Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance (TLD) announces five onstage shows in Philadelphia and New York City in a continuation of their acclaimed climate change-themed collaboration with Matthew Burtner. The series of shows features live music by Burtner, Sperling as a soloist, and TLD’s brilliant all-women ensemble. In New York City, The Theater at the 14th Street Y and TLD co-present Time Lapse Dance Onstage on May 5 & 6, 2022 at 7pm and May 7 at 2pm & 7pm, featuring Wind Rose, American Elm, and the stage premiere of Plastic Harvest,which explores the proliferation of plastic pollution. The dancers wear costumes fashioned from hundreds of plastic bags, creating a surreal spectacle with their actions and provoking contemplation about the beauty of what—and who—our society throws away. Dance Enthusiast called the street iteration “a folk dance for the 21st Century.” The opening night gala on May 5 will include a full performance followed by a special benefit reception and conversation with the artists.

Time Lapse Onstage: Wind Rose, American Elm, and the stage premiere of Plastic Harvest
Theater at the 14th Street Y
344 East 14th Street, NYC
timelapsedance.com/events/tldonstage

Thursday, May 5 at 7pm
Gala, featuring performance, artist talk, and a special benefit reception
Tickets: $50 (artists), $100+ (patron)

Friday, May 6 at 7pm
Performed in-person and livestreamed
Tickets: $10 (livestream), $20 (student & senior), $30 (adult)

Saturday, May 7 at 2pm
In-person family program
Tickets: $20 (student & senior), $30 (adult), $35 (family rate of 1 adult + 1 child + $10 per additional child)

Saturday, May 7 at 7pm
In-person finale performance
Tickets: $20 (student & senior), $30 (adult)

While TLD has remained actively engaged throughout the pandemic—producing street festivals, online programming, and dance films—these upcoming performances mark the first time since the start of the pandemic that the full company will reassemble for in-person onstage performances. Artistic Director/Choreographer Jody Sperling worked to retain most of the performers who were originally scheduled to perform in the company’s canceled May 2020 season. In this way, the company has been able to preserve the dancers’ deeply-held embodied knowledge and revive the repertory for the spring performances in fully-realized form. The Time Lapse Dance ensemble dancers are Frances Barker, Morgan Bontz, Carly Cerasuolo, Anika Hunter, Maki Kitahara, Nicole Lemelin (swing), and Sarah Tracy (swing). Lighting for all productions is by David Ferri. Mary Jo Mecca designed the costumes for Wind Rose and Ice Cycle and constructed the costume for American Elm, which is hand-painted by Gina Nagy Burns. Lauren Gaston designed the Plastic Harvest garments.

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” (winner of a Creative Climate Award). 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.

Matthew Burtner (Composer) (www.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 (www.ecosono.org).

Instagram Handles
Company: @time_lapse_dance
Choreographer: @jody_sperling
Composer: @matthewburtner
Dancers: @maki_k_01 @anikahunter @wannabee8 @sarahtracy @mobontz @carly_raeeee @nicole_lemelin
Costume: @maryjomecca

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council.