José Limón
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José Arcadio Limón (1908 - 1972) was a pioneering modern dancer and choreographer. He was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, the eldest of 12 children. He moved to New York City in 1928 where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company. His most famous dance is The Moor's Pavane (1949), based on Shakespeare's Othello.
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[edit] Artistic foundation
In New York, Limon quickly came to believe that he could not make anything of value by painting because the medium had been mined out. Disillusioned with his fantasy, it was by chance that a girlfriend took him to see the dancer Harald Kreutzberg perform. Limon was stunned. “Suddenly, onto the stage, borne on the impetus of the heroic rhapsody, bounded an ineffable creature and his partner. Instantly and irrevocably, I was transformed. I knew with shocking suddenness that until then I had not been alive or, rather, that I had yet been unborn…now I did not want to remain on this earth unless I learned to do what this man was doing.” [1]
In a panic, Limon began studying all the dance he could. He studied with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman in their (the Humphrey-Weidman) school. From Doris Humphrey, he learned his base for technique and from Weidman he learned pantomime and expression. In later years, Limon would attribute his primary stylistic influences to Isadora Duncan and Harald Kreutzberg.
Ten years after he began dancing, Limon premiered his first major choreographic work, Danzas Mexicanas. He was drafted in April 1943. Between 1943 and when he was discharged in 1945, he choreographed several works for the US Army Special Services. While on leave during this time, he returned to NYC to pursue serious choreography with Doris Humphrey.
[edit] Founding his company
When the war ended, Limon founded the Jose Limon Dance Company in 1946 with Doris Humphrey as the first artistic director. The Limon Company was the first modern dance company to have mutually distinct positions for founder and artistic director. The first members were Pauline Koner, Lucas Hoving, Betty Jones, Ruth Currier, and Limon himself. In the company, he developed his repertory with Doris Humphrey and established the principles of the style that was to become the Limon technique. The Limon Company was also the first company to survive its founder’s death. It survives to this day with the expressed purpose of maintaining the Limon technique and repertory. Limón's influence continues to this day. [2]
[edit] Death and influence
Jose Limon was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1967.[3] He continued to work and choreograph through his illness until died on December 2, 1972, at the age of 64.[4]
Jose Limon’s influence is not as Martha Graham’s or Lester Horton’s. No dancers have come from the Limon company to found prominent companies of their own (as with Merce Cunningham and Paul Taylor from the Graham school and Alvin Ailey from the Horton school). But his style persists. Limon taught at Juilliard from 1951 on, and today, dancers come to New York from all over the world to study with the Limon company. Many of the dancers that leave his company become teachers. His style influences this entire generation of dancers. The most famous dance company that has an obvious Limon base is the Doug Varone Company.
[edit] Endnotes
- ^ Limón, Jose. Jose Limón: an Unfinished Memoir. Ed. Lynn Garafola. Hanover, NH: University P of New England, (1998?). 16.
- ^ "Heritage." Jose Limón. 28 Apr. 2003. The José Limón Dance Foundation. 4 Oct. 2006 <http://www.limon.org/Heritage/Founder/Limon_i.html>.
- ^ Limón, José Arcadio: Biography and Much More from Answers.com
- ^ Dunbar, June. New York: Routledge, 2002. 135.
[edit] Sources
- Dunbar, June, ed. José Limón: The Artist Re-Viewed. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000.
- Limón, Jose. Jose Limón: an Unfinished Memoir. Ed. Lynn Garafola. Hanover, NH: University P of New England, (1998?)
- Pollack, Barbara, and Charles Humphrey Woodford. Dance is a Moment: A Portrait of José Limón in Words and Pictures. Pennington, NJ: Princeton Book Company, 1993.
- Reich, Susanna. Born to Dance: The Story of José Limón. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.
