Perseus Academic: Streb by Elizabeth Streb

Elizabeth Streb has been testing the potential of the human body since childhood. Can she fly? Can she run up walls? Can she break through glass? How fast can she go? With clarity and humor—and with a world-class dance troupe called STREB—she continues to investigate what real movement is and has come to these conclusions: It's off the ground! It creates impact! It hurts trying to stop it! In this pathbreaking book, Streb combines memoir and analysis to convey how she became an extreme action dancer/choreographer, developing a form of movement that's more NASCAR than modern dance; more boxing than ballet.

Once called the Evel Knievel of dance, Elizabeth Streb intertwines the disciplines of dance, athletics, rodeo, the circus, and Hollywood stunt-work. She founded STREB in 1985, which performs internationally in theaters, museums, and town squares. She established S.L.A.M. (STREB Lab for Action Mechanics) in 2003, a factory space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, which produces a cottage industry of extreme action performances and invites everyday people to wonder about movement, gravity, and flight.

Actor, playwright, and author Anna Deavere Smith is performing her latest play Let Me Down Easy off-Broadway, and she appears on Showtime's Nurse Jackie.

In 2003, Streb established S.L.A.M. (Stereo Lab for Action Mechanics) in Brooklyn, NY. The company performs in theaters around the country as well as in its own massive performance space in Williamsburg. Streb has received numerous fellowships and awards including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and on-going support from the National Endowment for the Arts. An actress, playwright, and professor, Anna Deavere Smith is the recipient of two Obies, two Tony nominations, and a Macarthur fellowship. She was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for her play Fires in the Mirror. Appearing in several films including Philadelphia, Rachael Getting Married, and The American President, Smith has a recurring role on Nurse Jackie.