Dancing Conversation: Collaborating Across Mediums

Join NCCAkron Executive/Artistic Director Christy Bolingbroke in conversation with Director/Choreographer John Heginbotham about the relationship between dance, music, and video.

See a preview screening of Dance Heginbotham’s latest films, created and filmed locally. Caprice #10 and #12 highlight the unique attributes of Akron. No dance background is necessary to join this conversation!

Dancing Conversations are free public events that locate dance among broader topics and offer an opportunity to demonstrate the aesthetic range, power, and possibilities of dance. All our Dancing Conversations — on dance & music, women & witchcraft, Black male choreographers, queer movements, and more — are available on NCCAkron’s YouTube channel.

About the Artist

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, John Heginbotham (Brooklyn, NY) graduated from The Juilliard School in 1993 and was a member of the Mark Morris Dance Group (1998-2012). In 2011, he founded Dance Heginbotham, a New York-based contemporary dance company that has toured nationally and internationally. John received a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2014 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. Other awards and fellowships include Research Fellow at the National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron-NCCAkron (2018-2020), 2017/18 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship, 2016 Fellow at NYU’s Center for Ballet and the Arts, and Jerome Robbins Foundation New Essential Works (NEW) Fellowship (2010, 2012). Sought after as a freelance choreographer, John’s independent projects include the Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning revival of Oklahoma!, directed by Daniel Fish (Bard Summerscape, 2015; St. Ann’s Warehouse, 2018; Broadway, 2019; National Tour, 2021/22; Young Vic London, 2022, West End 2023); “Meet The Family”, Season 3, Episode 1 of Umbrella Academy on Netflix; RACECAR for The Washington Ballet (2019); and John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West, directed by Peter Sellars (San Francisco Opera, 2017; Dutch National Opera, 2019). John is the Director of the Dartmouth Dance Ensemble, and is a founding teacher of Dance for PD®, an ongoing collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. www.danceheginbotham.org

About the Project

In spring 2020, Dance Heginbotham launched an ambitious video project, 24 Caprices, driven by the desire to continue to collaborate, connect, and advance John Heginbotham’s creative vision at a time of physical isolation. Using Niccolo Paganin’s 24 Caprices for Solo Violin as a launching point, Heginbotham joined forces with violinist Colin Jacobsen to explore the caprices' delightful, dark, and melancholic turns in short dance films.  Each caprice is a captivating jewel, rhythmically intricate and varied in range, capturing a moment in time.

24 Caprices is made possible in part by NCCAkron.

Photo Credits (top to bottom): Bud Lammers and Danica Paulos