Four Ragtime Dances
Photo: Mikki Schaffner, Courtesy of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

PERFORMERS


MARIAH ANTON-ARTERS (Performer) (she/her) is a New York based artist who graduated in 2019 from UNC School of the Arts with a BFA in contemporary dance. Prior to her attendance there, she trained in formal disciplines under Jo-Ann Hertzman. Mariah has been privileged to perform a wide range of works and most notably, was a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Trust’s Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event at BAM Opera House. Since then, Mariah has continued to work with the Merce Cunningham Trust, while also freelancing and working with Liz Gerring, Cornfield Dance, Christopher Williams, Helen Simoneau Danse and Daniel Gwirtzman, among others. Mariah is honored to be working among the incredible group of artists that comprise Dance Heginbotham.


KARA CHAN (Performer) (she/her) is a New York City-based dancer and teaching artist, originally from Vancouver, Canada. She received her BFA from The Juilliard School, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes and is an alumna of Jacob’s Pillow Contemporary Program & Springboard Danse Montreal. Performance credits include Twyla Tharp Dance, Pam Tanowitz Dance, Mark Morris Dance Group (The Hard Nut), Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (Artemis in Athens), Janis Brenner & Dancers, Barkin/Selissen Project, and Gleich Dances among others. Kara was named one of Dance Magazine's “25 to Watch” for 2020.


JUSTIN DOMINIC (Performer) (he/him) is a professional dancer, educator, and filmmaker. Born in Newark, NJ, he trained at Arts High School, Ailey School, American Ballet Theater, and Joffrey Ballet School. Justin received his BFA in dance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and MFA in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He went on to perform and tour with several dance companies - Limon Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Carolyn Dorfman Dance, Nai Ni Chen Dance Company, LaneCoArts, and Keigwin + Co. He also performed from 2010-2020 with the Met Opera Ballet - credits include Marnie, Don Giovanni, Aida, Les Troyens, and Orfeo ed Euridice. Justin continues to teach, choreograph, and guest lecture at schools, studios, and colleges around the U.S. In addition, he was most proud to create and produce his film, unapologetic me: BLACK | GAY | MAN. The film has been screened at the American Dance Festival Movies by Movers, Newark International Film Festival, Samsung Experience (NY Flagship store), SLAY TV Film Festival, Black Alphabet Film Festival, Stockton University, Astoria Film Festival, No Longer Silent - A Night of Films (New Orleans, LA), and A Celebration of Black Queer Art (Omaha, NE).


CHRISTINE FLORES (Performer) (she/her) is originally from Toronto, Ontario. She graduated from New World School of the Arts (Miami) in 2015 with a BFA in Dance and received additional training at Springboard Danse Montreal, the Contemporary Program at Jacob's Pillow, and Cunningham Fellowship workshops. Named one of Dance Magazine’s 2021 “25 to Watch”, Christine is currently based out of New York City performing with Dance Heginbotham, Pam Tanowitz Dance, KEIGWIN + COMPANY, Company XIV, Danielle Russo Performance Project, NVA & Guests, and Shinsa Collective.


LINDSEY JONES (Performer) (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based dance artist and herbalist, originally from St. Louis, MO. A SUNY Purchase alumni, she has been a member of Dance Heginbotham since 2012. She is currently dancing with the Trisha Brown Dance company and has collaborated with Pam Tanowitz Dance (2013-present), Kimberly Bartosik, Sally Silvers, Bill Young, and Caleb Teicher, among others. Since 2012, she has worked regularly with the Merce Cunningham Trust on re-stagings & workshops, including the Bessie-award winning Night of 100 Solos: A Centennial Event at BAM and was featured in Alla Kovgan’s 3D film CUNNINGHAM. Jones teaches a variety of movement-based classes including Cunningham Technique and classes that combine movement and herbalism. She was a 2022 New York Public Library fellow, researching Dance & Ecology and is a graduate of Arbor Vitae School of Traditional Herbalism. www.lindseycjones.com


