STREB Extreme Action unveils jaw-dropping performances at Manhattan West
Company:
STREB Extreme Action Company
STREB EXTREME ACTION UNVEILS JAW-DROPPING PERFORMANCES
PRESENTED AT MANHATTAN WEST FROM SEPTEMBER 17-19, 2021
Series Will Feature New Commission by Arts Brookfield
and U.S. Premieres
Performances Are Free, Outdoors and Unticketed at
Manhattan West’s Two-Acre Public Plaza
From September 17-19, 2021, STREB EXTREME ACTION lands at Manhattan West with a series of stunning, jaw-dropping performances featuring Elizabeth Streb’s uniquely choreographed feats of physicality, scientifically planned chaos, strength, risk, and elegance. Visitors to Manhattan West will be treated to a show that confronts gravity, rotational force, acceleration, and essential notions of time. The September series will feature a never-before-seen performance commissioned by Arts Brookfield, titled KALEIDOSCOPE; two works premiering publicly in the U.S. for the first time, PLATESHIFT and MOLINETTE; as well as ADD, originally performed by Streb in 1983 at White Dog Studio. Each piece highlights the agility and athleticism of performers, deemed “action heroes.” Founded in New York City in 1985 by choreographer Elizabeth Streb, STREB EXTREME ACTION combines virtuosity and technical skill to the thrill of audiences of all ages.
On Sunday, September 19, STREB EXTREME ACTION will also host two free hour-long Kid PopAction Classes at 9am and 10am for kids ages 5-10 years old. Based on Elizabeth Streb’s PopAction technique which weaves together dance, acrobatics, athletics and Hollywood stunt work, Kid PopAction is an age-appropriate, safe, fun class designed for an outdoor learning environment. To register for Kid PopAction, please sign up here.
Appearing at Manhattan West for the first time, the performances by STREB EXTREME ACTION will take place outdoors at the two-acre public plaza within the Manhattan West complex, officially celebrating its opening in September 2021. Located in the center of New York City’s new west side, between 9th and 10th Avenues and 31 and 33rd Streets, Manhattan West is just steps from Moynihan Hall, Madison Square Garden and The High Line. Manhattan West is poised to debut as New York City’s newest dynamic destination for food, culture, retail, hospitality and the modern workplace by Brookfield Properties.
DATES & TIMES
Performances:
Friday, September 17 - 12:30-1:30 PM and 6:00-7:00 PM
Saturday, September 18 - 12:30-1:30 PM and 6:00-7:00 PM
Sunday, September 19 - 12:30-1:30 PM
Performances are free to the public and do not require advance registration. For more information, please see here.
Kid PopAction Classes:
Sunday, September 19 - 9:00 AM & 10:00 AM
Kid PopAction classes are free to the public with advance registration required. See here to reserve your spot today.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
KALEIDOSCOPE
Commissioned by Arts Brookfield for Manhattan West to premiere September 2021, Elizabeth Streb’s ambitious new octet features an Action Machine originally built to prepare the company for their performance at the London 2012 Olympics on the London Eye. The machine, affectionately known as “LERU”—the London Eye Rehearsal Unit—is a solid steel circle, 24 feet in diameter. As it rotates, the eight action heroes, who are each affixed to the center of a spoke, navigate their ever-revolving relationship to gravity, while sharing a “force field” with a partner directly opposite them. By seeing how the action heroes “ride the gravitational bull” in different location zones, the audience simultaneously recognizes and is surprised by the ever-changing forces at work on these bodies.
MOLINETTE
Elizabeth Streb’s gasp-inducing MOLINETTE utilizes a unique Action Machine designed by longtime STREB collaborator Noe España. A trio of action heroes, feet affixed to a 20’ high horizontal swivel pipe, fall unbelievably forwards and backwards—whipping through space before returning to a standing upright position again. This piece was commissioned for the historic re-opening of Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris in September 2019.
ADD
A cross taped to the floor—exactly as wide and as long as a body—serves as a flat, exact, body boundary within which possibilities of action are explored. To veer outside of it would be a criminal act for the solo dancer. Originally choreographed and performed by Elizabeth Streb in 1983 at White Dog Studio.
