The Limón Dance Company has been at the vanguard of American Modern Dance since its inception in 1946. The first dance group to tour internationally under the auspices of the State Department, and the first modern dance company to perform at Lincoln Center in New York, it has performed twice at The White House. The José Limón Dance Foundation, with Company and Institute, was the recipient of a 2008 National Medal of the Arts. José Limón has a special place in American culture for a social awareness that transcended distinct groups to address how we all search for commonality. It is with this ethos that we continue to commission works by critically acclaimed and emerging international voices 50 years after Limón’s passing. His works continue to influence the evolution of the art form with their arresting visual clarity, theatricality, and rhythmic and musical life. The Company’s repertory will include classic works and Migrant Mother, a new piece by award-winning Mexican choreographer Raúl Tamez.

Tamez is the first Mexican choreographer to create a work for the Company since José Limón. Migrant Mother is a response to Limon’s Tonantzintla (1951), which means “place of our little mother.” Limón was mesmerized by a Baroque Catholic church built up by Mexican indigenous people, where they were partially allowed by the Franciscan friars, to portray some of their enormously rich cosmology. The result was a unique style of syncretic baroque never seen before. This new piece encourages voices that are often marginalized in terms of symbolic domination, colonization, and creolization. It is a tribute to the majesty of the prehispanic heritage in Mesoamérica.

About JOSÉ LIMÓN (Founder/Choreographer, 1908-1972) electrified the world with his dynamic masculine dancing and dramatic choreography. One of the 20th century’s most important and influential dancemakers, he spent his career pioneering a new art form and fighting for its recognition. Born in Culiacán, Mexico in 1908, he moved to California in 1915, and in 1928 came to New York where he saw his first dance program. Limón enrolled in Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman’s dance school and performed in several of their works from 1930 to 1940. In 1946, with Doris Humphrey as Artistic Director, Limón formed his own company. Over the next 25 years, he established himself and his company as a major force in 20th-century dance. Limón created a total of 74 works, including The Moor’s Pavane, Concerto Grosso, and Missa Brevis.

About DORIS HUMPHREY (Founder/Choreographer, 1895-1958) is recognized as a founder of American Modern Dance. She developed a distinctive movement approach based on the body’s relationship to gravity and the use of weight. The company she formed with Charles Weidman produced great dances as well as outstanding performers, José Limón among them. When physical disability ended her career as a dancer, she became the Artistic Director for José Limón and his company, creating new works for him and The Juilliard.

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