PAIGE BARNETT KULBETH (Performer) (she/her) is a Louisiana/NYC-based dancer and artist from Lafayette, LA, with a Chemical Engineering degree which has never been used from University of Louisiana (2017). After college she began creating dance installations at her local art gallery, Basin Arts, and was soon commissioned to direct the rework of NYC artist Tina Girouard’s Mardi Gras Suites and Quartets (1974/2018). This piqued a new interest in 1970’s post-modern art of New York and she impulsively moved to Brooklyn. Once there, Paige immediately began dancing with Dance Heginbotham, performing with musicians from Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, The Knights, and jazz guru Ethan Iverson. Notable performance venues include Jacob’s Pillow, La Jolla Music Society Festival, Scottsdale Arts, The Ringling Museum, and Bryant Park. Paige has also danced for Karole Armitage in the Marc Jacobs Spring 2020 Fashion show and is currently cast as “Birdie” in Isaac Mizrahi’s annual production of Peter & The Wolf at Works & Process at The Guggenheim. When not dancing, she is always in development of her own choreographic works, experimental art events and movement-based video art. www.vpbarnett.com


AMBER STAR MERKENS (Rehearsal Director/Performer) (she/her) is originally from Newport, Oregon. She holds a BFA from The Juilliard School and was a member of the José Limón Dance Company before joining the Mark Morris Dance Group in 2001. For over a decade, Amber was featured in Mark's work and inherited his roles in Dido and Aeneas, Ten Suggestions, and Rondo. Amber met and performed with John Heginbotham during her time with MMDG, and their friendship and collaborations continued over the years. She is now Dance Heginbotham's Rehearsal Director. Amber is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award, has been on faculty at the Mark Morris Dance Center and the Greene Hill School, and is currently a practicing clinical herbalist and doula. She has two amazing children who inspire her every day.


MYKEL MARAI NAIRNE (Performer) (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based freelance dance artist, administrator, and creative producer. Born and raised in New York City, Mykel studied at Alvin Ailey, where she was a fellowship student, and later, during a long hiatus from movement study, graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Film & Media Studies. Mykel re-engaged with her movement practice through intensives with Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, American Dance Festival, and Movement Invention Project and had the privilege of performing works by Bill T. Jones and Merce Cunningham, among others. She joined Dance Heginbotham in 2018, and since then her freelance performance work has brought her to venues across NYC, including St. Ann’s Warehouse in the Off-Broadway revival of Oklahoma! (dir. Daniel Fish), the Whitney Museum of Art (2019 Whitney Biennial), Danspace Project, Brookfield Place, Marinaro Gallery, Astor Place (Joe’s Pub, Astor Alive!), The Space at Irondale, Bryant Park, and Symphony Space, to name a few. Mykel currently collaborates and performs with Dance Heginbotham, Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Studio Susan Marshall, Helen Simoneau Danse, and Megan Williams Dance Projects. MykelMaraiNairne.com | IG: @mykelmarai


DANIEL PETTROW (Performer) (he/him) is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist, actor, director, and teacher. He is the Director of Performance and Communication Training for Heifetz International Music Institute. Daniel frequently focuses on avant-garde and experimental creations while fostering collaborations with artists from different disciplines. Recently, he created the film and art show Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Hot Season (in collaboration with Afghan artist Kubra Khademi) which premiered this year at Fondation Fiminco in Paris, and Collection Lambert in Avignon, France. In January 2021, Daniel created the short film Wolf and Duck as part of the Guggenheim’s Work & Process Artist Virtual Commissions. For the last twenty years, Daniel has worked closely with renowned French director Arthur Nauzyciel. In 2016, Daniel worked with legendary Italian director Romeo Castellucci, performing in Julius Caesar: Spared Parts. In 2019, Daniel collaborated and performed in the dance-theater production HERZ SCHMERZ with choreographer John Heginbotham, which had its premiere at Baryshnikov Arts Center. Daniel is a frequent collaborator with Dance Heginbotham: HERZ SCHMERZ, The Principles of Uncertainty and One Man Show. Daniel also dances the role of “The Wolf” in Isaac Mizrahi’s production of Peter & The Wolf for Works & Process at The Guggenheim (2012 - present). Daniel is an associate actor with New York City-based experimental theater company The Wooster Group. He is a frequent collaborator/director with choreographer Anabella Lenzu. Film: In Stereo, Sweet Parents, The Cult of Sincerity, The Last Adam, Psychopathia Sexualis, Kathy T, My Uncle Sidney. TV: Red Band Society, Good Eats, Don’t Know Jack, Road Trip.


