Photography: A Dramatic Performance at Sacré Coeur

I saw an amazing performance at Sacré Coeur. While leaning against a lamp post to steady my camera for a overview of Paris, a guy with a soccer ball climbed onto a gate post about six feet in front of me and began doing stretches. Then he reached down to an iPod Nano, selected some cool music, and began to perform with the ball, keeping it constantly in motion and never using his hands, only his feet, back and head.

He was in constant motion, even removing some clothing while the ball was also kept constantly in motion. It seemed impossible that he could sustain this for very long without dropping it, but he went on for several minutes.

As the music quieted near what we onlookers assumed was the end of the performance, a voice on the boom box shouted, “You don’t know me yet!!” He then carefully left the gate post, balancing himself along the thin gate rail, descended and came directly to me, still leaning on the lamp and until then, pleased to have that location. I soon realized I’d better get out of the way. When I did, he began climbing the lamp post, still keeping the ball in motion.

His name is Iya Traoré; he's from Guiana and he has a Web site at:

http://www.iya.fr

Comments

[Greg Ness]

Reid: My wife and I were just talking about how fun it would be to take the girls to Europe. Alas, just a pipe dream at this point. Thanks for the beautifully captured touch of Paris. -Greg N