Jody Sperling & The Time Lapse Dance Ensemble to Host Free Performance & Talkback

The New York Society for Ethical Culture will present a stunning evening of ecologically-themed works by its Eco-Artist-in-Residence, dancer-choreographer Jody Sperling, and her Time Lapse Dance ensemble on May 19th at 7pm. The ongoing residency is a unique and timely collaboration between the Society-whose mission is to encourage respect for humanity and nature and to create a better world-and Sperling's company, whose mission is to deploy dance toward envisioning a more embodied, sustainable, and equitable future.

The program showcases the climate-engaged collaboration between Sperling and environmental composer Matthew Burtner whose previous works have focused on such themes as melting sea ice, changing wind patterns, and plastic proliferation. With their new work-in-progress Arbor, they dwell on the nature of trees. In voluminous costumes meticulously-painted with tree limbs (by textile artist Gina Nagy Burns and costume designer Mary Jo Mecca), the dancers spiral, billow, and encircle one another in gusts of action resembling timelapses of tree motion.

Sperling's solo study for this group work garnered accolades: "breathtaking" (Tom Phillips, Dance Enthusiast); and "Sperling was a master of stage presence as she evoked the deep-rooted majesty of the tree" (Karen Hildebrand, Fjord Review).

The evening also includes excerpts from repertory highlights. Wind Rose renders changing atmospheric patterns palpable to sight, sound, and touch. Plastic Harvest explores the proliferation of plastic pollution. Lastly, Sperling offers the solo Piece for a Northern Sky, a whirling meditation on planetary motion.

The Time Lapse Dance performers are Frances Barker, Anika Hunter, Maki Kitahara, Nicole Lemelin, Sperling, Sarah Tracy and Rathi Varma.

The performance will be followed by an artist talkback.

RSVP to the event here.

Biographies

Jody Sperling is a dancer-choreographer and Founder/Artistic Director of Time Lapse Dance. She has created more than 45 works including many furthering the legacy of performance technology innovator Loie Fuller (1862-1928). Considered the preeminent Fuller stylist, Sperling has expanded the genre into 21st-century environmentally-focused performance. She has toured nationally and internationally and taught at many colleges and universities. In 2014, Sperling participated in a polar science mission and danced on Arctic sea ice, creating the dancefilm "Ice Floe," which was honored by the Creative Climate Awards. She earned a World Choreography Award nomination for her work on the French feature "The Dancer" (premiere Cannes Film Festival). Sperling is developing ecokinetics, a practice cultivating the relationship between the moving body and ecological systems and throughout the pandemic, has been focusing on programming street festivals and producing dance media. Sperling holds a BA in Dance & Italian Studies from Wesleyan University, an MA in Performance Studies from New York University, and an MFA in Dance from Montclair State University.

Time Lapse Dance (TLD) is an all-women 501(c)3 dance company founded by Sperling in 2000. TLD envisions dance as a powerful force that can help move us toward a more embodied, sustainable and equitable future. The work aims to investigate the relationship of the moving body to the ecologies we inhabit through performance, media, education, and activism.

Founded in 1876 by Dr. Felix Adler, The New York Society for Ethical Culture (ethical.nyc) is the cornerstone of the Ethical Movement. Throughout our history we have worked diligently to create community institutions and organize effective action to promote civil society and pursue social justice in New York City and beyond. Ethical Culture is a Humanist religion centered on ethics, not theology, whose mission is to encourage respect for humanity and nature and to create a better world. Members are committed to personal ethical development in their relationships with others and in activities involving social justice and environmental stewardship.

Matthew Burtner (Composer) (matthewburtner.com) is an Alaskan-born composer and sound artist who creates music from materials and data of climate change, particularly related to the Arctic. Burtner spent his childhood in the far north of Alaska and this profoundly shaped his musical language. He is a pioneer in the field of eco- acoustics and has worked extensively with systems of climatology applied to music. His work has recently been featured by NASA, National Geographic, the US State Department, Earther, and the Ringling Museum. First Prize Winner of the Musica Nova International competition, and an NEA Art Works and IDEA Award winner, Burtner's music has received honors and prizes from Bourges (France), Gaudeamus (Netherlands), Darmstadt (Germany) and The Russolo (Italy) international competitions. He teaches composition and computer music at the University of Virginia, and directs the environmental arts non-profit organization, EcoSono (ecosono.org).