Why the 7-person high-wire pyramid in Hephaestus?

Company members mentioned in this entry: Tony Hernandez

I am trying to push the limits of human achievement, and storytelling. This is neither digital, nor CGI. There are no lines or magnets, it's pure balance, trust and teamwork. We always did a three person pyramid in Hephaestus, and I always had this dream that we could do the pyramid with seven peopleas a nod towards the seven Gods of Mt. Olympus. So now that we are at the beautiful Goodman Theatre, we have the height and space to make that dream a reality.

We have been training for about 6-7 hours a day, 6 days a week. The balancing poles weigh about 50lbs each, so it takes a lot of conditioning just to be able to hold thepole properly with your wrists curled for the 6 minutes it takes to complete the pyramid. The wire is also steel and only 5/8s of an inch in diameter, so it takes awhile to getyour feet comfortable walking on it, with the weight pushing down on you. The bottoms of our shoes are only fine leather, so it is quite uncomfortable at first. Then of course there'sthe balance, which takes months and months of just walking laps, back and forth, learning to properly sway your pole to keep yourself centered. Once the pyramid starts to be put togethereverything has to be precise. Everyones foot placement has to be just right, and everyone has to kind of lean into one another, to keep pressure, or else you get pulled apart, or pushed over.

I find it incredible what the human body and brain can achieve when we get off of our butts and push ourselves to our OWN limits.