Jody Sperling and her Time Lapse Dance ensemble are Guest Artists with Southern Methodist University’s Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute (DCII) and Meadows School of the Arts from March 18-22. As part of the residency the company will offer a public performance on Thursday, March 21 at 7pm of Arbor and Other Dances About Nature, presented by DCII and SMU Dance Department. The residency theme is DCII's 2023-2024 Big Challenge Series on Climate Resilience.

The performance is a visually-stunning program exploring human entanglement with nature. Featured works highlight the acclaimed climate-engaged collaboration between choreographer Jody Sperling and environmental composer Matthew Burtner. Arbor dwells on the intimacy of trees. In Wind Rose, dancers render changing atmospheric patterns palpable to sight, sound, and touch. Plastic Harvest manifests the proliferation of plastic pollution to comic proportions. The Fjord Review called it a "visually gorgeous evening of performance" with "a deeper level to discover." The performance will be followed by an artist talkback. 

This free public performance is the culminating event of the Guest Artists' weeklong residency focusing on climate change engagement through dance, including a panel discussion with SMU faculty, an accessible Communi-tree dance workshop, and more. 

Spurring Engagement on Climate Change: Perspectives from Dance and Social and Applied Sciences
Monday, March 18 from 12-1pm
Hughes-Trigg Chamber

Join the Dedman College Interdisciplinary Institute for a conversation about public communication strategies around climate change. Choreographer and DCII/Meadows Guest Artist Jody Sperling will give a short talk about the environmental dance performance practice she calls ecokinetics, followed by a discussion with SMU faculty Dr. Maryann Cairns (Anthropology), Dr. Jessie Zarazaga (Engineering), and Dr. Alejandro Aceves (Mathematics). Lunch will be provided for all who register prior to March 14th.