Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga is one of the world’s few female artists walking the high wire. Basinga's SOKA TIRA OSOA (literally "pulling the rope") takes its name from the traditional “tug of war,” a sport in which two teams pull on the opposite ends of a rope, each trying to drag the other team across a line drawn in the middle. But Basinga turns the experience into a collaboration between the artists and audience-participants. Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga performs her poetic, breathless, spectacular balancing act, accompanied by live musicians. "It takes many to be many." Tatiana-Mosio Bongonga will carry out her breathtaking crossing in the South Street Seaport’s historic waterfront district and at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a feat of balance and imbalance, aided by her audience and the pop-up band’s auditory “ground track.”
Basinga’s artistic practices are inseparable from the artist’s social mandate: One of the world's rare women high-wire performers, Bongonga has been organizing collective adventure skywalk aerial performances without a harness for over a decade. Wherever Basinga performs, she enlists the help of up to sixty local volunteers to stabilize the complex structure supporting the tightrope and help create a ceremony grounded in circus arts that combines music, acrobatics, and mutual trust. Beyond the company’s performances, Basinga conducts cultural and artistic projects in various settings, from hospitals to prisons, offering workshops in tightrope walking, costume design, and photography to promote personal development.