SOKA TIRA OSOA by Compagnie Basinga
atiana-Mosio Bongonga is one of the world’s few female artists walking the high wire.
SOKA TIRA OSOA by Compagnie Basinga (France)
Thursday, Sept 4th from 6pm-7pm
Presented by DOWN to EARTH International Festivalof Multidisciplinary Performance in Public Spaces.
Elena Siyanko, Festival Director & Executive Producer;
Frank Hentschker, Festival Director
Supported by Theatre & New Forms, a program of Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation
Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga is one of the world’s few female artists walking the high wire. Basinga's SOKA TIRA OSOA (literally "pulling the rope") takes its name from the traditional “tug of war,” a sport in which two teams pull on the opposite ends of a rope, each trying to drag the other team across a line drawn in the middle. But Basinga turns the experience into a collaboration between the artists and audience-participants. Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga performs her poetic, breathless, spectacular balancing act, accompanied by live musicians. "It takes many to be many." Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga will carry out her breathtaking crossing in the South Street Seaport’s historic waterfront district, a feat of balance and imbalance, aided by her audience and the pop-up band’s auditory “ground track.”
Basinga’s artistic practices are inseparable from the artist’s social mandate: One of the world's rare women high-wire performers, Bongonga has been organizing collective adventure skywalk aerial performances without a harness for over a decade. Wherever Basinga performs, she enlists the help of up to sixty local volunteers to stabilize the complex structure supporting the tightrope and help create a ceremony grounded in circus arts that combines music, acrobatics, and mutual trust. Beyond the company’s performances, Basinga conducts cultural and artistic projects in various settings, from hospitals to prisons, offering workshops in tightrope walking, costume design, and photography to promote personal development.
ABOUT COMPAGNIE BASINGA Basinga is a company gathered around the art of high-wire walking. Through research, teaching, sharing and through the production of high-quality participative shows, Basinga seeks to develop, expand, transmit and communicate this art which, better than any other, illustrates how our greatness is based on our weaknesses and our ability to combine them.
ABOUT DOWN TO EARTH
DOWN TO EARTH Festival Director and Executive Producer: Elena Siyanko
DOWN TO EARTH Festival Director: Frank Hentschker
Producer and Associate Director of Programs, Segal Center: Meg Araneo
Producer: Natalie Rine
You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support the DOWN TO EARTH here.
DOWN TO EARTH, NYC’s First International Festival of Multidisciplinary Creation in Public Spaces, brings world-class international performance, theater, contemporary circus, opera installation, and participatory events—absolutely free—directly to New York City’s vibrant, diverse communities. An initiative that embraces global exchange and democratizes cultural expression, the inaugural festival runs from August 29–September 7, 2025. The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center CUNY serves as the festival's producer, organizational and curatorial home, and fiscal agent.
Here in NYC, partnering with parks in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens and collaborating with more than 10 dynamic cultural and community organizations, we’re staging performances and workshops across multiple urban spaces. Citizen expression beats at the heart of the festival’s artistic vision. DOWN TO EARTH affirms art’s critical role in the economic, social, and mental well-being of all New Yorkers. With a focus on how artistic presence transforms the experience of place, and the powerful role of outdoor creation in transforming communities and spaces, DOWN TO EARTH seeks to expand access to cultural expression, privilege public assembly, and combat the injustices inherent in socio-economic exclusion. Central to the festival's mission is our commitment to dismantling cultural barriers by offering free programs for students, youth, immigrant communities, and families. By attracting a diverse public to free outdoor arts and in-situ performances that are accessible and inviting, the festival will redress the shortcomings of an expensive system of cultural dissemination. Downtoearthfestival.org
atiana-Mosio Bongonga is one of the world’s few female artists walking the high wire.
SOKA TIRA OSOA by Compagnie Basinga (France)
Thursday, Sept 4th from 6pm-7pm
Presented by DOWN to EARTH International Festivalof Multidisciplinary Performance in Public Spaces.
Elena Siyanko, Festival Director & Executive Producer;
Frank Hentschker, Festival Director
Supported by Theatre & New Forms, a program of Villa Albertine and Albertine Foundation
Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga is one of the world’s few female artists walking the high wire. Basinga's SOKA TIRA OSOA (literally "pulling the rope") takes its name from the traditional “tug of war,” a sport in which two teams pull on the opposite ends of a rope, each trying to drag the other team across a line drawn in the middle. But Basinga turns the experience into a collaboration between the artists and audience-participants. Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga performs her poetic, breathless, spectacular balancing act, accompanied by live musicians. "It takes many to be many." Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga will carry out her breathtaking crossing in the South Street Seaport’s historic waterfront district, a feat of balance and imbalance, aided by her audience and the pop-up band’s auditory “ground track.”
Basinga’s artistic practices are inseparable from the artist’s social mandate: One of the world's rare women high-wire performers, Bongonga has been organizing collective adventure skywalk aerial performances without a harness for over a decade. Wherever Basinga performs, she enlists the help of up to sixty local volunteers to stabilize the complex structure supporting the tightrope and help create a ceremony grounded in circus arts that combines music, acrobatics, and mutual trust. Beyond the company’s performances, Basinga conducts cultural and artistic projects in various settings, from hospitals to prisons, offering workshops in tightrope walking, costume design, and photography to promote personal development.
ABOUT COMPAGNIE BASINGA Basinga is a company gathered around the art of high-wire walking. Through research, teaching, sharing and through the production of high-quality participative shows, Basinga seeks to develop, expand, transmit and communicate this art which, better than any other, illustrates how our greatness is based on our weaknesses and our ability to combine them.
ABOUT DOWN TO EARTH
DOWN TO EARTH Festival Director and Executive Producer: Elena Siyanko
DOWN TO EARTH Festival Director: Frank Hentschker
Producer and Associate Director of Programs, Segal Center: Meg Araneo
Producer: Natalie Rine
You can make a tax-deductible contribution to support the DOWN TO EARTH here.
DOWN TO EARTH, NYC’s First International Festival of Multidisciplinary Creation in Public Spaces, brings world-class international performance, theater, contemporary circus, opera installation, and participatory events—absolutely free—directly to New York City’s vibrant, diverse communities. An initiative that embraces global exchange and democratizes cultural expression, the inaugural festival runs from August 29–September 7, 2025. The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at The Graduate Center CUNY serves as the festival's producer, organizational and curatorial home, and fiscal agent.
Here in NYC, partnering with parks in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens and collaborating with more than 10 dynamic cultural and community organizations, we’re staging performances and workshops across multiple urban spaces. Citizen expression beats at the heart of the festival’s artistic vision. DOWN TO EARTH affirms art’s critical role in the economic, social, and mental well-being of all New Yorkers. With a focus on how artistic presence transforms the experience of place, and the powerful role of outdoor creation in transforming communities and spaces, DOWN TO EARTH seeks to expand access to cultural expression, privilege public assembly, and combat the injustices inherent in socio-economic exclusion. Central to the festival's mission is our commitment to dismantling cultural barriers by offering free programs for students, youth, immigrant communities, and families. By attracting a diverse public to free outdoor arts and in-situ performances that are accessible and inviting, the festival will redress the shortcomings of an expensive system of cultural dissemination. Downtoearthfestival.org