MACY SULLIVAN (Performer) (she/her) Originally from Camas, WA, Macy Sullivan is a NYC-based dancer, collaborator, and teaching artist. She’s worked extensively with Caleb Teicher & Company and has also enjoyed performing with Dance Heginbotham, The Bang Group, and The Chase Brock Experience. In recent years, she’s fallen in love with Lindy Hop and is the assistant director for SW!NG OUT, a Joyce Theater Production that premiered in 2021 and is now touring. Her own work has been performed through Works & Process Artists Virtual Commissions, Center for Innovation in the Arts, and Judson Memorial Church, and she’s been on creative teams as a movement specialist for theatre works by Tyne Rafaeli and Helen Cespedes. Passionate about teaching, she recently joined the inaugural faculty of 92Y's Gotta Swing! Young Leaders Series (offering in-school and virtual residencies to schools nationwide) and is guiding her colleagues' professional development. Sullivan continues to teach for both Together in Dance, which facilitates creative movement residencies in public schools, and Dance for PD®, which offers free dance classes to people with Parkinson’s Disease. Sullivan holds a BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School (Martha Hill Prize, John Erskine Prize, Choreographic Honors).


JOSHUA TUASON (Performer) (he/him) Based in Providence, RI, Joshua Tuason began his dance artistry in a public-school dance outreach program run through San Francisco Ballet. He later obtained a BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College and soon joined the Martha Graham Ensemble. Eight years as a member of the Stephen Petronio Dance Company and a freelance career led him to work with modern dance notables such as Yvonne Rainer, Megan Williams, Ian Spencer Bell, Ellen Cornfield, and the Merce Cunningham Trust. He is currently on faculty at Boston Conservatory and Rhode Island College and is training to be certified in Alexander Technique. He is thrilled to dance again with Dance Heginbotham, a team that has been a source of joy in spite of these past few years.


COLLABORATORS


EMMA DEANE (Lighting Designer, You Look Like a Fun Guy) (she/her) is an Indigenous lighting designer, and a citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. Recent credits include work with Guthrie Theater, Signature Theatre, PlayCo, New York Theater Workshop, Hartford Stage, Geva Theatre, Baltimore Center Stage, Kansas City Rep, Round House, St. Louis Rep, Yale Repertory Theater, The Fisher Center, Court Theatre, The Goodman, Steppenwolf Theater Company, Northlight Theatre, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. MFA - Yale School of Drama. USA 829.


ETHAN IVERSON (Composer & Pianist) (he/him) Pianist, composer, and writer Ethan Iverson was a founding member of The Bad Plus, a game-changing collective with Reid Anderson and David King, performing across the world and in venues as diverse as the Village Vanguard, Carnegie Hall, and Bonnaroo. During the TBP era, Iverson balanced the cutting edge collective with performances and recordings with jazz masters like Billy Hart, Paul Motian, Tootie Heath, Ron Carter, and Charlie Haden. After a 17-year tenure, Iverson left TBP to pursue diverse interests and aesthetics. His discography now includes two recordings for ECM, and a current release Every Note Is True - his first for the Blue Note Label. Working also consistently outside the jazz sphere, Iverson created the score to Pepperland, an evening-length exploration/explosion of the Beatles with the Mark Morris Dance Group, premiered an original piano concerto with the American Composers Orchestra, and has accompanied noted classical musicians Miranda Cuckson and Mark Padmore in recital. Iverson’s concurrent writing career includes the now 20-year old website Do The Math, a repository of musician-to-musician interviews and varied essays. Time Out New York selected Iverson as one of 25 essential New York jazz icons. Iverson has also published articles about music in the New Yorker, NPR, The Nation, and JazzTimes.


