Performed on one of the colonial walls that outline the old city of San Juan in Puerto Rico, I explore the role of the tightrope walker, or funambulist, who maintains balance in an unstable surface while in motion. In this instance, the colonial wall from Old San Juan—which was originally built during the Spanish governance of the island—becomes that liminal edge where the acrobat slowly walks while maintaining balance. The wall that delineates the land from the ocean mirrors the threshold between our seemingly perpetual colonial experience and the outside.

This performance also references a moment embedded in the island’s history, when Karl Wallenda, one of the world’s most famous tightrope walkers, tragically fell to his death while performing his iconic stunt in the island’s capital in 1978.