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STILT HISTORY and WORLD |
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Please give credit and circulate as widely as possible! If those of you with access to the RBBB and other old circus programs can add to the list, I would GREATLY appreciate it. Just email me with your additions and comments. Thank You.
Walk Tall,
Astounding Stilt Walking Events
In China, there is an old custom called "walking on stilts" that it is a performance which employs two lengths of wooden sticks over three metres long to one's feet and walking on them. It is also termed "tied-on long feet".This kind of performance can be traced back to very ancient origins. It is described in "Leizi"(a book), "There was a man named Lanzi in the state of Song (circa 7th century B.C.) who entertained the first Song emperor wit his feet of walking and running with two wooden poles taller than himself attached to his lower legs. Performers are dressed as legnedary characters and perform with long poles attached to their feet. It is a holiday folk performance, especially popular in some country areas.
www.echasseurs.org <http://www.echasseurs.org/
This extraordinary sport is still practiced today.
Another troupe of stilt performers and jousters:
http://www.steltenlopersmerchtem.be/A collection of jousting photos
http://www.steltenlopersmerchtem.be/stelt_en.htm
came in two
sizes, 4 1/2 feet and 7 foot tall. In those days the stilts
sold for $100 a pair and that was considered expensive.
Orchard Stilts are 10 time faster than any other method of picking
fruit or pruning fruit trees. See their photo in LIFE magazine Feb. 29,
1960.
16.14-meter-high stilts in Urumchi, northwest
China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Saturday Nov. 26, 2005. ( Center and
Right) The stilts are made of stainless
steel and weighs 29.4 and 24.9 kilograms respectively. Samat Imin
walked for 49 steps, breaking the Guinness World Record set
by Canada's Doug Hunt, who on September 14, 2002 walked 29
steps,
measuring 50 feet 9 inches in length. Picture taken on
November
26, 2005." There is some contraversy regarding this
claim.
A question of wheather his safety wires were slack, or if they
were
in fact offering suport and balance. The photos published
were uninformative on this question. Bill
http://www.chinanews.cn/news/2005/2005-11-28/14946.html
http://stiltking.blog.163.com/
http://stiltking.blog.163.com/blog/static/874947200762861311108/
