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This work examines the notion of physical risk as it pertains to performance. Because the act of walking the high wire has become a metaphor for dangerous action as well as as performance skill, this thesis uses it as the standard by which all risk-laden performance can be evaluated. Theories of risk from the fields of commerce, engineering, psychology, and sociology are reviewed as well as the history and practice of wire walking. Specific performances of Philippe Petit, Jay Cochrane, the Wallenda Family, and the author are analyzed in search of the components that shape risk into an aesthetic element of art and the methods used by performers to control it.
This thesis also contains complete, unpublished interviews with Philippe Petit and Jay Cochrane as appendices. The final chapter contains theoretic conclusions applicable not only to high wire walking, but to any performance that courts physical injury or death. [author summary]