Kid Action History and Philosophy
Streb’s work is of particular interest to children from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Young people, who are continually testing the limits of their physical universe in their play, respond enthusiastically to Streb’s work. Indeed, Streb and her dancers are interested in the same problems that children investigate – the intersection of the volatile and the immovable. This is rather like teaching the children to make art with found objects, in that they work with movement which is natural to them. They then discover a technique that develops out of a need to perform the movement safely, rapidly, slowly indifferent sequences and against different surfaces. In the process the children discover a discipline of performance, and a responsibility for their partners.
KID ACTION began during a STREB Pop Action Company residency in a Philadelphia settlement house. STREB gave workshops for the young people of the neighborhood who came to the settlement house for basketball and after school programs. Since that time, STREB has given workshops and lecture-demonstrations to wrestling teams, basketball players, young boxers, cheerleaders, gymnasts and Boy Scouts as well as to classes of school children.
In 1993, STREB conducted over 40 workshops for some five hundred children of the United Communities of Brooklyn in settlement houses, summer programs and around New York City and for children and disabled adults from Greenwich House. The company’s 1993 season culminated in a series of performances at the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage where six children from the United Neighborhood Houses of New York, performed Kid Action WALL with the Company. In 1994, the Company developed a relationship with P.S. 11 and during their two-week season at the Joyce Theater, Kid Action DIVE was performed by 12 children from this Chelsea based elementary school. Kid Action is an integral part of all STREB touring nationally and internationally. Kid Action dances have been made and performed in the communities of Boston and North Adams, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Burlington, Vermont and London, England. In 1995, Nickelodeon produced a special on Kid Action as part of its nightly program, ‘Nick News.’
At S.L.A.M. several Kid Action programs are facilitated. In addition to our S.L.A.M. class offerings throughout the school year and during our summer camp, we have an in-house partnership with Kids In Control, a program that is an arm of the Greenpoint YMCA, an ongoing residency program at PS147 in Brooklyn, a partnership with the El Puente Leadership Program and with the Williamsburg Northside Preschool. In 2005 we established KidSTREB, a performing company for young people. All of our S.L.A.M. KidAction students ages 5 and up perform in our bi-annual SLAM Shows.
Back to Kids Action mainpage
