Time Machine Show Program
Time Machine Show Program content
Extreme Action & Dance | Australian Premiere
Time Machine
Elizabeth Streb & STREB EXTREME ACTION
Dates: 14 - 17 Mar 2024
Venue: Her Majesty's Theatre
Duration: 1hr, no interval
Presented by arrangement with Arts Projects Australia.
Contents
Credits
About the work
Biographies
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Credits
Founder, Co-Artistic Director & Choreographer Elizabeth Streb
Co-Artistic Director & Director of Corporate Growth & Programs Cassandre Joseph
Chief Operations Officer Shannon Reynolds
Technical Director Matt McAdon
Assistant Technical Director Jelani Lewis
Audio Engineer Paul Piekarz
Senior Action Hero Cassandre Joseph
Senior Action Hero Jackie Carlson
Action Hero Nailah Cunningham
Action Hero D’Sherrick Williams
Action Hero Andrea Laisure
Action Hero Sarah Perez
Action Hero Kai Rizzuto
Action Hero Jaylen Taylor
Action Hero Luciany Germán
Image Ralph Alswang
Music credits
TIP: "Agile Transfer", Allison Cornell. Originally composed for Fragile. Family. Structures. by Hope Clark (STREB 1991-1999). Performed live at the Danspace Project in NYC.
AIR: "Art Gang", Voodo Fé & Earl Blaize.
Presenting credits
Time Machine is presented by arrangement with Arts Projects Australia, an arts and event management company which operates as a producer and presenter of high quality contemporary performing arts and events.
Arts Projects Australia Staff
Director Ian Scobie AM
Director Lee Cumberlidge
WOMADelaide Associate Director Annette Tripodi
Producer Daniel Vorrasi
Marketing Director Dani Ricciardi
Production Manager Mark Muller
Administrator Di Farrell
About the work
SYNOPSIS
Taking flight by pushing the boundaries of aesthetics and kinesthetic bravery, the STREB Extreme Action Company revisits their roots with a retrospective of founder, Elizabeth Streb. Time Machine is a journey through Streb’s career that explores her classic solos from the 70s and 80s, early equipment experimentations from the 90s, and jaw-dropping extreme action opuses with the large scale “action machines” the company has since become known for from the early 21st century. This historic look back connects the line from the company’s experimental past to the extreme action of their current and future works.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The members of Elizabeth Streb’s company, STREB EXTREME ACTION, are referred to as EXTREME ACTION HEROES, and combine virtuosity and technical skill with openhearted popular appeal. Founded in New York City in 1985 by choreographer Elizabeth Streb, the company has travelled, artistically as well as geographically, from the heights of the experimental dance world to the cutting-edge of popular entertainment. For over 40 years, STREB EXTREME ACTION has performed in theatres 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.
Biographies
Elizabeth Streb
Founder, Co-Artistic Director & Choreographer
Elizabeth Streb founded the STREB Extreme Action Company in 1979 (then Ringside Inc.), and established SLAM (STREB Lab for Action Mechanics) in Brooklyn, NY in 2003. Streb is recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Award, the Guggenheim Fellowship, a Doris Duke Artist Award and a USA Fellowship Award. Streb holds a MA in Humanities and Social Thought from New York University, a BS in Modern Dance from SUNY Brockport, and three honorary doctorates SUNY Brockport, Rhode Island College, OTIS College of Art and Design. Streb was a featured speaker at TED2018, is the subject of two documentaries: Born to Fly and OXD, and her book, STREB: How to Become an Extreme Action Hero, was published in 2010.
Cassandre Joseph
Co-Artistic Director, Director of Corporate Growth & Programs & Senior Action Hero
Cassandre Joseph was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Her investigation in movement began at age four with the sport of gymnastics. She earned several state and regional titles over 20 years as a competitive gymnast. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in English Literature and studied journalism at Temple University’s graduate communications program. Joseph joined STREB in 2007, was appointed Associate Artistic Director in 2017 and then Co-Artistic Director in 2022. Joseph has been the Creative Director of the STREB Kid Company since 2010 for which she has choreographed and self-produced three evening length works.
Jackie Carlson
Senior Action Hero
Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, Jackie Carlson has studied ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, and gymnastics since the age of 6, winning many awards and scholarships including Miss Dance of Michigan in 2000 and “Most Outstanding Dancer ’01” with NYC Dance Alliance. She spent five consecutive summers on full scholarship at The Milwaukee Ballet School, before moving to New York City right out of high school to join Dance Theatre of Harlem. Carlson joined STREB EXTREME ACTION in 2008 and in 2021 was promoted to Senior Action Hero.
