Jade Kindar-Martin

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Cirque du Soleil - Solstrom

Jade Kindar-Martin (born February 16, 1974) is a High-Wire Walker/Funambule and circus performer.

Kindar-Martin started performing on the wire at the age of 14 with Circus Smirkus, a youth circus based in rural Vermont. Following his graduation from high school in 1992, he went on to further his studies in the circus arts in Montreal, Canada at the Ecole Nationale de Cirque and then at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque in Châlons-en-Champagne, France. Kindar-Martin there came under the tutelage and mentorship of the master highwire artist, Rudy Omankowski, Jr. and first began his partnership with Didier Pasquette.

Together, Kindar-Martin and Pasquette soon began touring worldwide, as well as performing their own brand of highwire theatre as part of the Camion Funambule. In the six years they performed together, the two became known equally for their highly technical bicycle acrobatics and dramatic skywalks, including their Guinness World Record-setting double skywalk across the Thames River in London in 1997.

In 1999, Kindar-Martin was recruited by Cirque du Soleil for a new show, "La Nouba", in Orlando, Florida, where he performed until January 2004.

A highwire wedding.

In the summer of 2004, Jade married fellow Cirque du Soleil performer and stunt woman Karine Mauffrey, high up in the air on a wire stretched over the grounds of the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, France. Kindar-Martin and his wife now split their time between Los Angeles and their home in the south of France.

The Flying Wallendas' Seven-Man Pyramid.

In the summer of 2005, Jade joined The Flying Wallendas, the world-famous highwire family, and performs regularly with them in the "Seven-Man Pyramid" (pictured).

In May, 2007 in Seoul, Korea, Kindar-Martin competed in the 1st World Highwire Championships. Kindar-Martin, along with 18 other highwire walkers from around the world, competed for the fastest crossing of the kilometer-long wire over the Han River. With a time of 0:11:35.54, Kindar-Martin won the bronze medal, 13 seconds behind first place. In completing the walk, all who made it across now also share a new Guinness World Record for longest highwire walk.
It should be noted, however, that although it has not been officially recognized by Guinness, a longer skywalk has been accomplished by Rudy Omankowski, Jr.^{[citation needed]}, Kindar-Martin's mentor.