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Contemporary circus artists Philippe Petit and Philippe Ménard have created compelling works that have combined circus with performance art; in particular, Petit’s Twin Towers High Wire Walk (1974), and Ménard’s P.P.P. or Position Parallèle au Plancher (2005). These works now stand as limit-text works in their relative fields, which is to say they are works that go beyond the previously accepted limits and now point to new boundaries, or new questions, as to the reaches of the field. This paper asks whether notions underlying performance art can provide a tool to aid in deciphering meanings in these powerful limit-text circus works. It investigates the origins of one of the understandings of the body of the performer that is fundamental to much of performance art — that is the idea of the political body and embodied protest. The notion of materiality is also discussed in relation to the use of ice in Menard’s P.P.P. Active, engaged spectatorship is another important aspect of performance art in decoding the body-in-space and its political and poetic import. Although readings by active spectators may sometimes exceed the performer’s expressed intentions, these diverse readings form an important component of the work’s ability to resonate on multiple levels. The works by Petit and Ménard are explored in relation to these ideas of the political body and embodied protest, materiality, and active, engaged spectatorship. [editor summary]