Transitions and life changes are always challenging and sometimes exhilarating. Dancers, however, face transitioning out of their chosen art form at a relatively young age. It’s a process that can take years to fully flower and for most, it means redefining themselves as artists and individuals. As a former dancer myself, I wanted to document a few of these stories in a series called Moving Forward. For this installment I chose to profile John Heginbotham.

With the launch of his company Dance Heginbotham, John Heginbotham, 42, is transitioning from a successful performing career with the Mark Morris Dance Group to that of up and coming choreographer. He still performs with MMDG as a guest artist in Morris’ “The Hard Nut,” but is increasingly in demand for a wide variety of choreographic projects. Heginbotham credits Morris and MMDG executive director, Nancy Umanoff with giving him the support and encouragement to strike out on his own, but he also says he couldn’t do anything without the help of his dancers, his collaborators and Dance Heginbotham’s managing director, Adrienne Bryant. His company will next appear at the 2013 BAM Next Wave Festival with the premier of “Dark Theater,” a work inspired by the Dadaist painter Francis Picabia. His transition story is one of an artist just beginning to hit his stride.

Photo credits:
“Untitled IV” by Rebecca Lesher, Martha Swope Associates
“Diversion of Angels” by Carol Rosegg, Martha Swope Associates
“Four Saints in Three Acts” by Katsuyoshi Tanaka
“The Hard Nut” by Alex Pacheco
“L’Allegro” photos by Elaine Mayson
“Waltz End” by Maile Okamura

Dance Heginbotham dancers:
John Eirich
Kristen Foote
Lindsey Jones
Courtney Lopes
Weaver Rhodes
Sarah Stanley

Live music performed by the Raymond Scott Orchestrette
Franz Liszt’s “Schlaflos! Frage und Antwort” performed by Pedja Muzijevic