Meanwhile in Kuwait Salman Al Kandari, was looking for talent for a new event called  Thirteen Zones which has the aim to re-kindle life into  the Green Island, a Kuwaiti  landmark built in 1988.

He searched under the hashtag #streetperformer, “I went through hundreds of videos and saw all the usual things. Then I saw Dan’s post and I was really impressed. To be able to play accordion while walking the slackline was entertaining and thrilling,” Salman says.

“We heard from a Kuwaiti guy, Salman, who wanted to bring the culture of street performance to his event on Green Island,” says Dan, 25,  who grew up in Bristol and studied architecture in Newcastle before moving to Marseille, where he decided to dedicate his time to his passion for highlining and music.

Dan and Louise received the invitation only weeks before the event. 

“We did not know where Kuwait was? We had to look it up on the map,”  says Louise, 26 who is originally from Strasbourg and is also a qualified nurse and an athlete for Swiss slackline brand Slacktivity.

“The way we are living we need to be flexible. Otherwise we miss nice opportunities,” says Dan. “We don’t try to plan too much. And when we plan stuff our plans change.” 

“We have missed so many flights we had booked for ourselves this year,” says Louise

For ten days Dan and Louise did three shows a day at Green Island with other international street performers who were in Kuwait for the event. Their shows drew enthralled crowds and they were surrounded after each show by delighted people, both young and old, who wanted hugs and selfies.

Melody Line are part of a Marseille based collective called Houle Douce, who are a team of musicians, slackline athletes, poets and artists who combine athleticism with performance art on a highline.

We talked to Dan and Louise about their time in Kuwait, about what it is that defines a sport and the benefits of slacklining.

How long have you been highlining? And what do you love about it?

Louise: I have been highlining for three years which is also when I discovered slacklining. Highlining changed my life. It made me happy – it is intense and I am surrounded by inspiring people. I studied medicine for five years, but I stopped because I found it was not a lifestyle that suited me. Highlining helped me take that decision. It helped me to find myself.

Dan: I started to highline in England. I fell in love with the mind state you have to be in, the focus you need. My friends did not have the same drive so we only highlined once a year. So I would create challenges for myself. Slacklining while playing melodica, while juggling. When I finally got comfortable walking on the line without falling I began to bring the melodica and improvise on the line. I discovered that when I was playing music it was a distraction and walking on the line felt easier. It something that happened automatically. I see highlining as an art form, not a sport. When I started it was very much a sport. So, the question is am I an athlete or am I an artist? Bringing music into the mountains  was  a way to combine my two passions.  

What was your first impression of Kuwait?

Louise: We arrived by night and we could see big flames and I was like what is that? Are they having parties?

What surprised you about Kuwait?

Dan: I was shocked that all the kids speak English so well and  that the petrol is so cheap. 

Louise: We have not seen much because most of the time we were on the island. 

What did you think of Green Island?

Dan: I  understand why they are doing the event there. It has a lot of potential. Beautiful views on all of the directions. They could really make something special there.

What did you think of the audience here?

Louise: Audiences here are more reserved, less expressive. But we understood it is a different culture. After the shows we have people approaching us telling us it was incredible. And we see that we touch people in the same way, it is just that the expressivity during the show is sometimes a bit less here. I have a lot of women come up to me and tell me it was super amazing. Many veiled women approach me. It changed my vision of the veil. When we see veiled women in France it is not well seen unfortunately.  But now I see that behind the veil they are just like me. Young girls with a phone who want to take a selfie and speak with me.

What can slacklining bring for people in Kuwait?

Louise: As a sport it can bring a lot of balance, it increases body awareness. And more than  just physical, it is a mental game that will help you become stronger. To slackline or highline you have to be in the present moment. You have to keep fighting to stay on the line so your attention has to be focused all the time in the present. We call it the flow state.

Once you understand the flow state you can find it in any activity you do. For me slacklining was a tool to help me understand what is the flow state and I think it gives mental strength. Because you learn to do something that seemed impossible at first. The first time you slackline it can seem like magic. But then you train your body as much as your brain. It is the key to open your brain to a new state. Maybe a yoga or mediation teacher will take ten years to reach the same state

Dan: And it is a very safe sport.

What have you learned from slacklining around the world?

Dan: We have learned through our travels that slackliners are a little different from other athletes. Many people think highlining is a sport where you need to be in an adrenaline state. But no. If you feel adrenaline you will not be able to stand one second on the line. You need to do the opposite. You need to calm yourself down, you need to focus on your breathing and being in the present and being aware of your body. We have noticed this attracts a particular type of person who is  environmentally health conscious and it is similar to meditation. Actually, it is a way of meditation

Do you see yourself as athletes or artists?

Dan: We are taking the athletic side and bringing into it an artistic performance. When we perform in circus and theatre festivals in France people say they have never seen anything like it  in the circus.

Louise: For us the slackline has become a stage. We use it to perform. We are on the line, under the line. We play music and we wear costumes. When we perform with our crew Houle Douce we bring  huge five-meter-high puppets onto the line. We have a team member who builds them. There are not that many highline performers and there is nobody that does what we do so we became known really fast in the highline world and  the circus world.

Follow Dan Laruelle on Instagram @slacklinedan, Louise Lenoble @louise_lenoble, Houle Douce on instagram @houledouce, and Thirteen Zones @thirteenzones.