Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity

Filmmaker Catherine Gund's Born to Fly serves up an energetic portrait of dancer-choreographer Elizabeth Streb, who is now based in NYC. For four decades, Streb has pushed boundaries of modern dance with her "Pop Action" style: a fusion of dance, gymnastics, and machine-assisted kinetic stunts, inspired by both extreme sports and circus acrobats (there is here a certain resemblance to Cirque du Soleil, minus the glorious costumes). An associate of famed choreographers Bill T. Jones and Trisha Brown (briefly glimpsed but not interviewed), Streb danced many of her own routines until age and injuries took a toll; now she works with a team of young people whose muscular, well-nourished physiques offer a telling contrast to the more common anorexic-looking bodies in dance. Amusingly, Streb explains that by pairing her press releases with the best dance photos she could commission, she was able to get good print exposure for her performances, despite mixed critical reviews. A career milestone finds Streb sending dancers aloft on the London Eye ferris wheel during the 2012 Olympics (ironically, this slow tableau is much less interesting than the amazing hurling bodies she orchestrates in the confines of her "Action Invention Lab" back home). That Streb is an open lesbian may make this of additional interest for LGBT collections, but this is primarily focused on dance/performance. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)