Nailah Cunningham
Action Hero
Nailah Cunningham was raised in Portland, Oregon. They began their movement training at a nonprofit arts school, Portland Metro Arts, where they trained in ballet and modern dance. In 2017 they chose to pursue movement as a career and moved to New York to start training on scholarship at The Ailey School. In 2019, Cunningham was honored to perform at Lincoln Center with the company in Alvin Ailey’s Memoria before graduating in 2020. Throughout 2021 they worked with 98 Art Collective as
their featured movement artist. Cunningham joined STREB in March 2022.
D’Sherrick Williams
Action Hero
Born and raised in Marshall, Texas, D’Sherrick (Dee) Williams spent his childhood spinning in colorguard and kicking in Karate. In 2022, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Dance from Northwestern State University. Williams has studied various dance forms, including Hip-Hop, Modern, Tap, Jazz, Ballet, and Partnering. Williams spent the summer of 2021 in Canada teaching dance at a camp for the arts. There, he furthered his pedagogic skills as well as his deep love for choreography and free, raw movement. Williams has been a member of STREB EXTREME ACTION since 2022.
Andrea Laisure
Action Hero
Andrea Laisure is from Long Island, New York where she competed in gymnastics and judo starting at age 6 until she began dancing in High School. In 2021, she graduated from Muhlenberg College with a double major in International Studies and Spanish. During college, found a passion for aerial arts where she performed in two productions with Atlas Circus Company. After college, Laisure completed a full time circus program at Aircraft Circus Academy in London, and then joined STREB EXTREME ACTION as a project based dancer and is in her second season with the company.
Sarah Perez
Action Hero
Sarah Perez is a dance artist from France and is a recipient of many gold medals from France National Dance competitions. With her crew, she finished second in France at the international hiphop competition, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world, qualifying her for the world championship finals. In 2021, Perez moved to New York and graduated from the Peridance Certificate Program. She has performed in videos for monotronic, Caural, Ryan Serhant, Sabrina Lonis, Sony, alpha and RSVLT. She is also a company member with Faustine Lavie Dance Project. This is Sarah’s second contract with STREB EXTREME ACTION.
Kai Rizzuto
Action Hero
Homegrown in Brooklyn, New York, Kai Rizzuto started his movement journey at age four at the STREB Lab for Action Mechanics (SLAM). He trained at SLAM for 12 years, where he became a founding member of the STREB Kid Company. In 2012, Rizzuto began training in hip hop dance at The Beacon School, and eventually continued to SUNY Purchase where he majored in Mechanical Sound Engineering and Design and was named a student director of Sabotage Dance Team for three years. Rizzuto is grateful to have found his way back to STREB in 2023.
Jaylen Taylor
Action Hero
Jaylen Taylor is from Canton, MS. He is a 2023 graduate of New York University Steinhardt’s Dance Education program with a MA in Teaching Dance in the Professions: ABT Pedagogy. Taylor graduated from The Jackson State University with his Bachelors in Journalism and Media Studies with a concentration in Integrated Marketing. Taylor has performed in Italy and on world-renowned stages such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. At NYU he was a member of NYU’s Cheer Competition Team, a peer representative for SDEA. This is Taylor’s first season with STREB EXTREME ACTION.
Luciany Germán
Action Hero
Luciany Germán is a dancer/model born and raised in the Bronx, New York, attended Lehman College where she studied modern dance and began her journey with STREB through the SLAM Remote program in 2013. Germán has performed in various productions with STREB, notably the Picasso Circus at the Musée d’Orsay, and in FALLING & LOVING, a collaboration between the SITI Company and the STREB Extreme Action.
Matthew McAdon
Technical Director
Matthew McAdon has been collaborating with STREB for 15 years and is entering his ninth year as STREB’s Technical Director. With a background in mechanical and scenic design, prototype design, live performance technology, stunt rigging and technical direction, McAdon has collaborated with organisations such as Bang On A Can, American Repertory Theater, The Barclays Center, Lincoln Center, City Center, the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Natural History Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Hammerstein Ballroom, Bloomberg, the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, Unusual Rigging, Sapsis Rigging, Mountain Productions and Hudson Scenic. MFA Scenic Design, CalArts.
Jelani A. Lewis
Assistant Technical Director
Jelani A. Lewis was born in New York and raised between New York and Antigua in the Caribbean nurturing him into the individual he is today. Lewis began working with STREB in 2013 and currently holds the position of Assistant Technical Director, a diverse position which includes the structural build of STREB’s iconic Action Machines to the management of the technical crew. Lewis holds his BA in Psychology and AOS in Biology from the College of Staten Island and holds a Trained/Certified Surgical Occupational Technologist degree.
Paul Piekarz
Audio Engineer
Paul Piekarz has been working in live sound and video in New York City across all applications since 2010. Piekarz has worked with companies such as Oxygen Eventworks, Frost Productions, and Good Room. Piekarz joined STREB
in 2011 as their Audio Engineer.
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