PLATESHIFT
Six action heroes navigate one of Elizabeth Streb’s newest Action Machine inventions—a sprung floor with two circular areas that can each rotate in different directions at varying speeds. The action heros, who are spun around with dizzying speed—contorting into matrix-like positions to hold their ground or sent into a mad sprint to maintain their place in space—and thrust flying into the air from the centrifugal force, narrowly avoiding each other. Commissioned for the opening of the 2019 Bloomberg Global Business Forum.
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ABOUT STREB EXTREME ACTION
For over forty years, STREB has performed in theaters large and small, served as artists-in-residence at the world’s top art museums, and taken its work into the streets and sports stadiums. The company’s extensive international touring calendar has included presentations at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Musée D’Orsay, Lincoln Center Festival, the Park Avenue Armory, the Fall for Dance Festival, Walker Art Center, Los Angeles MOCA, the Brisbane and Melbourne Festivals, among many other locations around the globe. The company has received commissions to perform publicly at the 2012 London Olympic Festival, the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the Whitney Museum of American Art groundbreaking, the Pan Am Games Arts Festival in Toronto, and the 2004 Cirque du Soleil 20th anniversary celebration performed in front of 250,000 people on the streets of Montreal. The company has also taken their signature extreme action to iconic locations including Grand Central Station, Coney Island’s fairground, the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, Madison Square Garden, the mall outside the Smithsonian Institution, the Minneapolis Metrodome, and more. In January 2003, STREB moved into a vacant former loading facility in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, transforming it into the STREB LAB FOR ACTION MECHANICS (SLAM) which now serves as the home of STREB EXTREME ACTION, the STREB PopAction School and the España-STREB Trapeze Academy. As a performance and presenting venue and an open access education and rehearsal space, SLAM creates community through interaction and experimentation. STREB’s 2021 Restart is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. More information at streb.org.
ABOUT ELIZABETH STREB
Elizabeth Streb, has dived through glass, walked down London's City Hall, dumped a ton of dirt on her head, and set herself on fire, among many other feats of extreme action. She founded the STREB Extreme Action Company in 1979 and established SLAM (STREB Lab for Action Mechanics) in Brooklyn, NY in 2003. Streb holds a MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University, a BS in Modern Dance from SUNY Brockport, and honorary doctorates from SUNY Brockport, Rhode Island College and Otis College of Art and Design and has received numerous honors including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, a Doris Duke Artist Award and a USA Fellowship Award. Streb has been a featured mainstage speaker at TED2018: The Age of Amazement in Vancouver, and is the subject of two documentaries: Born to Fly, directed by Catherine Gund (Aubin Pictures); and OXD, directed by Craig Lowy. In 20I0, Feminist Press published her book, STREB: How to Become an Extreme Action Hero.
ABOUT MANHATTAN WEST
Opening September 2021, Manhattan West is New York City’s newest dynamic destination for food, culture, retail, hospitality and the modern workplace by Brookfield Properties. Spanning eight acres, Manhattan West is located in the center of Manhattan’s new west side, steps away from Moynihan Hall, Madison Square Garden and The High Line, with seamless access to the theater district, entertainment district, Chelsea art galleries, Meatpacking District and more. Home to diverse world-class office space, Pendry Manhattan West Hotel, luxury residences at The Eugene, experiential retail amenities, interactive installation Citrovia, and unparalleled culinary concepts surrounding a landscaped, two-acre public plaza enlivened with immersive art and entertainment programming by Arts Brookfield, Manhattan West incorporates the best of Brookfield’s global placemaking portfolio to create a new district that has something for everyone.
ABOUT ARTS BROOKFIELD
Arts Brookfield supports innovation in music, dance, theater, film, and visual art by pushing boundaries to create unique works of art and cultural experiences presented for free. Thriving for over three decades, the program gathers communities around creativity by animating Brookfield Properties' public spaces. Visit www.BrookfieldProperties.com/arts for further information.
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