Upper East Side|Local Event
Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance Announces Shapes of Change: Company’s 25th Anniversary Season
Jody Sperling and Time Lapse Dance announce the program Shapes of Change, two performances in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the company, from April 24-25, 2026 at New York Society for Ethical Culture, Adler Hall, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023. In keeping with an ethical ethos, all performance tickets are offered at pay-what-you-can pricing. Suggested general admission is $35 with lower-cost and free ticket options available here.
For two-and-a-half decades, choreographer Jody Sperling and her Time Lapse Dance ensemble have been creating stunning spectacles that illuminate the relationship between the human body and the natural world while reckoning with climate change realities. Since 2022, Sperling and company have been Eco-Artists-in-Residence at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, co-presenting programs that embody an ethical and ecological ethos. Shapes of Change celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Time Lapse Dance and the 150th Anniversary of the New York Society for Ethical Culture with two unique performances (come to both!) featuring a world premiere and repertory favorites at the Society’s historic Adler Hall.
The world premiere piece Sea Change is a poetic reimagining of humanity's relationship with water in the wake of rising sea levels. Performed by the company’s six exquisite dancers, the dance delves into somatic experiences of submersion and conjures a misty realm between sea and sky. The work continues a decade-long collaboration between Sperling and Emmy Award-winning environmental composer Matthew Burtner. For the season, Burtner performs live and conducts The New Consort vocal ensemble to evoke a hauntingly luminous sea of sound.
Program A (Friday) features two other Sperling-Burtner collaborations: Fractal Memories, originally created for the documentary Obsessed with Light, which traces the entanglement of bodies through time; and Plastic Harvest, a romp about plastic proliferations. Performance followed by a reception honoring a special guest to be announced. Program B (Saturday) features the Sperling-Burtner collaborations: Wind Rose, visualizing patterns of atmospheric disturbance; and excerpts from the visually-hypnotic Arbor, dwelling on the intimacy of trees. Saturday’s performance is followed by an artist talkback.
All of these works feature transformative costumes that abstract human movement into elemental and organic forces, with the dancers appearing to conjure the oceans eddies, a growing forest, or hovering storm clouds. The company's unique style of movement draws inspiration from and furthers the art form created by dance icon Loie Fuller (1862-1928) a century ago.
Lighting design by Bessie Award-winning designer David Ferri.
Program A - Friday, April 24
+Ticketed Reception
Program B - Saturday, April 25
+Artist Talkback
Time Lapse Dance ensemble: Frances Barker, Elinor Kleber Diggs, Tessa Fungo, Anika Hunter, Maki Kitahara, Lo Poppy, Sarah Tracy, and Rathi Varma
The New Consort, vocal ensemble: Madeline Apple Healey (soprano), Heather Jones (mezzo-soprano), Noé Kains (tenor), Brian Mummert (artistic director & baritone)
Performance-Only Tickets (Friday or Saturday)
No minimum, suggested pricing as follows
$10 - accessible price (e.g. senior, student, artist)
$35 - general admission
$75 - patron ticket (subsidizes accessible tickets for others)
Performance + Post-Performance Reception (Friday 4/24 only)
$50 - accessible price
$150 - patron ticket
$500+ - Leadership Circle Access (perks include VIP seating & rehearsal invitations)
About Jody Sperling
Jody Sperling is a dancer, choreographer and the Founder/Artistic Director of the Time Lapse Dance ensemble. Since 2022 Sperling has been Eco-Artist-in-Residence at the New York Society of Ethical Culture where, with her company, she is advancing the mission of dancing toward a more embodied, sustainable, and equitable future. Sperling is the leading exponent of performance technology innovator Loie Fuller (1862-1928)–her Fuller-style work is prominently featured in the Fuller documentary Obsessed with Light, the Fuller biopic The Dancer, and in Paul Taylor Dance Company’s repertory. Sperling has expanded Fuller’s genre into contemporary environmental forms and to promote climate literacy. In 2014, Sperling participated in a polar science mission and danced on Arctic sea ice, creating the short dance film Ice Floe, honored with a Creative Climate Award. Sperling’s work continues to focus on embodied climate engagement.