Breathtaking New Dance Film: Born to Fly

September 1, 2014

Ahh. Visually striking dance movies—there’s nothing like them. From the 3D, Academy-Award nominated Pina to the probing, New-York-City-Ballet-behind-the-scenes, Ballet 422, movies that take the awesomeness of dance to a new visual level are always the best ever. Well, dance-on-camera fans, rejoice! There’s a new film coming out this month that promises to be extremely bold and beautiful.

Members of STREB Extreme Action performing “Sky Walk,” as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

(photo by Esy Casey)

Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity
comes out next week, after rave reviews at the SXSW Film Festival this spring. Following Streb and her STREB Extreme Action dancers movers, the film highlights the choreographer’s contributions to dance, art and the quest for human flight—though sometimes at the cost of her company members’ safety. But as Streb (aka the Evel Knievel of dance) says in the film, “Anything too safe is not action.” Plus, it’s insanely exciting—talk about a serious adrenaline rush—to watch the dancers bounding from incredible heights, spinning in a human hamster wheel and rappelling from buildings. Take a look at the trailer below—we promise, you’ll be hooked:

Dying to see Born to Fly? Click here for a list of showtimes.