Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance To Honor Gail Merrifield Papp at Shapes of Change

Jody Sperling and Time Lapse Dance announce that their upcoming program, Shapes of Change, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the company will honor behind-the-scenes theatrical force Gail Merrifield Papp. There will be two performances of Shapes of Change from April 24-25, 2026 at New York Society for Ethical Culture, Adler Hall, 2 West 64th Street, New York, NY, 10023 and a post-show reception on Friday, April 24 to raise a glass and celebrate Gail and her contributions to the field. 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.

As a founding Board Member of Time Lapse Dance, Gail Merrifield Papp harnessed her expertise and insight to launch the company and advance the Time Lapse Dance mission. More broadly in the performing arts field, Gail is known for her involvement with the Public Theater since its inception – as a creative force developing innovative, socially-conscious, and award-winning theatrical productions.

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.

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)

About New York Society for Ethical Culture

The New York Society for Ethical Culture is a community dedicated to ethical living and social justice since 1876. Guided by Humanist values, we aim to bring out the best in the human spirit through education, advocacy, and service. Together we support both personal growth and collective responsibility in pursuit of a just, equitable, and sustainable world.

About Time Lapse Dance

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.

About New Consort

Winners of the American Prize in Chamber Music, THE NEW CONSORT is a vocal chamber ensemble dedicated to exploring the roles that musical ritual and community can play in 21st-century lives. We bring the unique emotive power of vocal ensemble music out of its historical place in religious ceremony, using it instead to humanize the marginalized and illuminate thematic connections among creators in many genres of musical expression.

Founded by baritone & Artistic Director Brian Mummert, The New Consort has been presented by organizations including Trinity College, Cambridge; Tippet Rise Art Center; Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue; Williams College; Sacred Music at Columbia University; Princeton University Chapel; The Bach Store, an NYC pop-up concert hall; Pegasus Early Music; and New York State Baroque. Recent and upcoming commissions include projects by Rosśa Crean, Jonathan Woody, Simon Frisch, Hope Littwin, Kebra-Seyoun Charles, Niccolo Seligmann, and Ethan McGrath. Members of The New Consort appear as soloists, choristers, and conductors with some of the world’s best-respected ensembles, but relish the opportunity to collaborate as chamber musicians.

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