circus arts and combine them into the broader performing arts.

The stroll additionally commemorates the a hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the unification of the impartial cities of Pest, Buda, and Óbuda, into Budapest.

Simet has appeared in Cirque du Soleil’s La Nouba and likewise performed an vital half within the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics closing ceremonies.