EPISODE 26: Elizabeth Streb redefining grace
December 7, 2017
When I first saw BORN TO FLY, the documentary film about Elizabeth Streb's movement philosophy and her dancers as they prepare for the London Olympics, I cried. Her investigations cut to the core of moving in space within understanding of time. She relates time and space to human action and to objects moving within the same space. Streb's ideas, expressed in the film, her book, How to Become an Action Hero, and in her choreography are complex. Fundamental. What IS time?
I was honored to spend some time talking to her. (Thank you Will, for setting it up.)
Join our conversation and discover the joy of being an Action Hero and of flying.
We talk about:
space, time, movement
action is a universal language
how the audience relates to the Action Heroes
worrying too much about your body and the future
rehearsing a LOT
naming a movement you are unwilling to do, and do it
angels falling to earth
Elizabeth Streb is a choreographer, founder of the STREB Lab for Action Mechanics (known as SLAM), located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and an extraordinary innovator and thinker. She has won the MacArthur Foundation Grant, two Bessie Awards, and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mellon.
Streb Extreme Action
Streb Tour schedule
Kid PopAction
SLAM
BORN TO FLY: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity
How to Become an Extreme Action Hero, by Elizabeth Streb
Elizabeth's Portrait: Tom Caravaglia