The Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts and UNCSA present a new work led by GRAMMY-winning violinist and 2024 MacArthur Fellow Johnny Gandelsman. In a transformative evening of music and dance, Johnny Loves Johann pairs Gandelsman’s unique interpretation of Bach’s Cello Suites—performed live on violin—with original choreography and performances by John Heginbotham, Caili Quan, Jamar Roberts, and Melissa Toogood, celebrating the humanity and dance at the center of this iconic music.  
 
Carolina Performing Arts at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNCSA proudly serve as lead co-commissioners for Johnny Loves Johann, a world premiere exploring artistic unity and cultural connection through a new model of cross-campus collaboration in creation, education, and presentation of new work.

deMille Theater
Tickets $30 per person

Performance Schedule:
May 1: 7:30 PM
May 2: 7:30 PM
May 3: 2:00 PM

Named "a violinist who can do anything" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Grammy Award-winning violinist, producer, and 2024 MacArthur Fellow Johnny Gandelsman unites with acclaimed choreographers John Heginbotham, Caili Quan, Jamar Roberts, and Melissa Toogood for Johnny Loves Johann. This New York premiere pairs Johnny’s folk-inspired violin interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete cello suites with original choreography performed by its creators. Johnny Loves Johann unfolds as a vibrant and intimate conversation with Bach’s music, celebrating the dance and humanity at the heart of these iconic works.

Performance Schedule:
April 14 -18: 7:30 PM
April 19: 2:00 PM
Curtain Chat on April 15

John Heginbotham and DH company dancer Paige Barnett Kulbeth will spend three weeks in residence at Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna, FL.

From February 8–28, select artists from all over the world will gather for three weeks at ACA to focus on their art, collaborate with artists from other disciplines, and work with internationally renowned mentors: Megan Conley, harpist; Greg Corbino, designer/puppeteer; John Heginbotham, choreographer.

Johnny Loves Johann unites violinist Johnny Gandelsman and choreographers/performers John Heginbotham, Caili Quan, Jamar Roberts, and Melissa Toogood. This evening-length performance pairs Gandelman’s unique interpretation of Bach’s Cello Suites—performed live on violin—with original choreography, celebrating the humanity and dance at the center of this iconic music.

World Premiere at Carolina Performing Arts - Joan H. Gillings ArtSpace at CURRENT

Performance Schedule:
December 10: 7:30 PM  
December 11: 6:00 PM
December 12-13: 8:00 PM

Isaac Mizrahi narrates and directs Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic, Peter & the Wolf, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, conducted by Michael P. Atkinson. Choreographed by John Heginbotham and performed by Dance Heginbotham, the cast, wearing costumes by Mizrahi, brings the 30-minute story to life for the young and young at heart.

Performance Schedule:
December 5: 6:30 pm
December 6: 11 am, 1:00 and 2:30 pm
December 7: 11 am, 1:00 and 2:30 pm
December 13: 2:30, 4:00, and 5:30 pm
December 14: 11 am, 1:00 and 2:30 pm

Isaac Mizrahi narrates and directs Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic, Peter & the Wolf, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, conducted by Michael P. Atkinson. Choreographed by John Heginbotham and performed by Dance Heginbotham, the cast, wearing costumes by Mizrahi, brings the 30-minute story to life for the young and young at heart.

Performance Schedule:
December 6: 6:30pm
December 7: 11:00am, 1:00pm, 2:30pm
December 8: 1:00pm, 2:30pm, 4:00pm

The Ringling Museum presents You Look Like a Fun Guy in their lush Bayfront Gardens.

You Look Like a Fun Guy is an outdoor performance event inspired by John Cage’s interest in mycology and his methods of composing music. Directed and choreographed by John Heginbotham, You Look Like a Fun Guy celebrates Cage's rigorous and playful concerns as well as the astonishing nature and behavior of fungi. Shaped and informed by its surroundings, this unique performance event responds to the natural environment it inhabits.

Performance Dates + Times:
November 13: 5:15pm
November14: 5:15pm

You Look Like a Fun Guy is programmed as part of the SunHAT Eco-Performance Fest, featuring innovative, global, and provocative performances while illuminating issues of ecology, climate change, and environmental justice. All festival performances offer Pay What You Wish pricing.

Baryshnikov Arts commissions the world premiere of Woolgathering, an evening-length spoken word opera directed and composed by Oliver Tompkins Ray, based upon singer-songwriter and author Patti Smith’s book, Woolgathering. As a longtime artistic collaborator of Smith’s, Ray is joined by John Heginbotham, who will develop a choreographic vision and language that inspirit the natural and supernatural worlds of Woolgathering, a meditation on memory, childhood, and imagination. Smith’s words will enliven and amplify the setting, music, and dance. The work will feature Patti Smith (voice), Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Connor Gallaher (pedal steel/guitar), and Oliver Tompkins Ray (guitar and electronics), as well as Gerald Casel and Mykel Marai Nairne of Dance Heginbotham. The production includes lighting design by Thomas Dunn, sound design by Chris Mclaughlin, and costumes by Maile Okamura.

Choreography by John Heginbotham for Woolgathering is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The Hopkins Center for the Arts brings You Look Like a Fun Guy to the grounds of Dartmouth College.

