As we learn in A Ballerina’s Tale, Nelson George’s new documentary about Misty Copeland [February 8; check local listings], Eurocentric standards of body shape, muscle tone, and skin color excluded dancers who didn’t fit the wan mold demanded of prima ballerinas. All that changed in the summer of 2015, when Misty Copeland, a rising star already transcending the rarified …
Catherine Gund “Flies” with Elizabeth Streb, Extreme Action Architect
In her new film Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity, NYC-based filmmaker Catherine Gund found one of the more dynamic artistic minds in a city not lacking for creativity. Gund recently spoke to us about what it was like to capture Elizabeth Streb, “the Evel Knievel of dance,” on film.
Action Heroes of Dance: They Were Born to Fly
One has to be a tough cookie inside and out to brave Elizabeth Streb’s challenging and risky POPACTION choreography. Two of the players featured in Born to Fly took a time out from running, dancing, ducking, falling, and spinning to talk to us about life in this unusual dance company.
Art on the Edge: Extreme Dance, Performance, and More
Elizabeth Streb’s POPACTION pushes her performers to their athletic limits, and it got us wondering: what other forms of extreme performance art are out there? Not surprisingly, the human mind is capable of journeying to some quite intense places. Here are but a few.