his tiny Caucusus community is roping itself to an ancient art to ensure its economic survival
By a quirk of history that goes so far back in time no one really remembers it, nearly every man, woman and child in the remote mountain village of Tsovkra-1 can walk the tightrope.
For children in the village on Russia's southern fringe, after-school games mean balancing on a wire suspended one story above the ground.
"I'm not afraid," 12-year-old Magomed Gadzhiyev said as he stood in a scruffy field on the edge of the village. "My mother was a tightrope walker and I will be too." ...