Please introduce yourself. What do you do? Why? What do you want people to know about you?
A true nomad that ran away with the circus. I travel the world to cross rivers, walk between buildings, play under big tops or give thrills to thousands. You might of guessed, i’m a highwire walker – so height is my fuel!
I also live for outdoor and sports adventure, healing and yoga practice. As a side vocation I’m a social circus teacher – a form of therapeutic art through physical expression in a safe environnement. I’ve worked in the Philippines with youth survivors of sexual abuse, and in Northern Canada with Inuit indigenous people.
Stability doesn’t exist for a balancing artist. From my chill vanlife on the coast of Portugal, I can hop to a luxurious gig in Saudi Arabia with Cirque du Soleil. Then go balance 15m high in the middle of a suburb in Paris, and in between all of that go renovate a farmhouse and help permaculture projects, go snowboard in the Alps or canoe-camping in the forests of Quebec where i’m native from.
What qualities make you different and unique from everyone else in the industry?
Being a hybrid and playing with this duality – using both my mindful rigorous Vietnamese heritage and my sweet French-Canadian maple syrup essence. While balancing on my cable, I have developed an organic sense of movements and a choreographic style of martial energy flow. I work barehand, with a fan or with a 13kg balancing pole not only as a dancer on the wire, but around and underneath it. The art of “unstability” on this 1/2 inch floor is a constant act of playful awareness and fine tuning between emotional, psychological and physical realms.
Describe THAT moment when you realized you’re doing what you were born to do.
We all know the expression crying of joy. Well I often have this sensation when I’m about to go on the wire, but I call it the “celestial tear”. It’s a feeling of gratefulness, alignement of my truth and surrendering to the beauty life is gifting me. Through my professional career (10 years), I realized how powerful it is to bring to an audience the surreal vision of a man walking among the clouds defying gravity.
This “extra-ordinary” calling came to me after a breakup. My car broke down on a bridge in Quebec City, for some strange reason I wanted to climb the bridge, not to jump off, even though I was emotionally tormented. I wanted to feel the void, taste emptiness and release my sadness by grasping a piece of the sky – freedom.
I ended up keeping both feet on the solid ground and realizing I wanted to walk in thin air.
What’s been the biggest challenge you’ve had to go through and how did you grow through it?
Passion and talent doesn’t come in a day or when you are born. Practice! Practice! Practice!. I cried many times during my 4 years of circus school. I felt like abandoning, especially coming from architectural and visual arts background, putting myself (the living art piece) in front of a public was petrifying.
Accepting failure, falling from low wires (2m high), and not caring about what people think was my biggest lesson. Again experiencing and observing my reactions, without judging myself was a real game changer.
(Not sure if your magazine wants these raw explanations, I still wanted to add it. You may only consider the previous paragraphs) ——–
In addition, a plant medicine from South America helped me detach
from my ego and fear of judgement and failure. After purging from both ends for 2 hours, I had the realization that we, humans, are all made of the same organic matter. We are eat, shit and die and return to earth…So why should I be shy on stage, we are all equal, all need to be loved and to give love.
Who are the TOP 3 people you’d want to meet that could elevate your career or business? Why these specific individuals?
Franco Dragone. His visionary mindset as a creative director-producer has transformed the world of staging circus for grand venues and even building theatres. He’s able to immerse audiences in a fantasy universe like no one does.
Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd. I want to surround myself by remarkable activists and individuals. He’s an example as a leader and a protector of our sacred oceans.
Bruce Lee (in my astral dreams). For his diligent discipline and eternal philosophy and ageless quotes. “Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it”
Drop your social media links.
Instagram: https://instagram.com/Laurence.tvu