Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga was not wearing a harness. Nor was there a net.
The French tightrope walker, from the Cie Basinga company, climbed onto a steel cable stretched between two former mining hills in Loos-en-Gohelle, in northern France. 400 meters in length, 80 meters high, and beneath her, two spoil heaps measuring 186 and 182 meters that were once mountains of coal waste and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
More than 9.000 people watched her walk over the void during Heritage Days, while a choir and a band performed ‘Les Corons’ live, the song that pays tribute to the region’s miners. Behind the spectacle were 200 volunteers assembling every detail of the setup. When she reached the other side, the ovation did not stop: they gave her a bouquet of flowers and, at last, everyone could breathe normally again 🎪