Suspended 50 metres above the crowd, Arthur Meauxsoone spreads his angel wings and soars along the zipline strung between towering cranes. Below him, thousands of people turn their faces skyward, the joy evident and reaching up in wonder and delight. Feathers cascade around him and the feeling is “magic.
“It’s incredible,” he says. “This is why I do this.” Arthur (32) is one of 26 cast and crew with France’s Compagnie Gratte Ciel (trans: ‘skyscraper’), a company which specialises in grand scale performances with most of the cast coming from backgrounds in the outdoors industry – ropes specialists, caving and canyoning instructors, climbing experts, paragliders and base jumpers.
Compagnie Gratte Ciel comes to New Zealand in March to perform Place Des Anges in Auckland Domain exclusively as part of Auckland Arts Festival for three nights with 10,000 people attending each night. Written and directed by Pierrot Bidon and Stéphane Girard, Place Des Anges has been performed around the world entrancing audiences of all ages in France, Canada, Poland, Argentina, England, Sweden, Russia, South Africa and Australia.
Like Arthur, Rémy Legeay (32) comes from an outdoors background as a ropes expert and has been with Gratte Ciel for 10 years – he heard of the company while training as a ropes instructor, and a few years later Stephane invited him to join.
As well as performing, he’s the company’s head rigger and aerial designer and is in charge of overall safety, of the ‘angels’ and the public attending the show.
This story is from the February - March 2020 edition of Adventure Magazine.
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This story is from the February - March 2020 edition of Adventure Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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