Dance Heginbotham will perform an evening of work in collaboration with Ethan Iverson, the critically acclaimed jazz composer, pianist and founding member of The Bad Plus, at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts on March 25.
Dance Heginbotham has established itself as one of the most adventurous and exciting new companies on the contemporary dance scene. Iverson, along with percussionist Vincent Sperrazza, will be performing with Arizona-based bassist Chris Finet and violinist Hisami Iijima Dillard for the March 25 show.
The program includes “Easy Win,” a delightful ode to the repetition, drama and humor of a dance class, followed by “The Understudies.” The grand finale is “Dance Sonata,” Heginbotham’s joyous new work set to Iverson’s jazzy, four-part composition.
“’The Understudies’ was initially intended as a solo — and then a duet — for ballet guest artists,” said Dance Heginbotham founder John Heginbotham. “A pandemic, a war, injuries, a birth and performers’ lives evolving in beautiful and heartbreaking ways have all directly influenced the course for casting this dance. At day’s end, this piece became a duet for my great friend and collaborator Amber Star Merkens and me.”
Dance Heginbotham is a New York-based contemporary dance company committed to supporting, producing and sustaining Heginbotham’s work.
Heginbotham is a Brooklyn-based choreographer, performer and teacher. Heginbotham graduated from The Juilliard School and was a founding teacher of Dance for Parkinson’s Disease and a former member of the Mark Morris Dance Group before founding Dance Heginbotham.
The company had its world premiere in 2012 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has since been presented by Brooklyn Academy of Music, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vail International Dance Festival, among others.
“For those who love contemporary dance and jazz, Dance Heginbotham’s Arizona premiere performance with Ethan Iverson is not to be missed,” said Diandra Adamczyk, programming manager at the center. “The dynamic between live music and dance is always electrifying, and when that collaboration is between two longtime friends — like John and Ethan — it’s even more enthralling.”
Audience members can see Dance Heginbotham at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 25, at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, 7380 E. 2nd St., Scottsdale, Arizona. Tickets for each performance start at $26. For information, visit ScottsdalePerformingArts.org/events or call 480-499-TKTS (8587).
After the performance, Scottsdale Arts will host a post-show reception with Dance Heginbotham at the center. Audiences will be able to meet the dancers and company members. Tickets for the post-show are $15 for general audiences and $10 for Scottsdale Arts members, and each ticket includes one signature cocktail crafted in cahoots with choreographer John Heginbotham.
Scottsdale Arts is continually striving to increase our accessibility offerings to provide enriching arts opportunities for everyone in the community. For more information about services we offer, please visit ScottsdalePerformingArts.org/visit/accessibility.
Dance Heginbotham’s performance is made possible through the support of Signature Partner WESTAF/TourWest and Presenting Sponsors Betty Hum & Alan Yudell and Karen & John Voris.