There are three types of wire acts: the high wire, the tightwire or tightrope and the
          slack wire or slack rope. There are considerable differences between the high wire
          and the other two wire acts. Slack wire and tightrope artists may be considered the
          low wire acts since the performers work on thin wires, usually less than half an inch
          in width, rigged 6-15 feet above the ground between two triangular standards or
          small pedestal boards. High wire walkers perform on a thick cable, usually an inch
          or more in diameter, that is usually rigged between two pedestals mounted on large
          poles 20 or more feet in height. While high wire artists may have a net or safety lines,
          these safety features are not used for tightrope or slack wire. A slack wire or
          tightrope artist can usually jump to the ground from his wire if he finds himself falling
          while a high wire artist must be able to catch on to the wire or fall safely into the net
          while avoiding any falling equipment. Slack wire and tightrope are basically one-man
          acts. Juggling is a feature of the low wire acts since the performers don't have to use
          their hands to hold the large balance poles used on high wire.
 
 

High Wire

          High wire walkers balance by shifting the weight of large balance poles. The weight
          of the pole is shifted from side to side, not up and down, to maintain balance. Poles
          range in size from 40 to 70 pounds depending on the physical size and personal
          prefer ence of the performers. High wire artists must maintain a rigid posture with
          their backs erect and their bodies held as straight as possible. When the walker
          pushes against the pole, his entire body balances against the push to maintain his
          position on the wire. The worst thing a high wire walker can do is to try to balance
          with his hips since that negates any help from the balance pole. 0n the other hand,
          slack wire and tightrope artists must balance by contorting their own bodies to keep
          their center of gravity over the center of the wire. Different walkers use different
          techniques with some performers using one leg as a counterbalance, others wiggling
          their hips to maintain balance and others moving their arms to change their center of
          balance. 0n the high wire, several performers usually combine their talents to build
          pyramids on the wire or complete other tricks involving two or more performers.
          Bicycles, unicycles, chairs and other apparatus are frequently used to show the
          performers ability to cross the wire or balance without having their feet touching the
          high wire itself.
 
 

Slack Wire

Slack wire tricks differ substantially from person to person although each performer is expected to have balancing, juggling and wire walking tricks in the routine. Good jugglers have routines which stress their skills by juggling clubs, rings, tennis rackets and fire torches. An excellent juggler will throw objects behind his back or under one leg or juggle  more than three objects. Good balancers use props such as ladders or boards to stand on while balancing on the wire or spin several rings on th eir arms while spinning another on the wire with a foot. An excellent slack wire artist will try to do two things at once such as juggling while standing on a board balanced on the wire or spinning rings on one arm while he climbs a ladder. If he's spinning two rings and has reached the second rung of a ladder, that performer is hot. Performers with a good feel of the wire may walk backwards up the slope towards the standards, turn around on the wire, or balance sideways on the wire. Occasionally a performer will expand his act to include other performers by juggling to his partner on the ground or to another slack wire artist on a different wire. 0n one occasion, two wire walkers walked from end to end of different wires while swinging a third performer on a cloth rope between them.