COLIN JACOBSEN (Composer & Violinist) (he/him) Since the early 2000's, Colin Jacobsen has forged an intriguing path in the cultural landscape of our time, collaborating with an astonishingly wide range of artists across diverse traditions and disciplines while constantly looking for new ways to connect with audiences. For his work as a founding member of two innovative and influential ensembles – the string quartet Brooklyn Rider and orchestra The Knights – Jacobsen was selected from among the nation’s top visual, performing, media, and literary artists to receive a prestigious and substantial United States Artists Fellowship. He is also active as an Avery Fisher Career Grant-winning soloist and has toured with Silkroad since its founding by cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 2000 at Tanglewood. As a composer he has written pieces for an eclectic mix of artists including pianist Emanuel Ax, singers Anne-Sofie Von Otter and Jamie Barton, banjo player Bela Fleck, mandolinist Avi Avital, clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, choreographers John Heginbotham and Brian Brooks, theater group Compagnia de' Colombari and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. In the 2022/23 season, Jacobsen assumed the position of Artistic Director of Santa Fe Pro Musica, an organization with which he has had a fruitful long term association as a guest soloist and leader.


MAILE OKAMURA (Costume Designer, Video Editor) (she/her) is a San Diego native and studied classical ballet with Lynda Yourth, Steven and Elizabeth Wistrich, and at San Francisco Ballet School. She danced with Boston Ballet II, Ballet Arizona, and for over 20 years with Mark Morris Dance Group. She currently performs with Pam Tanowitz Dance. Maile has designed and constructed costumes for Dance Heginbotham, Mark Morris Dance Group, Pam Tanowitz Dance, Tanglewood Music Festival, Houston Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Bard College, Middlebury College, and American Classical Orchestra. Since spring 2020, she has collaborated with John Heginbotham and Colin Jacobsen on the video project, 24 Caprices, as video editor.


NICOLE PEARCE (Lighting Designer) (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist living in Queens, NY. Her work has been seen across the United States, Cuba, England, Germany, Japan, Korea, Italy, New Zealand, and Russia. Selected dance credits include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theater, Atlanta Ballet, Dance Heginbotham, Dance Theater of Harlem, Gallim, Houston Ballet, Hubbard Street, Malpaso, Mark Morris Dance Group, & New York City Ballet. Selected Opera credits include work with Minnesota Opera, Opera Montreal, The Juilliard School, Arizona Opera, and LA Opera. Selected theater credits include Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theater, McCarter Theater, The Play Company, The Playwrights Realm, Philadelphia Theater Company, and Pittsburgh Public Theater. Her installation of 1,000 paintings entitled Tiny Paintings for Big Hearts is open to doctors, nurses, staff, and patients of Elmhurst Hospital in Elmhurst, NY. (@nicolepearceart) www.nicolepearcedesign.com


ANDREA WEBER (Creative Consultant, You Look Like a Fun Guy) (she/her) was a dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2004 - 2011. Andrea is on faculty of the Merce Cunningham Trust, teaching Cunningham Technique® and repertory all over. She has taught at UArts, the Hartt School, Barnard College, SUNY Purchase, UNCSA, Brown University, Skidmore College, the American Dance Festival, ArcDanz Festival, NYU Tisch, ABT Studio Company and Salem State College. Andrea has staged Duets for Wiener Staatsballett, Exchange and Scenario for the Lyon Opera Ballet, Pond Way for Ballett am Rhein and Ballet Vlaanderen, Suite for Five for the CNSMD in Lyon, RainForest for the Stephen Petronio Company, Travelogue and Sounddance at UNCSA, How To Pass, Kick, Fall and Run for Boston Conservatory and the American Dance Festival and the Skidmore Event in the Tang Museum at Skidmore College. Andrea arranged and staged the Events for the Merce Cunningham: Common Time exhibit at both the Walker Arts Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. For Merce Cunningham’s Centennial, Andrea was the primary stager for Night of 100 Solos: LA. Andrea has been awarded ten Merce Cunningham Trust Fellowships since 2012, reconstructing dances including Travelogue, Ocean, CRWDSPCR, and Second Hand.


OMAR ZUBAIR (Sound Designer, You Look Like a Fun Guy) (he/him) After writing his first book Disorientation Therapy in 2007, Omar Zubair found that the closer to the core of being he looked, the more blurry it became; so, he began to listen to it instead. And ever since, listening has become his primary compositional technique -- whether creating a theatrical score for The Wooster Group or building a sound installation for a national historic landmark, sound designing for a blind choreographer so that she can continually orient toward the audience or improvising with a dance class at Juilliard to coax authentic movement out of each student, making music to help people grieve at a funeral or celebrate at a wedding. He lets the ear hear twice before acting once. He has helped found composer collectives across the globe in order to promote radical empathy and empower active listening.