José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer from Mexico and who developed what is now known as 'Limón technique'. In the 1940s, he founded the José Limón Dance Company (now the Limón Dance Company), and in 1968 he created the José Limón Foundation to carry on his work.
In his choreography, Limón spoke to the complexities of human life as experienced through the body. His dances feature large, visceral gestures — reaching, bending, pulling, grasping — to communicate emotion. Inspired in part by his teacher
Doris Humphrey's and
Charles Weidman's theories about the importance of body weight and dynamics, his own Limón technique emphasizes the rhythms of falling and recovering balance and the importance of good breathing to maintaining flow in a dance. He also utilized the dance vocabulary developed by both Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, which aimed at demonstrating emotion through dance in a way that was much less strict and stylized than ballet as well as used movements of the body that felt most natural and went along with gravity.
Limón's most well-known work is ''The Moor's Pavane'' (1949), based on Shakespeare's ''
Othello
''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...
'', which won a major award. Other works were inspired by subjects as diverse as the
McCarthy hearings (''The Traitor'') and the life of
La Malinche, who served as interpreter for Hernán Cortés. Limón generally sets his dances to music, choosing composers ranging from
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
and
Frederic Chopin to
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...
and
Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Education
José Arcadio Limón was born January 12, 1908, in
Culiacán
Culiacán, officially Culiacán Rosales, is a city in northwestern Mexico, the capital and largest city of both Culiacán Municipality and the state of Sinaloa. The city was founded on 29 September 1531 by the Spanish conquistadors Lázaro de ...
,
Mexico, the eldest of twelve children. In 1915, his family moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
.
After graduating from
Lincoln High School (
Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles
Lincoln Heights is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, California, United States. It was originally called "East Los Angeles" from 1873 to 1917. It is a densely populated, mostly Latino and Asian neighborhood that includes many histo ...
), Limón attended
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
as an art major. In 1928 he moved and studied at the New York School of Design. In 1929, he was inspired to dance after attending one of
Harald Kreutzberg and
Yvonne Georgi's performances and enrolled in the
Humphrey-Weidman school.
Early career
In 1930, Limón first performed on
Broadway, and later that same year he choreographed his first dance, "Etude in D Minor", a duet with Letitia Ide. Limón recruited Ide and schoolmates
Eleanor King and Ernestine Stodelle to form "The Little Group". From 1932 to 1933, Limón made two more Broadway appearances, in the musical revue ''
Americana'' and in
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Isidore Beilin; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-born American composer and songwriter. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Berlin received numerous honors including an Acade ...
's ''
As Thousands Cheer'', choreographed by
Charles Weidman. Limón also tried his hand at choreography at Broadway's
New Amsterdam Theatre. Limón made several more appearances throughout the next few years in shows such as Humphrey's ''New Dance'', ''Theatre Piece'', ''With my Red Fires'', and Weidman's ''Quest''.
In 1937, Limón was chosen to be a Bennington Fellow. At the Bennington Festival at Mills College in 1939, Limón first own work was exhibited, titled ''Danzas Mexicanas''.
After five years, however, Limón would return to Broadway to star as a featured dancer in ''Keep Off the Grass'' under the choreographer
George Balanchine
George Balanchine (;
Various sources:
*
*
*
* born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...
.
In 1941, Limón left the Humphrey-Weidman company to work with
May O'Donnell. They co-choreographed several pieces together, such as ''War Lyrics'' and ''Curtain Riser''. On October 3, 1941, Limón married
Pauline Lawrence, a founding member and the manager of the Humphrey-Weidman company. The partnership with O'Donnell dissolved the following year, and Limón created work for a program at Humphrey-Weidman.
In 1943, Limón's made his final appearance on Broadway in Balanchine's ''Rosalinda'', a piece he performed with
Mary Ellen Moylan. He spent the rest of that year creating dances on American and folk themes at the Studio Theatre before being drafted into the
U.S. Army in April 1943. During this time, he collaborated with composers
Frank Loesser
Frank Henry Loesser ( "lesser"; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls (musical), Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business ...
and
Alex North, choreographing several works for the
Army Special Services division.
