The Limón Dance Company returns to the Joyce

The Limón Dance Company returns to the Joyce March 31-April 5 for a program of masterworks by José Limón, performed by dancers known for their “humility, unpretentiousness, and faith.” (The New York Times)

In “The Traitor,” music by Gunther Schuller, Limón draws from the archetypal power struggle between Judas and Jesus.   Following its August 1954 premiere at the American Dance Festival, Louis Horst remarked: “Here is a great and beautiful work.”  (Dance Observer, Aug/Sept. 1954).   Walter Terry called the work “a contemporary dance drama of expressive beauty and enormous emotional power.”  (New York Herald-Tribute, August 1954).

Music by Chopin, performed live, accompanies Limón’s sparkling “Mazurkas,” premiered August 15, 1958 at the American Dance Festival.  Originally presented under the title “DANCES (in honor of Poznan, Wroclaw, Katowice and Warszawa)”, the suite of dances was created by the choreographer as a tribute to the heroic spirit of the Polish people.

“Orfeo,” one of Limón’s final works, premiered in October 1972 at the Anta Theater in NYC.   Set to Beethoven’s String Quartet Op. 95, #11, the work is a lyric paean to love and desire, to loss and death.

For further information visit www.limon.org

Image courtesy of Limon