By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter Producer
MANHATTAN — The guerilla tightrope walker, who danced on a wire between the Twin Towers in 1974, will soon share his gift with a small group of New York City students.
Philippe Petit, the eccentric Frenchmen whose feats of daring were immortalized in the 2008 Oscar-winning documentary "Man on Wire," will host three sets of 2-day workshops at STREB's Lab for Action Mechanics (S.L.A.M.) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, according to the art space.
Hobbyists who "want a glimpse into an art that is totally unknown," are invited to apply for one of the 18 available spots, Petit told the Wall Street Journal.
However, the wirewalker warned the paper that braggarts need not apply.
“[The workshop] will not cater to people who want to boast or talk about the class in cocktail parties,” Petit told the Journal. “I want people who are curious about venturing in places they haven’t been."
Petit will teach the classes beginning Aug. 9 using a 25-foot-long, 7-foot-high wire of his own design, which has been permanently installed at S.L.A.M., a spokesman for the group said.
The representative also assured DNAinfo that Petit and his students will limit themselves to the S.L.A.M. facility. When Petit made his famed 1974 stroll between the World Trade Center buildings, he did so without permission, smuggling hundreds of pounds of equipment past security during the night.
After an hour walking 1,350 feet above city streets, Petit was arrested and taken in for psychological evaluation, according to the "Man on Wire" website.
Petit, who has lived in the U.S. for several decades and said he considers himself "a New Yorker at heart," according to the Journal, has performed at several New York locations, including Washington Square Park and the Hammerstein Ballroom, where he strolled directly above the audience.