The most well known among these is ''Concerto Grosso''.
José Limón Dance Company
Attaining American citizenship in 1946, Limón formed the Limón Dance Company.
When Limón began his company, he asked Humphrey to be the artistic director,
making it the first modern dance company to have an artistic director who was not also the founder. The company had its formal debut at Bennington College, playing such pieces as Doris Humphrey's ''Lament'' and ''The Story of Mankind''. Among the first company members were
Pauline Koner,
Lucas Hoving, Betty Jones,
Ruth Currier, and Limón himself. Dancer and choreographer
Louis Falco also danced with the José Limón Dance Company from 1960 to 1970, and Falco starred opposite to
Rudolph Nureyev in Limon's ''Moor's Pavane'' on Broadway from 1974 to 1975.
While working with Humphrey, Limón developed his
repertory
A repertory theatre, also called repertory, rep, true rep or stock, which are also called producing theatres, is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom ...
and established the principles of the style that he was to become the
Limón technique. By 1947, the company had reached New York, debuting at the
Belasco Theatre with Humphrey's ''Day on Earth''.
In 1948, the company first appeared at the
Connecticut College
Connecticut College (Conn) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. Originally chartered as Thames College, it was founded in 1911 as the state's only women's colle ...
American Dance Festival and would return each summer for many years.
Limón choreographed ''The Moor's Pavane'' in 1949, and it received the
Dance Magazine
''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...
Award for the year's most outstanding choreography.
In the spring of 1950, Limón and his group appeared in Paris with
Ruth Page, becoming the first American modern dance company to appear in Europe.
In 1951, Limón joined the faculty of
The Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
,
where a new dance division had been developed. He also accepted an invitation to Mexico City's , where he created six works. Between 1953 and 1956, he choreographed a number of shows and created roles in Humphrey's ''Ruins and Visions'' and ''Ritmo Jondo''. In 1954, the Limón Company was one of the first to take advantage of the U.S. State Department's International Exchange Program with a company tour to South America.
The company later embarked on a five-month tour of Europe and the Near East and, again, to South America and Central America. It was during this time that Limón received his second Dance Magazine Award (1957).
In 1956, Limón choreographed ''The Emperor Jones'', which was loosely based on
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama techniques of Realism (theatre), realism, earlier associated with ...
's
play of the same title (''see''
The Emperor Jones) and was set to music by
Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Following the premier of the work and subsequent restagings by Limón, there was some controversy surrounding the use of
blackface
Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...
for the role of Brutus Jones (the
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
prisoner who eventually takes the title of the tyrant Emperor Jones). In 1958, following a
US State Department funded tour of ''The Emperor Jones'' in Poland, Limón was asked by a Polish official if he had been permitted to perform ''The Emperor Jones'' in blackface in the United States. He responded to this query by writing that "''Emperor Jones'' was first of all a work of art, and I hoped a good one, and that even if it were in defiance of prevalent political and social usages, no one would or could prohibit its performance."
In this instance, the US government used Limón's work and its use of blackface as a response to international critics of its
race relations by using art as a form of free speech free from sociopolitical constraints and one in which Limón was overtly complicit.
In 1958, Doris Humphrey, who had been the artistic director for the Limón Company, died and Limón took over her position. Between 1958 and 1960, Limón choreographed with
Pauline Koner.
In 1962, the company returned to
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
as the opening performance to
New York's Shakespeare Festival. The next year, under sponsorship of the
U.S. State Department, he toured the Far East for twelve weeks, choreographing ''The Deamon'' to a score by
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...
, who conducted the première.
In 1964, he went on to receive the
Capezio Award and was appointed the artistic director of the American Dance Theatre at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
.
The following year, Limón appeared in an National Education Telecast, NET special titled ''The Dance Theater of José Limón''.
In 1967, after performing with the company at
Washington Cathedral, Limón received a grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
. He and his company were also invited to perform at the White House for President
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
and
King Hassan II of Morocco.
