How to get model’s legs
By Veronica MacDonald
An Accidental Anthropologist
Most people fantasize about running away with the circus. But when it comes down to it, there are very few circus jobs that are really desirable. It’s not the clown that hurls through the ring of fire at top speeds. Nor the trapeze artist that flies without a net. Being tied to a wheel as knives are thrown isn’t much fun either.
The cushy jobs of the circus are the showmen. Normally, you need some kind of hormonal imbalance that is totally curable with modern medicine. How often do you see a woman with a beard or an eight-foot tall man today? Some showmen take advantage of their genes such as being very short like Tom Thumb. But you can’t just change your genes to suit your job.
That’s why I’ve always wanted to be the person on the stilts. You are high up but not high enough to suffer serious injury in a fall. And you don’t have to rely on hormonal imbalances or genes to look good. All you need are two legs.
Walking on stilts is much like walking with swimming flippers. It is awkward and the motions have to be very pronounced to make sure the legs end up in the right place. It would take time to learn, but not as long as acrobatics.
So who in the world ever thought of making stilts? Perhaps it was Tom Thumb to make up for his shortcomings.
There is evidence that stilts were used in ancient China for entertainment as far back as 700 B.C. In more recent times, shepherds in the Gascony region of France used stilts to navigate prickly bush-infested wastelands that quickly turned into marshlands after rain.
Only a few people besides circus showmen have the joy of using stilts today. They range from fruit pickers to thatched roof installers to window washers to wall plasterers. The people of Anguiano, Spain go one step farther and actually dance on stilts. It is really for daredevils because these dancers twist and turn while going down steps.
Stilts have also functioned as house savers around the world in flood-prone areas from small fishing villages in Asia to bungalows on the Jersey shore. The so-called “lake dwellers” in Europe during the Bronze Age built entire villages on stilts in lakes. They were only accessible by canoe. It is still a mystery as to why they chose to live there. Surely they would have eaten something other than fish every night. Or they just really didn’t like or trust their neighbors, human or non-human.
So stilts really serve a lot of purposes. Some are fun and others are necessary for survival. Either way, they give you a new vantage point and model-like long legs should you choose to wear them.
Veronica MacDonald Ditko is originally from the Jersey Shore, but married and settled in northern New Jersey. Her journalism career started a decade ago after studying Psychology and Anthropology in Massachusetts. She has written for several newspapers and magazines including The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Springfield Union News and Sunday Republican, Happi, Chemical Week, The Hawthorne Press, The Jewish Standard, Suite101.com and more.