Balance
Page 17
Nik’s great-grandfather Karl, performing a trick that’s never been duplicated: a handstand on the heads of two people.
Alberto Zappe, Nik’s grandfather; and Jenny Wallenda, Nik’s grandmother.
Nik’s father (bottom front) and mother (on top) rehearsing for the film The Great Wallendas.
Dave Klukow, Nik’s father (Terry Troffer), and Nik (age one) setting up a wire for a performance in 1980.
Nik and his sister, Lijana, at their parents’ performance at Circus Vargas in California.
Nik (age six) at Bensons Animal Park in Hudson, New Hampshire, playing with one of the bears.
Nik (age six) kissing his mother on the cheek before her performance in the Rockies at Circus Flora.
Nik’s first walk on the wheel of death at age eight.
Nik at age six or seven in Sarasota, where he still practices to this day.
Nik at age twelve, performing as a clown with his dogs.
Performing in Middletown, Ohio, with his family, at age fifteen.
Nik’s first performance, at age thirteen, on a wire in front of an audience in Old Forge, New York, in a park called Enchanted Forest.
Nik (age seventeen) and Erendira (age fifteen) when they started dating. Her dad and Nik’s mom were performing at a music festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
A seven-person pyramid re-created in Detroit, Michigan (1998), for the first time in front of a live audience since it fell in 1962. Nik is on the bottom row, second from the right. His father is on the far right, his mother is on top.
Same seven-person pyramid, shown from a different angle.
Performing in Kurashiki, Japan: Nik Wallenda (left) and Mike Duff on the bottom, Delilah Wallenda on top.
A World Record eight-person, four-layer pyramid: (bottom left to right) Tim Carlson, Mike Duff, Jonathan Taylor, Nik Wallenda; (middle) sister Lijana Wallenda-Hernandez, brother-in-law Tony Hernandez; (middle top) mother Delilah; (top) father-in-law Vinicio Vazquez.
Nik and Erendira on a motorcycle and riding on a wire during their first year of traveling on their own, in 2002.
(From left to right) Nik, his son Yanni, and Nik’s father in costume prior to a show in Sarasota, Florida.
Nik inspecting cable in Newark right before setting his first two World Records on the bicycle.
Walking out to make a phone call.
On the phone with The Today Show’s Matt Lauer in Newark, New Jersey, 135 feet above the street.
In Newark 2008, on a tightrope 235 feet across and 135 feet high: Nik breaks a world record for the highest and longest bike ride on a high wire.
Nik and his family on the roof of the Prudential Center after his record-breaking performance, which aired on The Today Show.
At Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, walking to the top of the Eiffel Tower replica, re-creating a walk made by his great grandfather.
Walking at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, in 2009.
Nik breaking another World Record by hanging from his teeth for 30 seconds, 280 feet above the ground, in Branson, Missouri, in 2011. (Photo by Tim Stowe)
Nik’s legendary walk across Niagara Falls in the summer of 2011.
Another view of the Niagara Falls walk, as seen from below. (Photo by James P. McCoy)
Nik and Erendira with their children, Yanni, Amadaos, and Evita, in Sarasota, before Nik was honored at city hall in 2013. (Photo by Kelly French)
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Contents
Title Page
Welcome
1: Dream
2: Two Feet
3: The Struggle
4: A Kid in the Circus
5: A Kid Encounters Fear
6: “Next Generation Wallenda Walks Wire for the First Time”
7: Raising the Stakes
8: Dinner and a Movie
9: New Family First
10: One Night Only—Garth Brooks!
11: The Joy of Dancing
12: Genius Clown for Jesus
13: Wheeling and Dealing
14: Raw Ego
15: The End of the Line
16: Sizzle
17: Dreaming Reality
18: The Falls
19: Keeping the Faith
Acknowledgments
Photos
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 Nikolas Wallenda
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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ISBN: 978-1-4555-4550-6