You Look Like a Fun Guy is an outdoor performance event inspired by John Cage’s interest in mycology and his methods of composing music. Directed and choreographed by John Heginbotham, You Look Like a Fun Guy celebrates Cage's rigorous and playful concerns as well as the astonishing nature and behavior of fungi. Shaped and informed by its surroundings, this unique performance event responds to the natural environment it inhabits.

Performance Dates + Times:
September 17: 6:45pm
September 18: 6:45pm
September 19: 6:45pm

You Look Like a Fun Guy is programmed in conjunction with the Dartmouth Climate Collaborative, an initiative to accelerate campus decarbonization efforts, and part of a series of climate-related experiences, including discussions, dance workshops and mushroom-centered events.

Join us for the World Premiere of You Look Like a Fun Guy at Brooklyn Botanic Garden!

You Look Like a Fun Guy is an outdoor performance event inspired by John Cage’s interest in mycology and his methods of composing music. Directed and choreographed by John Heginbotham, You Look Like a Fun Guy celebrates Cage's rigorous and playful concerns as well as the astonishing nature and behavior of fungi. This world premiere performance event, shaped and informed by the Garden’s singular setting, responds to the natural environment it inhabits. All performances at Brooklyn Botanic Garden will take place in their renowned Cherry Esplanade!

Performance Dates + Times:
Doors open at 7pm
August 1: 7:45pm
August 2: 7:45pm
August 3: 7:45pm

You may bring a blanket or stadium chair (no folding chairs, please). There will be a small section reserved for wheelchairs and people who require a seat. If you require an accessibility accommodation, please contact visitorservices@bbg.org

Indulge in a delightful cocktail party of mushroom-inspired drinks and cuisine before the performance of You Look Like a Fun Guy! Enjoy passed mushroom bites, a mushroom station featuring four different mushroom sliders, mushroom-inspired cocktails, and wine and beer (open bar). While savoring your drinks and bites at the Lillian and Amy Goldman Atrium at the Steinberg Visitor Center, learn about composer John Cage via members of the New York Mycological Society (founded by Cage) and chat with choreographer John Heginbotham. The event wraps up just before the performance begins.

Cocktail Party Dates + Times:
August 1: 6:00 - 7:30pm
August 2: 6:00 - 7:30pm
August 3: 6:00 - 7:30pm

Dance Heginbotham will have a week-long Creative Residency at Governors Island to continue developing You Look Like a Fun Guy.

As part of Governors Island’s inaugural summer performance series, Interventions, DH will present two open rehearsals of You Look Like a Fun Guy at the Fort Jay Moat on June 7 and 8 at 6:30pm.

Dance Heginbotham will have a week-long Creative Residency at Dartmouth College to continue developing You Look Like a Fun Guy.

John Heginbotham, Lighting Designer Emma Deane, and Sound Designer Omar Zubair will be in residence at The Ringling in Sarasota, FL, developing the technical production elements of You Look Like a Fun Guy.

DH Dancer Paige Kulbeth returns to Akron to rehearse Dance Sonata with the University of Akron Dance Company for their Spring 2024 Concert. In addition to Dance Sonata by John Heginbotham, the program features works by Christine Howe and Matthew Roberts, as well as student choreographers Emily Dustman, Molly Bagatto and Jess Zawada.

April 12: 6:00pm
April 13: 2:00pm and 7:00pm

Dance Sonata is made possible by NCCAkron's Ideas in Motion series. Ideas in Motion is made possible by the support of Peg's Foundation and The University of Akron Foundation's Mary Schiller Myers Lecture Series in the Arts. NCCAkron is grateful to Stephen E. Myers, trustee of the University of Akron Foundation and the Myers Foundation and son of Mary Schiller Myers, for his support.

Since 2007, Works & Process has produced sold-out performances of Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic Peter & the Wolf, directed and narrated by Isaac Mizrahi. After over one hundred performances, Mizrahi was inspired to create an homage to this iconic work, and during the pandemic Works & Process commissioned Third Bird with a new score by Nico Muhly. Highlighting a cast of eight—including a flying bluebird, a swimming duck, and a running ostrich—with choreography by John Heginbotham performed by Dance Heginbotham, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, and conducted by Michael P. Atkinson, Third Bird celebrates each individual’s unique strengths.

Performance Schedule:
December 15: 6:30pm
December 16: 2:30pm, 4:00pm

Isaac Mizrahi narrates and directs Sergei Prokofiev’s charming children’s classic, Peter & the Wolf, accompanied by Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, conducted by Michael P. Atkinson. Choreographed by John Heginbotham and performed by Dance Heginbotham, the cast, wearing costumes by Mizrahi, brings the 30-minute story to life for the young and young at heart.

Performance Schedule:
December 8: 6:30pm
December 9: 1:00pm, 2:30pm, 4:00pm
December 10: 1:00pm, 2:30pm, 4:00pm

For two weeks in October, Dance Heginbotham will be residence at the National Center for Choreography at University of Akron (NCCAkron), staging DH repertoire on students at UAkron and expanding our ongoing 24 Caprices project, of which NCCAkron has been a generous creative partner since we began the project.

We are thrilled to continue developing DH's innovative site-specific work, You Look Like a Fun Guy, at Wave Hill Public Garden & Cultural Center. This is DH's first time creating in The Bronx - we look forward to spending two weeks on Wave Hill's beautiful grounds and taking in the incredible views of The Palisades.