Montana Miller has led her life alternating between careers as a professional aerialist and as an ethnographer/folklorist. At 17 she was the first American to be admitted to France's Ecole Superieure des Arts du Cirque, where she became an accomplished flying trapeze artist; after graduating from Harvard (1996) she was one of the first women ever to dive from Acapulco's 80-foot cliffs; she is known in Los Angeles through both UCLA's doctoral program and acclaimed theatrical productions. After ten years of performing her unique solo storytelling act on the flying rings, Montana breaks new ground again with her new act, "Strength Through Peace."

"Strength Through Peace" is a constantly evolving and revolving work on an aerial structure designed by Montana in the weeks after September 11. She used the traditional aerial hoop ("lira") to create her unique double lira, or "peace lira," which spins on several axes. Montana's semi-improvisational choreography explores the peace lira, with its unpredictable and unexpectedly beautiful motion and angles, and with its changing balances and speeds. "Strength Through Peace" is an expression of longing, love, and determination—a performance that emerges as a human body dances, grapples, and soars with a steel symbol. Find out about UPCOMING PERFORMANCES and VIEW VIDEO CLIPS