DRESSED in a smart shirt and slacks, Eskil Rønningsbakken looked just like an ordinary office worker, save for the fact that he was upside-down, and doing a handstand six floors above ground on the edge of a ledge at Menara Star, Petaling Jaya.
Norwegian balance artiste Eskil Rønningsbakken nonchalantly reading The Star while perched on the sixth-storey ledge of Menara Star. He did a handstand there, too.In an exclusive photo shoot and interview, the 28-year-old Norwegian professional performer of balancing acts did five handstands on the edge of The Star’s headquarters, which remarkable as it sounds, was a breeze compared to what he has done before.
For more than 10 years, Rønningsbakken has travelled the world, performing jaw-dropping stunts such as balancing on a tight-rope between two hot air balloons, walking a tight-rope between two mountain-tops, and standing on his hands at the edge of the sheer cliff known as Prekestolen, along the Lysefjord fjord in Norway.
Last March, he balanced on an ice cube measuring 60cm by 35cm, held on each end by two ropes and suspended almost 300m above a glacial fissure in Dovrefjell National Park, Norway.
Last June, in Norway, he balanced upside down on one chair leg at Kjeragbolten and did a handstand on a trapeze bar rigged underneath a hot air balloon in Voss.
Rønningsbakken balancing on a four-rung metal ladder on the edge of Norway’s famed Prekestolen cliff, 604m over the Lysefjord.
“When I’m on the street, looking at a high building, I try imagining a picture of me on top of that building, or between the two towers on the wire. My greatest satisfaction is (physically) seeing that picture.”
How he got started
The youngest of three siblings, Rønningsbakken grew up in the countryside where he was allowed to climb trees and play on the roof-tops.
“My mother would be screaming at me to come down all the time, but my dad would be saying, ‘Wait a minute, let me take a picture first!’ ” he recalled with a laugh. “I know it sounds crazy, but you learn a lot from that kind of play – you learn to respect the height and danger.”
Rønningsbakken first learned how to do a handstand when he was five years old. By eight, he was honing his skills under the tutelage of a professional circus trainer, performing with a troupe until he was 17 when he signed his first professional contract.
Rønningsbakken performing a handstand while perched on one chair leg over a gorge in Kjeragbolten, Norway.
“Peter taught me how to balance objects on my body, and how to balance myself on objects at the same time. It was very hard training under him. He always ran after me with a stick if I did something wrong!” he said.
Recognising the young Norwegian’s talent, the Russian maestro then encouraged Rønningsbakken to reach for greater heights in his profession. “Peter said, ‘You can take this higher as long as you believe you can do it’. He told me to go for the ‘real things’, to work hard when I was young and not make things too easy for myself too early,” he said.
When he was 19, Rønningsbakken decided to strike out on his own because he realised he would only end up repeating himself endlessly if he were contracted to someone.
For the last 11 years, he has been working on his own projects all around the world, most of which deal with great heights or extreme speeds.
Training and focus
Despite what he did on the sixth floor ledge of Menara Star, Rønningsbakken doesn’t just wake up in the morning and go balance on some roof-top just for kicks. Many of his more dangerous stunts take weeks and even months of preparation. Every little detail, from his physical condition to the tiniest screw in the props, has to be perfect.
Rønningsbakken goes to great lengths to improve his skills and knowledge, even living for a year on a small, windy island called Karmoy, off the west coast of Norway, to learn and get used to different wind patterns.
“It’s a very small and flat island with terrible windy weather all the time! Every day that I was there, I trained my balancing with bikes, chairs and so on, exploring and learning about different winds, and how the body reacts to them,” he explained, adding that as a result of this kind of training, he is never afraid of being blown off by winds while performing a balancing act.
Rønningsbakken balancing on an ice cube 275m over a glacial fissure in Norway’s Dovrefjell National Park.
He also has his own brand of meticulous and (in his own words) “sadistic” training. For instance, if he happens to be preparing for a tightrope stunt, he will set up a tightrope that is exactly the same distance as the one at the actual location, but at a very low height, and then practise walking on it almost obsessively.
“I first start off with the rope four or five meters from the ground. Then I set a goal for the day – say, 40 times a day – and I walk the full length of the rope 40 times without any failure. If I fail on number 29, I start from the beginning again.
“It sounds sadistic but it is very necessary because everything must be perfect, and I have to eliminate every possible mistake,” he said. “I usually practise around five times a week, and focus on quality training, not just the quantity. Sometimes just one hour of practising would be enough; at other times I would push myself to do five or six hours. I hardly do any other exercise because I have to economise my energy. The most important thing in my life is resting!”
Staying accident-free
Doing such dangerous tricks and stunts, it is almost a miracle that Rønningsbakken has stayed accident-free so far in his career. In fact, the closest shave he has ever had was 10 years ago when he was doing a trapeze act and lost the grip from one of his legs.
“That was a close call because I was dangling there with only one leg ... but that was when I was still inexperienced. Nowadays I have not even come close to an accident,” he said.
One of the reasons that Rønningsbakken has stayed relatively accident-free is that he never lets his “job” become routine.
“I never think that ‘it’s just a job’. There is a danger of falling into a routine and becoming complacent,” he explained. “To me, every situation is different, and I never take it for granted. I also don’t take unnecessary risks – even if I am having a good day, I don’t overdo the acts just because I’m feeling good. That’s the reason I’ve survived so far without accidents.”
He builds whatever props is needed and talks with everyone who is involved with a particular project so he can learn more about what they do and how they contribute to his performance.
“I get knowledge from everyone, and from people who have more experience than I do. So far, I’ve talked to engineers, pilots, musicians, dancers ? all sorts of people who do different things, because all their experience can help me as well.”
Having already established his act in Europe, South America and the Middle East, Rønningsbakken is now looking to expand his reach to other parts of Asia, and with some of the tallest buildings in the world being located in this region, he is already dreaming up some very intriguing projects.
“I would love to put up a tightrope between the Petronas twin towers and walk across it, or just balance on top of one of them. I’m really looking forward to doing something like that, but it all depends on whether anyone would have the guts to let me do it!”
For details on Eskil Rønningsbakken and his astounding feats, go to www.globalbalancing.com.
WAH
Soooo scary
I'm sure he will fall if there's a strong wind blowing