Slackwire is an acrobatic discipline that involves the balancing skills of moving along a flexible, thin wire suspended in the air, connected to two anchor points. While related to tightwire and high wire acts, the difference being there is a slack tension to the cable to create a curved line between the two mounts. The performer must then make continual adjustments to keep control of the wire whilst executing a series of moves, balances, jumps, and dance steps. (The skill is like balancing a stick on one's head or finger.) The slack angle is the V-shaped angle created when a performer stands in the middle of the walking part of the wire. The angle depends on how long or short the wire is relative to the distance between two anchor points. This also affects the amplitude of the wire's swing side to side. The degree of ease or difficulty for a performer to move the wire is dependent upon how thick the wire is. The heavier the wire or rope, the more inertia is required to move it laterally, and the more force is needed to control its movement or to bring it back to a place of rest.

Masha Dimitri was only 6 when she made her first appearance in the ring with the Knie Circus in Switzerland. After studying in Hungary at the Budapest Circus School until 1981, she returned to Switzerland and soon graduated from the Dimitri Theater School, where she studied wire-walking with Szilard Szekely. Masha subsequently worked with the Pickle Family Circus of San Francisco and the Gruss French National Circus in Paris. Perfect balance and balletic grace characterize Masha's use of her preferred instrument, the slack wire. Watch as she cavorts effortlessly along the wire and be amazed when she lays down on the wire and juggles a silk parasol with her feet! Her act is a wonderful complement to the tango number danced by the whole troupe. [This artist has the dubious honor of having a complete Cirque song written and titled for her -- "Masha"]