John Heginbotham
Twin (World Premiere)
Closing Bell (N.Y. Premiere)

Choreographer John Heginbotham, an acclaimed member of Mark Morris Dance Group, creates highly musical, imaginative, darkly comedic dance works. This presentation marks the NYC debut of his dynamic ensemble, Dance Heginbotham, performing new works that were developed in residence at BAC.  In Twin, a work about the peculiarities of shared birth, a cast of vivid characters comes to life in a musical environment created by British electronica composer Richard D. James (aka Aphex Twin). Closing Bell is a rigorously athletic brainteaser of a dance set to a lively score by the contemporary American composer Tyondai Braxton.

Twin and Closing Bell were developed in residence at BAC with support from The Jerome Robbins Foundation New Essential Works (NEW) Program, The Enoch Foundation, and The Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Twin will also be performed on a shared program on May 10 with NEW fellow Stefanie Batten Bland.

Photo by Amber Star Merkens

John Heginbotham was raised in Anchorage, Alaska and graduated from The Juilliard School (BFA in Dance, 1993), receiving the Martha Hill Prize for Outstanding Achievement and Leadership in Dance. He has danced in the works of John Jasperse, Rebecca Stenn, Janis Brenner, Allison Chase, David Neumann, Ben Munisteri, Stanley Love, Vanessa Walters, Pam Tanowitz, and Pilobolus Dance Theater. From 1995-1998, he was a member of Susan Marshall & Company, originating roles in her evening-length works The Most Dangerous Room in the House and the award-winning dance opera composed by Philip Glass, Les Enfants Terribles. Heginbotham has been a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group since 1998, and continues to perform leading roles in Morris’s L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; The Hard Nut; and Romeo and Juliet: On Motifs of Shakespeare.  As a member of Mark Morris Dance Group, he has performed across the United States and internationally with artists including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, The Bad Plus, Zakir Hussain, and with opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and the English National Opera. He is currently on faculty at the Mark Morris Dance Center, where he is a founding teacher of Dance for PD (TM), a program initiated by MMDG and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. Heginbotham’s choreography has been performed at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, The Museum of Modern Art (with the art/pop group, Fischerspooner), and the New York and Toronto Fringe Festivals, among other venues. He has created dances for Purchase College, Long Island University, The Wooden Floor (Santa Ana, CA), Big Apple Baroque, Oasis Theater (Minneapolis, MN), Fischerspooner, cabaret artists Lady Rizo and the Assettes and Our Lady J, and for the rock band, NICKCASEY. Upcoming projects include a production of Franz Schubert’s Winterreise in collaboration with baritone Jesse Blumberg.