Wave Hill Residency

Wave Hill
Thursday, October 5, 2023 at 6pm
Lower Lawn
Work in Progress Showing

You Look Like a Fun Guy

John Heginbotham, Artistic Director & Choreographer
Andrea Lodico, Managing Director & Producer
Brandon Cournay, General Manager & Co-Producer
Tracy Mendez, Management Associate
Amber Star Merkens, Rehearsal Director
Maile Okamura, Costume Designer
Andrea Weber, Creative Consultant & Performer

Paige Barnett Kulbeth, Performer
Gabrielle Hamilton, Performer
Lindsey Jones, Performer
Mykel Marai Nairne, Performer
Daniel Pettrow, Performer
Andrea Weber, Performer

You Look Like a Fun Guy (work in progress)

Choreography: John Heginbotham
Sound Design: Omar Zubair
Costume Design: Maile Okamura
Creative Consultant: Andrea Weber
Performers: Paige Barnett Kulbeth, Gabrielle Hamilton, Lindsey Jones, Mykel Marai Nairne, Daniel Pettrow, Andrea Weber

Dance Heginbotham

Dance Heginbotham (DH) is a New York-based contemporary dance company committed to supporting, producing, and performing the work of choreographer John Heginbotham. With an emphasis on collaboration, DH enriches national and international communities with its unique blend of inventive, thoughtful, and rigorous dance theater works.

Founded in 2011, DH quickly established itself as one of the most adventurous and exciting new companies on the contemporary dance scene, and is celebrated for its vibrant athleticism, humor, and theatricality, as well as its commitment to collaboration. DH has shared the stage with artists such as Maira Kalman, Ethan Iverson, Colin Jacobsen, Joshua Bell, the National Symphony Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Brooklyn Rider, and The Knights.

DH had its world premiere in 2012 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has since been presented by Arts Brookfield, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carolina Performing Arts, Duke Performances, Harkness Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, The Joyce Theater, La Jolla Music Festival, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Vail International Dance Festival, among others. In 2016, DH toured to Indonesia, Laos, and the Philippines as cultural ambassadors of the United States with DanceMotion USA.

Dance Heginbotham has been invited to participate in creative residencies at BAM Fisher, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Brooklyn College, CUNY Kingsborough, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, The Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, LMCC's Extended Life program on Governors Island, Ringling Museum, The Watermill Center, and White Oak.

www.danceheginbotham.org
IG: @danceheginbotham

John Heginbotham, Choreographer, (he/him) is originally from Anchorage, Alaska. He graduated from The Juilliard School in 1993, and was a member of 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.

Colin Jacobsen, Composer (he/him) Since the early 2000's, 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. Starting in the 2022/23 season, Jacobsen assumes 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, (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.

Omar Zubair, Sound Designer (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, whether 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, whether 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.

Amber Star Merkens, Rehearsal Director, (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.

Paige Barnett Kulbeth, Dancer, (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 1970s postmodernist art of New York and she impulsively moved to Brooklyn. Once there, Paige immediately began dancing with John Heginbotham’s company, Dance Heginbotham. She has happily since been with the company; performances include with musicians from Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, The Knights NYC, and jazz guru Ethan Iverson. Notable performance venues include Jacob’s Pillow, San Diego 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 and The Wolf, held at the Guggenheim Museum. When not dancing, she is always in development of her own choreographic works, experimental art events and movement-based video art. www.vpbarnett.com

Gabrielle Hamilton, Dancer (she/her) is Harlem grown, and began her training at the Uptown Dance Academy, which led her to securing a BFA from Point Park University in 2018. Her Caribbean background influenced her studies and journey as an artist to dive into all things from training at the Russian Bolshoi Academy to learning how to publicly speak due to a speech impediment. In 2019, her work as the principal dancer in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, earned her a Chita Rivera Award as Outstanding Female Dancer and 2019 Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer. In addition to dancing, Gabrielle was Dance Magazine’s January 2020 cover and on the “25 to Watch” list. She serves as a model for Aerie, being featured in their campaigns, a food judge on the Facebook’s Watch show, The Shady Brunch and more. Gabrielle continues to spread her light, joy and passion on all platforms. Instagram: @gabriellethe.great

Lindsey Jones, Dancer (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 restagings & 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

Mykel Marai Nairne, Dancer, (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based freelance dance artist, administrator and creative producer. Born and raised in New York City, Mykel studied dance at Alvin Ailey for 14 years, where she was a fellowship student, and graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Film & Media Studies in 2016. After a long hiatus, Mykel re-engaged with her own movement practice through intensives with Earl Mosley’s Institute of the Arts, American Dance Festival and Movement Invention Project, and has performed works by Bill T. Jones, Merce Cunningham, Robert Battle and John Heginbotham, among others. She joined Dance Heginbotham in 2018 and has since performed in the Off-Broadway revival of OKLAHOMA! (dir. Daniel Fish, St. Ann’s Warehouse), and THE MASTER AND FORM (Brendan Fernandes, Whitney Museum of American Art) at the Whitney Biennial. Mykel currently collaborates and performs with Monica Bill Barnes & Company, Dance Heginbotham, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd and video artist Cortney Andrews. Mykelmarainairne.com

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 and Process Artist Virtual Commissions. For the last 20 years, Daniel has worked closely with renowned French director Arthur Nauzyciel: Mark Antony in 'Julius Caesar', Bob in 'Splendid’s', Cal in 'Black Battles with Dogs', Roberto Zucco in 'Roberto Zucco' and staged readings of 'Hetero' and 'Jan Karski: My Name Is Fiction'. 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, and Mikhail Baryshnikov, 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 Guggenheim Works & Process (2012– present). Daniel is an associate actor with New York City-based experimental theater company The Wooster Group: 'Hamlet', 'Vieux Carré', and 'Who’s Your Dada?'. He is a frequent collaborator/director with choreographer Anabella Lenzu: 'No More Beautiful Dances', 'The Night That You Stopped Acting', 'In Pursuit of Happiness', 'Pacamama', and 'Sangre & Arena'. 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.

Andrea Weber, Performer and Creative Consultant, (she/her) was a dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, 2004–2011, and is currently on the faculty of the Merce Cunningham Trust, teaching Cunningham Technique® and repertory. 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.

Dance Heginbotham gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Howard Gilman Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation, The National Center for Choreography at The University of Akron, and the O'Donnell-Green Music & Dance Foundation. Dance Heginbotham deeply appreciates the generosity of our individual donors, and our Board of Directors: Andy Hamingson, Chair; Adrienne Bryant Godwin, Treasurer; Lauren Cherubini; Karyl Nairn; and Joanne Wenig.

Dance Heginbotham's New York Performance Season is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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Sandy Garcia
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Wave Hill
Ray B. Oladapo-Johnson, Executive Director
Gabriel de Guzman, Director of Arts & Chief Curator
Betsey Perlmutter, Curator of Performing Arts