Author Archive: Jody Sperling

Kevin Colton, the official photographer of Hobart & William Smith Colleges, enthusiastically documented Time Lapse Dance’s residency there March 24-27. Once it was over, I ended up with a pile of DVDs containing no less than 3,826 images. Kevin was there for my master class, the company’s technical rehearsal in the theater, our dress rehearsal, and then, still not bored, he mounted his camera on the lighting grid to get overhead shots of the public performance.

The camera had an extreme wide-angle and Kevin sat in the audience with a remote trigger. Unfortunately, the shutter sound was clearly audible, so he was somewhat inhibited from snapping away. Moreover, a chip in his camera was partially corrupted, so only the first two pieces of the program (my solo “Clair de lune” above and “Bang for the Buck” below) were captured. However, the shots he did get were extraordinary. I was especially excited to have this perspective on my work. We’ve got a lot of great photos of repertory, but this was something new.

It’s been making me think a lot about viewpoint. Back in 2006, when developing the mirrored set piece for Roman Sketches with Philip Drew, we had discussed the idea of suspending a large mirror over the stage angled so that it would reveal an overhead vantage point to the viewer.

Other ideas that are lingering: doing a site-specific piece in a sunken auditorium so the audience is above; making a film shot from this angle; expanding this photo essay into an art project in it’s own right, i.e. a book.

One last thought, my favorite overhead film which I will re-do one day:

Monkey House intern Gaby Mervis talking with Jody Sperling. This interview originally appeared on the Monkey House blog.

GM: How and/or why did you start choreographing?

JS: I’ve always loved dancing and I can’t imagine being a dancer without making dances. My first choreography was for our high school musicals (including “Kiss Me Kate”). My first semester in college I founded a dance troupe.

GM: How do you record your choreography?

JS: Of course, video is key . . . BUT as far as notes goes . . . The first thing is that I give names to all the moves. It’s important in the process that we all agree on the same names for the steps — and I do sometimes offer “naming rights” to the dancers! I sometimes make a vocabulary “key” (eg. correspond name to sketch) and then write out the sequence of moves of the dance, along with sketches for spatial orientation. If the work is musically based, I’ll write out the timing as well.

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I recently participated in an “incubator workshop” through Ladies Who Launch, an organization that promotes female entrepreneurship. I met a terrific bunch of women who I miss already! I signed up for this experience because I’m striving to find a viable business model for a not-for-profit dance company. To be successful, it’s not enough to be a great choreographer, you also have to become an entrepreneur. Over the four sessions, we had plenty of homework that included writing a vision statement, conceiving our “launch map,” practicing an elevator speech and a gentle reminder to do something nice for ourselves everyday.

Lately, I’ve been thinking “big.” At one level, my artistic vision is growing to require higher production values, more dancers, bigger arenas (literally—we’ll be performing in a stadium in India in December). There are also more opportunities and resources for larger companies. Growing may help us to become sustainable. I am thoroughly committed to expanding TLD, and this “incubator” has helped me articulate goals in this direction and clarify a strategy.

These are the amazing LADIES I met:

Ladies Who Launch

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People always ask me, “Why Time Lapse Dance?” A time-lapse is a trick of photography (and I do love tricks) that allows you to see the shape of change over time. An action that takes days or weeks to complete in real time, is compressed in a time-lapse film so that you can see, all in one moment, a flower unfurling or a skyscraper shooting into the air.

It’s this trajectory between past and present that preoccupies me. I believe that history is always acting through our bodies, often unconsciously. Our actions, our physical habits and our dance moves are influenced by tradition. Even when we are making movement up “from scratch” or just “free-styling” on the dance floor, we are really re-combining and assimilating movements that have been passed down to us through the ages.

I believe that in order to truly innovate we have to recognize the historical forces that are impelling us into motion. If you don’t know where you’ve been, how can you chart a path in a new direction?

Time Lapse Dance aims to forge an imaginative connection between past and present.

This film of the Franconetti Sisters tickled me. The dancers are so cheerful and guileless as they show off their moves: a can-can kick, a cartwheel, a split. The simplicity of the tricks only lends pleasure in exhibitionism.

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I recently returned from Holland where I spent three weeks working with the Introdans youth ensemble. I set the “Night Winds” and “Fountains” excerpts from my trio Roman Sketches. It was amazing experience to work with a company of this caliber, one of the most-respected in The Netherlands. Here are some shots of the rehearsal process.

All the dancers have lovely classical technique. The ensemble’s repertory, though, is extremely eclectic (Hans Van Manen, Mats Ek, Nils Christie, Danny Ezralow, Alwin Nikolais, and Robert Battle are just a few of the choreographers with works in repertory). The dancers have become quite versatile and all are quick studies. The trio was double cast, so I had the pleasure of working with six dancers: one Brazilian, one Canadian, one Spaniard, one French and two Dutch women, each of whom gave a special quality to the movement.

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