Asia 360°: Uzbekistan's Death-Defying, Boy Tightrope Walkers

“It used to be that they died sometimes.” That’s how Uktamjon Yusupov, the head of an Uzbek dynasty of tightrope performers, remembers the old days of darboz, or tightrope-walking, when little boys and men performed without a safety belt. But nowadays, that belt, and perhaps their father’s hand, appear still to be the only protection juvenile Uzbek tightrope walkers have. In this centuries-old tradition, they rank as the main crowd draw.