Virtual Works & Process: Dance Heginbotham, Moderated by Isaac Mizrahi, presented by Works & Process at the Guggenheim – 5/31

In March, Dance Heginbotham was rehearsing Dance Sonata, a brand-new work with composer Ethan Iverson set to premiere at the 2020 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. With that work disrupted, the company took a breath and a compelling idea emerged when Works & Process approached Dance Heginbotham with the chance to create a Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commission. Using Niccolo Paganini’s 24 Caprices as an inspirational launching point, Dance Heginbotham joins forces with violinist Colin Jacobsen to explore the caprices’ delightful, dark, and melancholic turns. In conjunction with the commission’s premiere featuring intimate video vignettes that respond to this distinct moment, choreographer John Heginbotham, violinist Colin Jacobsen, video editor Maile Okamura and company dancers will discuss this unique creative process and perform excerpts on Zoom, with moderator Isaac Mizrahi.

This Works & Process program will be hosted virtually through Zoom. Audience members should have access to a computer with Wi-Fi. For more information, email info or visit worksandprocess.org.

Lead funding for Works & Process is provided by the Ford Foundation, Florence Gould Foundation, the Christian Humann Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Evelyn Sharp Foundation, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Originally from Anchorage, Alaska, John Heginbotham graduated from The Juilliard School in 1993, and was a member of Mark Morris Dance Group (1998-2012). In 2011, he founded Dance Heginbotham, which has been presented and commissioned by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Duke Performances, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Kennedy Center, The Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. John received a 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship and in June 2014, he was awarded the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. John is currently a Research Fellow at the National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron (NCCAkron), was awarded a 2017/18 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship, was a 2016 Fellow at NYU’s Center for Ballet and the Arts, and is a two-time recipient of the Jerome Robbins Foundation New Essential Works (NEW) Fellowship (2010, 2012). Sought-after as a freelance choreographer, John’s recent projects include a new commission for The Washington Ballet (2019); the Tony Award-winning Oklahoma!, directed by Daniel Fish (premiere at Bard Summerscape, 2015; St. Ann’s Warehouse, 2018; Broadway, 2019); and John Adams’ Girls of the Golden West, directed by Peter Sellars (San Francisco Opera, 2017; Dutch National Opera, 2019).

Isaac Mizrahi has directed numerous theatrical productions and operas including a 2014 production of The Magic Flute at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mizrahi has worked extensively in the theater both as a performer and a designer of sets and costumes. He was the subject and co-creator of Unzipped, a documentary following the making of his Fall 1994 ready-to-wear collection which received an award at the Sundance Film Festival. He has been a leader in the fashion industry for nearly 30 years and currently serves as the Chief Designer for the IMNYC Isaac Mizrahi and Isaac Mizrahi Live! collections. He hosted his own television talk show for five years, has written three books and has made countless appearances in movies and television. Mizrahi has his own production company, Isaac Mizrahi Entertainment, under which he has several projects in development in television, theatre and literature. His New York Times bestselling memoir, I.M., was published in February 2019.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for 35 years, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Most performances take place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 273-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. In 2017, Works & Process established a new residency and commissioning program, inviting artists to create new works, made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. worksandprocess.org.

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