"The fruits of Jody Sperling's somewhat quixotic mission--to import the methods of the early-modern fabric-and-light pioneer Loie Fuller into a contemporary context--can yield uncommon, unexpected pleasure. Ballet of Light reimagines a Fuller piece from 1908 in which images were projected onto transparent gauze. For her new piece Ghosts, the lights Sperling wears are L.E.D. Her comic works Bang for the Buck and A Leg Up draw on another antiquarian interest: the acrobats and contortionists of early film." The New  Yorker, October 20, 2008.

"Jody Sperling has been studying Loie Fuller for some time—re-imagining the solos of this fin-de-siècle American dancer and devising new works inspired by them and the vaudeville milieu that spawned them. Fuller transformed herself, via immensely long silk gowns and innovative lighting, into images drawn from nature. Her flowers and butterflies and such drove the Symbolist poets and Art Nouveau artists of Paris mad with pleasure. Sperling has mastered Fuller’s art of manipulating fabric via long concealed wands, and, even in this hi-tech era, it’s wonderful to see her create swirling, evolving forms that might have been captured by a time-lapse camera." -Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice READ full review.

"Roger Hanna’s scenic projections evoke everything from dazzling red op art patterns to a snowstorm to colliding solar systems. Are we watching blossoms or electron microphotographs of dangerous viruses? It hardly matters as they create a mysterious environment for Sperling’s twists and turns, her white wraiths, her figures draped with strings of flashing lights." -Elizabeth Zimmer, Metro

LISTEN to audio interview of Jody Sperling discussing the work of Loie Fuller with Great Dance's Doug Fox.

READ Rhonda Garelick's thoughtful analysis of Sperling's work in her book Electric Salome: Loie Fuller's Performance of Modernism (Princeton University Press, 2007).

READ Marcia Siegel's in-depth discussion of Sperling's "successful postmodern compromise with dance history" in The Hudson Review, Autumn, 2006.

"Intrigued by swirling silk and twirling hoops, by glamorous gowns lit from above and below, [Sperling] puts together shows for her ensemble, Time Lapse Dance, that combine glitter and moonlight, flirtation and contortion." -Elizabeth Zimmer, Gay City News READ COMPLETE REVIEW 2007 SEASON

"from kinetic simplicity, enchantment was born" -Jack Anderson, New York Theatre Wire READ COMPLETE REVIEW 2007 SEASON

"In terms of time-lapse photography, Sperling's magical Fuller-inspired pieces do have the look of natural phenomena-blossoming, evolving, changing shape." –Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice  READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Dancer and choreographer Jody Sperling travels with her own personal cloud, which floats around her as she dances." -Robert Johnson, The Star-Ledger READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"it was perfect" –John Rockwell, The New York Times READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Also enchanting were the optical illusions of Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance. . . . Ms. Sperlings' elaborate silk drapery produced a billowing wake set to Ravel's "Une Barque sur l'océan." Beneath a black light, she mainfested orchid-like floral shapes or else revolved quickly in circles like the eye of a storm." –Aeron Kopriva, The New York Sun READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Jody Sperling re-creates the sumptuous imagery of Fuller's dance. She also draws on the artful physicality and naïve exhibitionism that made it's way into circuses, variety shows, and early films...The entire evening looked surprisingly postmodern, not like a dusty historical souvenir at all." –Marcia Siegel, Boston Phoenix READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Jody Sperling's dances spring from scholarship. Known particularly for her reconstructions of fin de siecle pioneer Loie Fuller, Sperling also finds inspiration in vintage circus and music hall entertainments." –Chris Dohse, New York Press  READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Holding their breath, mesmerized spectators followed each of the metamorphoses of the dance-fairy, who created an illusion of wings unfolding from her back. One of the spectators admitted: 'Even before the conclusion of the dance, I wanted to see it again and again.'" –Анасмасця СОЛОВБЕВА, Золотое Кольцо, Yaroslavl, Russia READ COMPLETE REVIEW

READ Brattleboro Reformer preview residency at Marlboro College.

