JOHNNY LOVES JOHANN Will Make New York Premiere at The Joyce Theater

 The Joyce Theater Foundation (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is pleased to present the New York premiere of Johnny Loves Johann, April 14–19, in the Tino & Rajika Puri Auditorium. Grammy Award-winning violinist, producer, and 2024 MacArthur Fellow Johnny Gandelsman joins acclaimed choreographers John Heginbotham, Caili Quan, Jamar Roberts, and Melissa Toogood for an evening that pairs Gandelsman's folk-infused interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's complete cello suites with original choreography performed by its creators.

At the heart of Johnny Loves Johann is a dynamic exchange between music and movement. Each choreographer—John Heginbotham, Caili Quan, Jamar Roberts, and Melissa Toogood—creates and performs work set to a suite of their choosing, with additional sections developed collaboratively. The production also features scenic design and sculpture fabrication by acclaimed artist Arlene Shechet, whose distinctive sculptural language shapes the visual environment of the performance. The result is a richly layered evening in which four distinct choreographic voices respond to Bach's rhythmic vitality, architectural clarity, and emotional depth, illuminating the dance embedded within these iconic works.

The project grew out of longstanding artistic relationships. Gandelsman has collaborated with each of the choreographers over the past two decades, and those shared histories sparked the idea to reimagine the cello suites as a fully embodied experience. After years of performing the complete cycle alone, he began to question presenting what is, at its core, dance music without dancers. Inviting artists whose creative sensibilities he knew intimately created the foundation for a process rooted in trust, curiosity, and mutual respect.

Developed through residencies in Chapel Hill, NC, New York City, and Martha's Vineyard, the work evolved through a spirit of open exploration. Rather than positioning the musician apart from the action, the staging integrates Gandelsman into the physical landscape of the performance. He moves among the dancers—at times engaging in direct physical contact—dissolving conventional boundaries between instrumentalist and mover. The result is an evening in which music and dance are inseparable, unfolding as a shared act of presence and discovery. 

Following this Joyce engagement, from May 1-3, Johnny Loves Johann will be presented by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Performing Arts and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, at UNCSA in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Johnny Gandelsman, a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, is a Grammy Award-winning violinist and producer celebrated for his inventive artistry and collaborative vision. A founding member of Brooklyn Rider and former member of Yo-Yo Ma's Silkroad Ensemble, he has earned critical acclaim for his interpretation of Bach's cello suites, praised for its emotional depth and fresh perspective.

John Heginbotham, Artistic Director of Dance Heginbotham, is recognized for his wide-ranging choreographic work, including the 2019 Broadway revival of Oklahoma! and collaborations across opera, music, and film.

Caili Quan, formerly a principal dancer with BalletX, creates work that blends narrative clarity with a deeply personal movement language.

Jamar Roberts, a former leading dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the troupe's resident choreographer from 2019-2022, is known for work that explores identity, resilience, and social consciousness with strength and lyricism.

Melissa Toogood, a former member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Dean of the Dance Division at The Juilliard School, brings a refined and structurally nuanced approach to performance and choreography.

Arlene Shechet is a sculptor whose work combines disparate materials and dynamic forms, inviting viewers to experience motion, contradiction, and embodied presence within stillness.