Limbs Dance Company was established in Auckland, New Zealand in 1978, emerging from a lively whirl of artistic and cultural activities in the country's largest and most multicultural city. Founding directors Chris Jannides (1977 - 1979) and Mary Jane O'Reilly (1978-86), together with dancers Adrian Batchelor, Mark Baldwin, Kilda Northcott, Shona Wilson and Lynda Amos, intended to develop new contemporary dance choreographies which incorporated the talents of other artists, such as costume and set designers, musicians and composers. Their goal was to communicate, entertain and share their love of dancing, to show that modern dance could be enjoyable and exciting. They hoped to attract a wider audience for their particular brand of modern dance, which they saw as being quite different from that offered by their Wellington counterparts, Impulse Dance Theatre.
The Limbs company began as a group of friends working together in 1977 while most were receiving the unemployment benefit. They made their debut performance in August 1977 to a student audience with a series of short, succinct dances, which made use of humour, choreographed by Jannides and O'Reilly. They received a standing ovation and went on to perform in parks and fashion parades, schools and rock music festivals. nightclubs and on television, all the while gathering an every-increasing local following.
Their first tour was during 1978-79 with the support of NZ Students Arts Council.
Cath Cardiff was artistic director from 1986 - 1989, when the company ceased operations.
Mark Baldwin, who helped establish the company, is now Artistic Director of the Rambert Dance Company.
The company worked with composers including Don McGlashan, Wayne Laird, Ivan Zagni and Jan Preston. Music used included New Zealand bands: Split Enz - I Got You and Shark Attack, Hello Sailor - Big Bump and songs by Coconut Rough. Other dances were choreographed to music by, for example, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads, Phil Manzanera, JS Bach and Stravinsky.
New Zealand band Spats appeared on stage with the dance company at the Maidment Arts Centre in 1978. There is film of a piece called New Wave Goodbye with the band.
The company records are currently in Auckland City Library.