Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance Present The 2nd Annual Spot For Dance Festival

Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance, in conjunction with Community Board 7/Manhattan presents the 2nd Annual Spot for Dance Festival, a Movement Site Activation and Community Zone, on the occasion of both International Parking Day and the Global Climate Strike on Friday, September 20, 2019 from 2-7pm. The location is four curbside parking spaces on the West Side of Broadway between 100th & 101st Streets. All programs are free. For more information visit: timelapsedance.com/events/parkingday2019.

Parking Day is an annual global event where citizens, artists, and activists transform curbside parking spots into public space. By drawing attention to the allocation of city land to private car storage--a hidden-in-plain sight subsidy for CO2-emitting vehicles--Parking Day helps the public creatively imagine a more sustainable and vibrant future.

Global Climate Strike is a widespread demand for action to address the urgency of the climate catastrophe. Climate Strike events are aimed to disrupt our disastrous "business as usual" mentality and to serve as a wake-up call for transformational action.

Community Zone 100/101. In the space of a single parking spot, Community Board 7/Manhattan volunteers provide a vital gathering hub for neighbors and visitors to share information about sustainable urban design, recycling, tree planting, and climate education resources. The zone features engagement activities for children as well as awareness building and climate mobilization networking for adults.

Spot for Dance activates a streetscape that is normally occupied by static vehicles with living, breathing, bodies, awakening a range of sensations and movement experiences. The festival features performances by host company Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance as well as the Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble, choreographers Aviva Geismar and Nicole McClam. There will be free public workshops led by master teachers Daria Fain (Qigong) and Naomi Goldberg/Dances for a Variable Population. Performance and workshop themes explore climate change, social justice, age/ability, and gender/racial identity. Understanding the intersectionality of the climate crisis is critical to a stated goal of the Climate Strike of "raising awareness in their communities and pushing for solutions to the climate crisis that have justice and equity at their heart."

Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance's work focuses on the dynamic relationship of the moving body and the world we inhabit. In a new site-specific dance, Grid, with a score by composer/musician Glen Fittin, seven dancers tumble parallel to the rushing traffic of Broadway. Within this concrete sliver of a streetscape, the choreography melds images of a ghostly wilderness with the present-day urban ecology. Sperling also continues her collaboration with cellist Scott Johnson creating a sonic site-specific improvisation that playfully interweaves the cello's plaintive wails with passing sirens. Lastly, the company reshapes excerpts from Wind Rose, Sperling's breath-filled collaboration with acclaimed environmental composer Matthew Burtner. This work visualizes local and global wind patterns which are being dramatically altered along with climate change. The Time Lapse Dancers are Frances Barker, Morgan Bontz, Carly Cerasuolo, Anika Hunter, Andrea Pugliese, Deuana Robinson, and Indah Walsh.

The Sokolow Theatre/Dance Ensemble (STDE) presents excerpts from the great 20th century choreographer Anna Sokolow who brilliantly brought social consciousness to her work. The company performs excerpts from three masterworks. "Rooms" portrays the psychic isolation and unfulfilled desires of people living in the big city. From Three Poems, STDE presents a quartet for four women alluding to the timeless archetype of sirens. Lastly, the ensemble revives a suite of three solos from the 1930s and 40s that still resonate powerfully today: Lament for the Death of the Bullfighter; Ballad (in a popular style); and Kaddish.

Aviva Geismar performs a new solo work-in-progress Trembling between Poles, addressing the fear and anxiety of the individual caused by our current geopolitical crises. Nicole McClam shares her solo, It's All Good Hair, which makes space for a conversation between a black woman and her hair. The piece examines American history, pop culture, and personal narratives to explore how black women are socialized to value Eurocentric beauty standards.

Spot for Dance also offers participatory experiences for people of all ages and abilities. Fain teaches Qigong workshop, sharing a series of movements to create fluidity in the body and re-energize the mind. Dances for a Variable Population, led by founder and artistic director Naomi Goldberg Haas, present "A taste of MOVEMENT SPEAKS," the signature program promoting strong and creative movement for adults of all ages and abilities to improve mobility, balance, strength, connection, joy, and creative mastery. The event closes with a Solidarity Action Jam in which the artists, volunteers and the dance together in celebration and solidarity with the climate movement.

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