Photo by Rok Lužnik: Doing a handstand in Završnica
GAŠPER STOJC is a highliner, theatre educator, actor, mentor, scout, and all-rounder. Someone who loves life and enjoys it with a big (usually wooden) spoon. It’s precisely this desire to experience everything that led him to start walking the world barefoot.
He develops his body and mind primarily on slacklines. He and his friends set these up in idyllic locations high in the mountains, sometimes several hundred metres above the ground. With the @slackalien group, he develops Slovenian freestyle highlining. This means he doesn’t just enjoy walking on the line, but also doing handstands, swinging, walking blindfolded and spinning in all directions. A challenge for both mind and body.
“Once you’re clipped onto a line in the middle of a gaping void, a powerful fear settles in—your only enemy and greatest danger. In winter, the line often freezes, and a constant wind usually blows through the valley. Being in such conditions without any protection is no pleasure. It’s also hard to enjoy walking or doing tricks when you can’t even feel the line. Proalp barefoot footwear allows me to have fun on the line, even when conditions seem impossible to most people. If your way of moving causes you even more stress and you can’t relax and enjoy yourself, then in my opinion, you’re making a serious mistake.”
Photo by Matic Komel: SlackAlien group trip to France
He’s barefoot in all seasons and in all situations. He even drives barefoot. The law prohibits any footwear that would hinder driving, and the law must be respected. If he does drive with shoes on, they’re always minimalist. No flip-flops, no hard soles. Warning! If you doubt whether you can press the brake pedal hard enough during an emergency stop, definitely practise barefoot walking first and only then sit behind the wheel barefoot.
In theatre, he’s a passionate mover and improviser. He almost always appears on stage barefoot, not because he demands it himself. Directors simply always see it as something that suits his smiling face. But there are situations, especially on different stages, when etiquette requires shoes. Wearing them, as a recipient of the international Gold Award for personal growth MEPI (The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award), he was welcomed by Prince Edward and has addressed the President of the Republic of Slovenia several times. Not long ago, he also recited poetry in them in Slovenia’s largest hall at the state celebration of Independence and Unity Day before the country’s most eminent audience.
Photo by Nik Bertoncelj: Role in the play Vozi Miško
Photo by Korak: Soča
“Once I got used to bare feet, it was very hard to put up with hard and tight shoes. On stage, I could hardly stay still, as everything was chafing and pinching. From the audience, it probably looked like I was nervous and had stage fright. All this quickly stopped when I got my beautiful leather Proalp C1 shoes. Everyone likes how they look, and I’m back to giving off a sense of relaxation and naturalness on stage. I think people appreciate that most.”
How does he appear in all these situations? He’s been raised as a scout since the age of eight. There, they taught him that you need to work for the community. They taught him that he is responsible for his own personal growth. That a scout knows neither good nor bad weather, only good or bad equipment.
“For me, it all started at a scout camp when I spent a week walking around barefoot. I soon extended that week into months. Then winter came. I kept wearing my hiking boots and only then noticed what major changes had happened to my feet. My feet were freer and had widened at the front, and my old footwear was slowly pushing all this development back. It was painful, swollen and red; my little toes hurt again. I decided that from then on I’d rather just always be barefoot—I was convinced it was possible. Unfortunately, it’s not, at least not in our climate. Proalp footwear saved me. Now I’m warm in winter and my feet retain all the physical functions they’ve gained. Every year I discover something new. Right now, I’m very interested in how I could climb rocks and boulders with bare feet.”
Photo by Karmen Zalokar: Slackline workshops at scout camp
Photo by Korak: Feet on a foothold
