Amy Harlib, 56, describes her performances as "flowing feats of flexibility that few folks can achieve at any age, let alone over 50."

She began with ballet, but quickly moved on to more demanding, yoga-based performance.

"I got bored really quickly," she said.

Harlib, a Chelsea resident, uses humor, a love for science fiction and an uncanny ability to shape and contort her body for crowds throughout the New York City area.

Using some of her self-described obsessions as inspiration, she dedicates her performances to influences like Star Trek, Star Wars, Judaism and techno trance music.

She does so despite a disintegrated disc in her spine, two torn rotator cuffs, a hip replacement and bursitis in her left knee.

"I give my audiences everything I have. I crave it, and obsess about it, just like an addict," she said.

For Harlib, who describes herself as a lifelong bachelorette, performance is a way of reaching out to and connecting with audiences.

"I know how to flirt with my audiences and make them love me. And when our audience loves us, it is the best thing in the world."

The Amazing Amy is a product of the MediaStorm Storytelling Workshop, where participants work alongside MediaStorm staff to create an intimate, character-driven documentary in just one week. Learn more about upcoming MediaStorm workshops and online training at mediastorm.com/train.

Espen Rasmussen, Photography and Video

Thank you for a great workshop! For me, the way you teach inspires me a lot, and right now I am walking around with several ideas for videos. And I now have the knowledge to start working on them! I am also a bit confused. After the workshop, there seems like there is no limitations, I am able to reach out to people and tell stories in a way I have never done before. Now I have to find the time to make multimedia, and find the stories that works the best.

The whole MediaStorm team worked wonderful with us and filled in on every gap. For me, learning how to tell a story and the process on how to build it, was important to learn. Also to know what kind of stories that works best as a multimedia.

It was also a bit scary... I am a passionate still photographer who has always believed that the photo reportage has been the best way of communicating and telling stories. But during the days in New York, I realized that the use of images, video and sounds combined, is a powerful way of reaching out to an even wider audience! I am not afraid of loosing the faith in still photography, but I see that as a journalist working today, I have to be open to other forms of communication, with all the new platforms available. I think it is specially important when it comes to reaching a young audience! To handle all the gear, cameras, tripods, microphones, cables etc etc will be a new challenge for a guy used to just carry a lens and a small camera.

Terje Bringedal, Photography and Video

I had been looking at the MediaStorm website for years and really enjoyed the great work there. I was a bit scared about the good quality when coming to the workshop as a rookie on multimedia, but the fantastic staff at MediaStorm guided me through the process and we ended up with The Amazing Amy.

Torsten Kjellstrand, Photography and Video

I came to MediaStorm thinking that I needed to learn technical stuff - how to use microphones and DSLRs and software and whatever new gizmo just fell from the sky. I did learn a lot about those crucial tools, but the most important thing that happened during the week was that my love, and enthusiasm, for visual storytelling woke up and came out to play. I haven't been as excited about my work for years and years. It's hard to believe until you see it, but the MediaStorm team really does want us all to get better, to tell real stories, thrive, succeed, smile like we’re in love. I think our whole team did just that: fall in love with storytelling all over again.

The MediaStorm folks expected and celebrated going into our complicated world to discover real people with meaningful stories, tenderly gathered and truthfully told. They also expected us to work really hard - and they matched our efforts by working every bit as hard. And that's the other thing about this workshop: you learn how important it is to be an effective, respectful member of a team. It was incredible to work not only with the big heads at MediaStorm, but also with talented storytellers from other parts of our world. It's simply fun to work alongside people whose work is so good it makes the hair on the back of your neck dance with joy.

This workshop is the antidote to the dumb-it-down journalism taking over too much of our profession. MediaStorm convinced me that we have to master our new tools because doing so makes us better, more sophisticated, more robust conduits for stories that matter.

Finn Ryan, Interview and Editor

I went into the workshop looking to refine my production process and improve reporting skills. What I took away was a productive week of collaboration with a talented group, experience from hands-on practice, and most importantly, confidence to experiment with and build off of a solid production foundation. I'm really excited to start my next project and apply what I've learned!

During the week of March 5th, MediaStorm and four Advanced Multimedia Workshop participants shot and edited the short documentary The Amazing Amy. The process was an intense learning experience filled with plenty of long nights and heartfelt debate.

This piece, the first in a series of The Making Of projects, invites you to learn about the decision making process that was behind The Amazing Amy. Join a conversation between Producer Jennifer Redfearn, Field Producer Tim McLaughlin, and MediaStorm Executive Producer Brian Storm, as they discuss the technical and theoretical steps they took to find the story and develop its narrative.

The Making Of provides over an hour of scene-by-scene exposition of the decisions that went into the editing and shooting of The Amazing Amy.

Topics covered include:

• How the story was found
• What made Amy a story
• Working in teams
• Scene by scene explanation of editing decisions
• Developing the opening
• Working with music
• The interview
• Shooting techniques
• Shot choice
• Developing the narrative arc
• Continuity
• Being fair to the subject

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Short Stories Yvonne Gougelet: The Amazing Amy