For 75 years a cornerstone in the American modern dance tradition, renewed by beguiling collaborations

Amazing New Repertoire & Poignant Revivals from Limón

A brief survey of the Limón Dance Company this spring reveals a theme: remarkable NEW initiatives and the perpetuation of the indelible legacies of José Limón and Doris Humphrey-- masterworks from their canons that address the spirit of our times. Here is a summary of plans that are unfolding as the company prepares for live performances and touring.

New Artistic Director Dante Puleio has revived José Limón’s masterpiece There Is a Time (with its Pulitzer Prize-winning score by Norman Dello Joio) inspired by the famous passage from Ecclesiastes. Also active in the repertoire is the seminal The Moor’s Pavane (music by Henry Purcell). Exquisitely filmed at Kaatsbaan in December 2020, both of these works can be seen May 6 – May 19, 2021 streaming on the JoyceTheater virtual series.

Special for Limón’s 75th-anniversary celebration to be held at the Joyce Theater in early April 2022, the company is reviving Air for the G-String (second movement of J.S. Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D) choreographed by the Limón Company’s founding artistic director Doris Humphrey in 1928.

Important residencies have been arranged for the development of 2 new works this summer (slated for world premieres at the Joyce in April 2022). The Joyce has commissioned Burkina-Faso-born choreographer/musician Olivier Tarpaga. And, University of Minnesota-Minneapolis has commissioned Mexico-based choreographer Raúl Tamez to make a dance-theater piece that is a reinterpretation of Limón’s Tonantzintla—which will examine the theme of colonialism. Bios for Tarpaga and Tamez are below.

In May of 2022, the Limón company will mount Waldstein Sonata, music by Beethoven. Unfinished at the time of his Limon’s death in 1972, Danny Lewis, who had been his rehearsal assistant, completed it in the spirit of Limón in 1975. This will be a company premiere.
For fall of 2022: the company plans to revive the beloved Limón tour de force Missa Brevis, music by Zoltán Kodály (the exquisite choral work Missa Brevis in Tempore Belli).

Following the April 2022 75th Anniversary Season at Joyce Theater in NYC, the company is available for touring in N. America with an emphasis on the New England and Mid-Atlantic region. In May 2022 the company plans to tour Florida and other Southern venues. Summer 2022 plans will be announced as more details become available. Fall 2022 will be dedicated to touring with an emphasis on the Mid-Western USA.

Olivier Tarpaga--artistic director of Nomad Express International MultiArts Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso born and raised, he now serves on the music faculty at Princeton University. He has been commissioned to choreograph and compose original music for a work that reflects his experience (like José Limón's) of escaping political unrest in the country of his birth and making an artistic career in the United States. Commissioned by the Joyce Theater.

Raúl Tamez--a Mexican choreographer who works in the dance theater tradition. He has been commissioned to reinterpret a work that José Limón made during his annual Mexican residencies for Mexican audiences-- called Tonantzintla--inspired by the stunningly beautiful church of Santa Maria Tonantzintla. The theme of colonialism will be explored. Commissioned by University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.

The Waldstein Sonata, music by Ludwig van Beethoven (Piano Sonata No. 21, in C Major Opus 53). Limón had begun work on this ballet in 1971, prior to his death a year later. In 1975, Daniel Lewis completed the work for the Juilliard Dance Ensemble. The Juilliard School had provided an artistic home for José Limón for several decades, starting in 1951.