Limón's final appearances onstage as a dancer were in 1969, when he performed in ''The Traitor'' and ''The Moor's Pavane'' at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues.
BAM was chartered in 18 ...
.
In 1970, Limón was diagnosed with
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...
. In the last years of his life, despite this illness, he choreographed and filmed a solo dance interpretation for
CBS. In 1971, he founded the little-known Jose Limón Philadelphia Dance Theater, originally intended to become a second company. In December 1972, at the age of 64, he died of cancer.
José Limón Foundation and Limón technique
In 1968, Limón incorporated the José Limón Foundation to continue his legacy as a choreographer, and in 2008 it received the National Medal for the Arts.
In 1985, the Limón Institute was formed as an arm of the foundation that oversees licensing of his dances and teaching of what is now known as "Limón technique".
According to the Limón Institute, the technique "emphasizes the natural rhythms of fall and recovery and the interplay between weight and weightlessness to provide dancers with an organic approach to movement that easily adapts to a range of choreographic styles."
José Limón considered
Isadora Duncan,
Harald Kreutzberg,
Doris Humphrey, and
Charles Weidman as important influences on his style of dance. It was after seeing Humphrey perform in ''Inquest'' (1945) that Limón decided to focus his choreography on showing the beauty and tragedy of human life rather than on entertaining people. His technique was informed by Humphrey's ideas about the dynamics of body weight as the body rose, fell, and remained in suspension during a dance.
[Capici, Lawrence]
"Genre Buzz: Limón Technique"
Dance Parade website, March 25, 2016. He encouraged students to see their bodies as complex instruments — using the simile of an orchestra — and to strive for clarity and expressiveness of movement without tension.
[ He paid particular attention to proper breathing because it enabled continuously flowing motion.][
Limón technique was disseminated during his life and after his death by teachers such as Aaron Osborne, a former member of the Limón company who taught his technique in the 1980s. Dance companies such as the Doug Varone and Dancers company continue to teach Limón's style of dancing. Limón's own company is still active under the shortened name Limon Dance Company,] with the express purpose of maintaining the Limón technique and repertory.
Honors and legacy
Limón received a number honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...
s in his lifetime, including from Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
, the University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...
, Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...
, and Colby College.
In 1973, the José Limón Collection was given to the New York Public Library Dance Collection by Charles Tomlinson.
In 1988, the José Limón National Dance Award was created in his honor to recognize outstanding figures of contemporary and modern dance.
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts presented a retrospective exhibition on his life and work in 1996, and in 1997 he was inducted into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.
In 2003, Limón was named one of America's "irreplaceable Dance Treasures" by the Dance Heritage Coalition. In 2012, he was chosen to appear on a U.S. postage stamp in honour of his contribution to the art of dance.
Several books about Limón and his technique have been published, including ''The Illustrated Dance Technique of José Limón'' (1984). His autobiographical writings appeared in edited form in 1999 under the title ''An Unfinished Memoir''.
After his death, many of his works were reconstructed and interpreted for performances around the world by Sarah Stackhouse, his principal dancer 1958-1969, and his teaching assistant at Juilliard School until his death.
Choreography
See also
* List of dancers
References
Citations
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
* Reich, Susanna (2005). ''José! Born to Dance: The Story of José Limón''. New York: Simon & Schuster. .
External links
Jose Limon Dance Foundation website
Limon: A Life Beyond Words, documentary
Archival footage of Jose Limon performing Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías in 1946 at Jacob's Pillow
José Limón photographs 1933-1968 at the Jerome Robbins Dance Foundation, The New York Public Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limon, Jose
1908 births
1972 deaths
American artists of Mexican descent
American choreographers
Deaths from prostate cancer
Hispanic and Latino American military personnel
Mexican emigrants to the United States
Mexican expatriates in the United States
Modern dancers
Naturalized citizens of the United States
People from Culiacán
United States National Medal of Arts recipients
United States Army personnel of World War II
Wesleyan University people