About the Founders

Elizabeth Streb
For more than 20 years, Elizabeth Streb has asked questions that challenge many widely accepted assumptions about dance. Her investigation of movement through the study of science and the human body has led her to make formal choices which vary from traditional norms. Aesthetics of grace, the use or camouflage of gravity, the presence or absence of transitions, treatment of gender, the nature of spatial and temporal dimensions as well as the use of sound in theatrical presentations have been primary areas of exploration. Streb’s approach is to take it apart and see how it works -- to isolate the basic principles of time, space and human movement potential. The outcome is a distinct way of moving, an idiosyncratic vocabulary, and a visceral performance experience: They dance. You sweat.

STREB has become a platform for this investigation, a collective attempt to uncover movement’s true nature by harnessing it without debilitating it. Streb and her dancers see the rehearsal as a laboratory for testing scientific principles on the human body. The company has engineered a system that allows the body to execute the choreography -- through the development of specific muscles and the unusual placement of the body parts, the dancers are able to explore time, space, air, and aim -- all through the use of felt-timing. Streb’s creative process draws from the sciences and mathematics, requires the design and creation of beautifully engineered equipment, and demands an athleticism, fearlessness and precision from her dancers. The result is work that is unique, compelling and popular.

Streb feels that one of the main responsibilities of the arts community is to make art and the artist more familiar to the general public. Streb/Ringside works toward this goal in a way which is intrinsic to the art the company makes. Conscious that the work is attractive to a wide audience that can enjoy the athleticism of the movement and the speed and strength of the dancers, Streb/Ringside likes to perform in spaces which are widely public: the beach; a park; or indeed the hugely public medium of television. These same qualities also make the work attractive to children and they learn the same lessons, that art can be made out of the simplest things.

The España Brothers
Challenged and inspired by the most exciting acts in the circus repertoire and by those demanding the greatest precision, skill and style, the Espana Brothers have been featured performers in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, at Disneyland and in spectacles throughout the world.

Since 2002, the Espana Brothers have been artistic partners with and inspiration to Elizabeth Streb, introducing her to their brand of extreme action which she has, in turn, embraced and made part of her own unique experimentation. Elizabeth's REVOLUTION, a work commissioned by and premiered at Lincoln Center in the summer of 2006, pays homage to and echoes the wonder, thrills and dynamics of the Espana's Wheel. In 2005, their artistic collaboration was extended to the establishment of the Espana/STREB Trapeze Academy as a way to introduce children and adults alike to the joy of flying.

Noe and Ivan Espana are the sons of a circus legacy, the fifth generation heirs to an incredible array of Espana circus talent and history. In the true circus tradition, they are the product of family training and development, much of it taking place in the spotlight before live audiences. They began performing as young children in their uncle's Krony Circus in Mexico. Their talents found initial expression on the trampoline, where at an early age each had mastered the double and triple somersaults, and triple twisting somersaults. Even before their teens, they had begun practicing to join the family's flying trapeze act, and by the end of their teens, they were accomplished stars. The rest is history.

Check out footage of one of their performances here!