When Violin Dances: Johnny Loves Johann World Premiere
by Lauren Wingenroth
If you were lucky enough to have been present for acclaimed violinist Johnny Gandelsman’s performances of the Bach Cello Suites at Carolina Performing Arts in 2020, you may remember the way his interpretation of the classic work—joyful, folksy and free—seems to dance.
That’s partially a result of playing the suites on a smaller, brighter instrument. But it’s mostly Gandelsman, who has worked extensively with dancers and has a sharp eye—and ear—for movement.
“One of the qualities I started exploring when I was learning the suites was the dance form that’s embedded in the music,” he says. “A suite is a collection of dances. So the qualities of dance started coming to the surface more. They’re always there, but on the violin, they become more apparent. The cello has this grandeur that the violin doesn’t have. But the violin can do other things—it can be nimble, it can be light-footed.”
Gandelsman, who has the distinction of being CPA’s most frequent performer, released a critically-acclaimed album of the suites in 2020, and they have since become a calling card for the violinist. But this month, for the first time, Gandlesman’s interpretation of the Cello Suites will actually dance. “At some point I started thinking, I’m playing these dances, but I’m just there by myself,” says Gandelsman.
“I wondered what it would be like if all these dances actually had movement.”
Johnny Loves Johann, co-commissioned by CPA and the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and a collaboration between Gandelsman and four choreographers, premieres at CPA from December 10 through 13. The four dancemakers—John Heginbotham, director of Dance Heginbotham and choreographer of the recent Broadway revival of Oklahoma! and of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy; Caili Quan, former BalletX dancer and in-demand contemporary ballet choreographer; Jamar Roberts, former Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater star and resident choreographer; and Melissa Toogood, dean and director of Juilliard’s Dance Division and lauded interpreter of the works of Merce Cunningham and Pam Tanowitz—will each bring their distinctive visions to this uniquely collaborative work.
A Collaborative Process
Gandelsman can’t quite remember how or why he landed on the idea of working with four choreographers rather than just one. But knowing Gandelsman, the “more the merrier” philosophy towards collaboration makes sense: The list of artists he’s worked with at CPA alone (his string quartet Brooklyn Rider, Memphis Jookin dancer Lil Buck, banjo player Abigail Washburn, tap dancer Michelle Dorrance, the Yo-Yo Ma-founded Silkroad Ensemble and many more) paints a picture of just how much he thrives when sharing ideas with other artists.
Between the four Johnny Loves Johann choreographers, there are few dance world stages they haven’t performed or choreographed on or accolades they haven’t earned. But a collaboration of this kind was a new experience for all of them. “It can be tricky for choreographers to work with other choreographers, because most choreographers are really invested in making their own work,” says Toogood.
“I think we’ve all been really surprised at how not-tricky this has been. It’s been really fun to be in each other’s creative practice. It’s been easier than we expected.”
In the work, each choreographer has their own suite, which they dance as a solo. The third and sixth suites were created collaboratively, and will be performed by all four choreographers. “I’ve really enjoyed seeing everyone else’s interpretations of the music,” says Roberts. “I’m not in the room with multiple choreographers at the same time regularly, so that’s been cool. It makes you feel a little less alone in your work. It’s not very often that I get to bounce ideas off of other makers. It’s great to not hold all the responsibility.”
Heginbotham says the experience has been artistically freeing. “I have my habits as a choreographer that I return to,” he says. “To have other choreographers and their ideas of what is valuable reminds me in a visceral way that there is more than one way of doing something.”
“The Soul of the Music in the Room”
Of course, there haven’t just been four choreographers in the room creating Johnny Loves Johann. There’s also been one extremely accomplished violinist, who also happens to have some excellent choreographic instincts. “He has led choreographic impulses in the moment, and his impulses are so good,” says Quan.
“I know he doesn’t consider himself a dancer, but he takes on this physicality and feels the music inside of his body.”
“He has strong images that he sees, and strong choreographic ideas,” Heginbotham agrees. “He has a good creative sense of what needs to happen. He’s as much of a collaborator in terms of what the show is going to look like as any of the choreographers in the room.”
Gandelsman may not consider himself a dancer, but in addition to contributing choreographically on the piece, he’ll also be dancing in it. “I get a couple of steps, which is a first for me,” he says. Heginbotham says that Gandelsman has been remarkably game for anything —being lifted, going to the floor, being partnered. “He’s not squeamish or shy about it,” Heginbotham says. “He’s a very sensitive performer in ways that are beyond musicianship.”
Having his own choreography means that Gandelsman is often physically interacting with the dancers, which is also new for him. “Someone will put their hand on my shoulder—it’s really incredible, because as a musician, that never happens,” says Gandelsman.
For Quan, the experience has been equally meaningful from the other side. “To hear a violinist breathe, and to be so close to the instrument? I can’t get enough of it,” she says.
“Everyone should experience being so close to music in that way.”
In addition to Gandelsman’s movement contributions, having him in the studio as a musical resource has been a unique and enlightening experience for the dance artists, who typically only get to work with live musicians at the very end of a creative process.
“Having the soul of the music in the room from the beginning is life-changing,” says Quan. “I got his first-hand knowledge of what it feels like to play this music. I’ve always avoided Bach as a choreographer. It’s daunting music—it’s incredibly layered, and everything is so nuanced. He’s inside of this music that I’m scared to digest—he’s already experienced it over and over again. So that made it less scary for me.”
Bach, Like You Haven’t Heard Him Before
If, like Quan, you find Bach intimidating, you’re not alone. “People often hear the name Johann Sebastian Bach and have some preconceptions about what that means,” says Gandelsman. “I’m pretty sure that whatever preconceptions people have about this music, this show is going to turn them on their head, or at least open a window or a door into completely new possibilities of what this music can make you think and feel.”
Roberts agrees. “It’s very joyful,” he says. “And I say that because I think there’s this connotation that it’s serious music. Classical music has been put on this pedestal, but this piece does a really good job of bringing back the joy of the dance, and of the dance and music coming together.”
Johnny Loves Johann audiences will get to experience the distinct ways that five artists respond to and interpret Bach’s celebrated suites. For Gandelsman, that’s what makes this project so rewarding. “What I love most is seeing what this music can mean through the movement everyone is creating,” he says. “I’m learning a lot.”
Johnny Loves Johann world premiere with Carolina Performing Arts will be at the Joan H. Gillings ArtSpace at CURRENT December 10-13. To learn more and to buy tickets, please visit here.
Photos by Kent Corley were taken during a one-week residency hosted by the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, December 1–5, 2025, where Johnny Loves Johann’s developmental process included educational engagement with students from the Schools of Dance and Music.
Johnny Loves Johann is co-commissioned by Carolina Performing Arts and the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts at UNCSA, who serve as lead co-commissioners of this world premiere. UNCSA will present the work May 1–3, 2026. To learn more, please visit here.
