Sunday brought a dipper (not skinny) to the Central Park Reservoir, but Monday brought something a little more death-defying and artful to the realm of public disturbances in the sweltering city: an aerialist on the Williamsburg Bridge tower!

Shortly before 7 p.m., aerialist Seanna Sharpe and her lovely assistant Savage Skinner scaled the tower and gave a 15-minute performance for dozens of onlookers below, many of whom had been alerted ahead of time via email. The cops were waiting for them on the bicycle path below, but they made a break for it, and thought they had gotten away when a second police car and helicopter cornered them.

From the Wall Street Journal report:

As of 9:30 Monday evening, the two were still in police custody. Police said that [Skinner], 27 years old, had been charged with trespassing, reckless endangerment and obstructing governmental administration; Sharpe is expected to face similar charges.

Asked what the message was behind her guerrilla circus act, Sharpe said, "My goal is to face my fear and to inspire others to face their fears." An admirable goal, and an amazing display. There's great photos of the performance and the NYPD below at Several seconds' and bitchcakesny's Flickr streams. [WSJ, photo via Flickr]