Last night on Enough Rope, Andrew Denton interviewed Philippe Petit, a charming 60-year-old French tight-rope walker who [illegally] strung a wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York in 1974 and walked ["danced"] across it.

As usual, Denton’s interview was wonderful:

ANDREW DENTON: What is the song of the cable that you talk about? [...]

PHILIPPE PETIT: Before a concert, before a walk in the same way guitarist accord his guitar, tune it, or his violin, I arrange my wire. I have all those guidelines that are called cavalettis and I go from one to the other and I tune my guitar before the concert and therefore when I walk on the wire the song which is not heard but a poet will hear it or a five years old kid who’s sensitive will see it, there is an accord, there is a music that is not an imposed song from the wire walker, certainly not an imposed song from the cable but it everything is perfect. Then there is a song of communion.

ANDREW DENTON: What is the difference between the moment before you step on the wire and the moment after?

PHILIPPE PETIT: Well it’s a point of no return as will be every step after that but it’s a decision to go from terrestrial to aerial, from human to half man, half bird. It’s very beautiful moment where suddenly everything is calm and beautiful and peaceful and simple. It’s me and the wire.

ANDREW DENTON: Of all the amazing things in this act, the thing that most astonishes me is when you lie down on the wire and you lie flat and then you stand up again. That strikes me as breaking several laws of gravity.

PHILIPPE PETIT: I never thought of the high wire as a technical world although yes I am practising still today three hours a day on the wire. But I always thought of the wire as theatre and as something really very special and inspiring where the physical act should not have the most importance and when you say that laying down on the wire and standing up all that is physically demanding and physically difficult, I am not interested in that. I’m interested in the idea of a man or a woman walking on thin air, on a little wire that at some point will be so well in their world that they will actually fall asleep.

Man on Wire is a documentary film made recently about Petit’s work.

The Denton interview is available for viewing on the ABC website. You can also read the transcript or listen to the audio. The episode should be available as part of the podcast and video podcast too.