ABSTRACT

Elizabeth Streb grew up in Rochester, New York, and graduated from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Brockport as a dance major in 1972. She performed for two years with Margaret Jenkins in San Francisco before moving to New York City, where, in 1975, she founded her company STREB/Ringside. Always questioning the dance world’s assumptions about movement, Streb has incorporated the actions and values of the circus, rodeo, and daredevil stunts in her work. Over the years these moves have included dancers’ diving off a sixteen-feet-high metal scaffolding (a “truss”) and landing flat on a mat or hurling themselves through the air in quick succession with timing so precise that they just miss occupying the same space at the same time. Her work requires great physical strength, stamina, coordination, and daring. Wanting to better understand the effects of movement on matter, Streb is studying math, physics, and philosophy as a Dean’s Special Scholar at New York University.