READ Winston-Salem Journal preview performance at Reynolda House Museum.

"Sperling's expansive musicality and expert manipulation of her enormous costume were perfectly analogous to the solution today's technological sophisticates are still searching for—not just a merger of dancing and media but a transfiguration of both." –Marcia Siegel, The Boston Phoenix READ COMPLETE REVIEW Boston Cyberarts Festival

"Jody Sperling's engrossing solo program at Joyce Soho hinged on transformation. ...In 'Earth,' she's a woman with vast wings; in 'Water,' she goes deeper into metamorphosis, roiling and swirling, engulfed in silk foam; in 'Wind,' [Loie] Fuller's famous lily image becomes a small tornado. 'Fire' begins low, with red-lit fabric rising. In the waltz of 'Ether,' we see Sperling's body again—the woman within." –Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice  READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Sperling's evening was a mix of comedic, acrobatic, and most of all transporting works. Such a range of styles – bridged and conceived with equal amounts of polish – points to Sperling's artistic strength and curatorial zeal. ...a fine interpreter, exuding the wily, confident, knowing surety that one imagines [Loie] Fuller herself might have performed with." –Vanessa Manko, Dance Insider  READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Sperling's use of fabric is mesmerizing, her layering of modern and past dance techniques is innovative, and she dances with remarkable grace and precision."
–Talia Bloch, Aufbau   READ COMPLETE REVIEW

"Howling winds and slashing rains couldn't keep me from traveling to Stanford the other evening despite the fact that my little car was telling me in no uncertain terms that it didn't belong on a freeway during such a dark and stormy night. But then how many chances does one get to see something at least approximating what the mother of modern dance, one Loie Fuller, of Fullersburg, Ill and Paris, France, might have looked like?"
–Rita Felciano, danceviewwest   READ COMPLETE REVIEW

READ preview performance at Zimmerli Art Museum

READ preview performance at Two River Theater

"Magic dominated the program that Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance presented on Sunday night at the Merce Cunningham Studio. Ms. Sperling celebrated theatrical illusion and dance history in tributes to Loie Fuller, an early modern dancer who flooded her costumes with fantastic patterns of light in the 1890's." –Jack Anderson, The New York Times

"The clever ones know how to raise issues without beating their audiences over the head. Jody Sperling...is a good example. Her two short but telling solos...are witty, entertaining and thought-provoking." –Michael Crabb, Canada's National Post

"This is beautiful, lyrical, original, sweet, imagistically rich, evocative, moving work. It's what not just dance, but ballet should be, giving us a vehicle on which our own imaginations can take flight. Besides the [Christopher] d'Amboise work, none of the pieces in this year's Diamond Project come close to it in choreographic skill or audience resonance." –Paul Ben-Itzak, Dance Insider

"a good mind and a heavy dose of glamour" –Elizabeth Zimmer, The Village Voice

"New York's Jody Sperling has always been a fFIDA favourite for her off-the-wall choreography, and her new work Cheaper is right in the mould. Set to bizarre, percussive music by Quentin Chiappetta, Sperling and Ashley Sowell are inept contortionists who attempt to bend the human frame into a pretzel with hilarious results." –Paula Citron, The Globe and Mail

"By far the freshest and most spirited dance was Sperling's 'Serpentine Dance,' an interpretation of Loie Fuller's 1891 skirt dance. She whirled the skirt, at one point twirling her head and looking like a pistil in the center of a calla lily." –Merilyn Jackson, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Jody Sperling pares historical dance-forms down to the painful funny bone." –Miriam Seidel, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Just when we'd lost hope of ever again being moved to laughter at a dance concert . . . along come two brainy young dancemakers [Jody Sperling is one] with utterly seductive senses of humor. ...[B]oth are choreographically terse avoiding excess without sacrificing impact. ...very funny—and totally uncorny." –Gus Solomons jr, The Village Voice