REPERTORY

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The Moor's Pavane (1949)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Henry Purcell, arranged by Simon Sadoff

Cited by critics the world over as José Limón's masterpiece, it captures the drama and passion of Shakespeare's Othello in a timeless portrayal of love, jealousy, and betrayal.

There is a Time (1956)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Norman Dello Joio

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes.

The entire work is, both choreographically and musically, a theme with variations. Limón used as his theme a large circle, which, at the opening of the work, fills the stage and moves majestically as if to evoke the interminable passage of time. This circle is seen repeatedly in many guises, rhythms and dramatic shapes, always making allusion to the text from Ecclesiastes and its evocation of human experience.

A Choreographic Offering (1964)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach

This work was created as a tribute to Limón's mentor, Doris Humphrey. The piece is based on movements from her dances, and contains variations, paraphrases and motifs from 14 Humphrey works.

Transfiguration (1976)

Choreography: Susanne Linke
Music: Franz Schubert

A hauntingly beautiful solo performed by Limón principal Roxane D'Orléans Juste.

Psalm (2002)

Choreography: José Limón
Direction & Staging: Carla Maxwell
Music: Jon Magnussen, composed for the dance (2002)

Psalm takes as its point of departure the premise that according to ancient Jewish belief, all the sorrows of the world rest upon 36 men. The 36 men, in Psalm, are reduced to one, “The Burden Bearer.” This re-creation of Limón's masterwork displays the power of the Company's ensemble dancing and features a commissioned score from composer Jon Magnussen.

Dances for Isadora (1971)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Frederic Chopin

Homage to Isadora Duncan with five solo dances to Chopin.

"In five solos Mr. Limón evokes both the actual images of Duncan's politically revolutionary dances and the equally real melodrama of her biography." - Anna Kisselgoff, New York Times, October 1972

Into My Heart's House (2008)

Choreography: Clay Taliaferro
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach, Valentin Silvestrov, Nick Bartsch, Joanne Metcalf

The Traitor (1954)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Gunther Schuller

Like the arch-betrayer Judas Iscariot, the protagonist in this dance drama symbolizes all those tormented men who, loving too much, must hate; these men who to our own day must turn against their loyalties, friends and fatherlands, and in some fearful cataclysm of the spirit, betray them to the enemy. Against a music score of dissonant violence, passion and tenderness, the tragedy of Judas is portrayed as if it were taking place in our time.

Missa Brevis (1958)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Zoltán Kodály

Zoltán Kodály, the Hungarian composer, wrote Missa Brevis in Tempore Bellie at the end of World War II. A Mass in time of war, it was completed under great hardship during the siege of Budapest. Limón's stirring choreography depicts an indomitable humanity rising up after near destruction. The piece is a memento to cities destroyed during World War II and to those unconquerable qualities in human beings that compel the spirit to rise in hope and to survive.

Etude (2002)

Choreography: Carla Maxwell
Music: Franz Schubert

Artistic Director Carla Maxwell's choreographic tribute to José Limón distills his craft, style, and passion for movement into a short solo.

Oneero (1998)

(excerpt from Heartbeats)
Choreography: Donald McKayle
Music: Manos Hajodakis

An infectiously ebullient solo performed by Limón principal Roxane D'Orléans Juste.

Day On Earth (1947)

Choreography: Doris Humphrey
Music: Aaron Copeland

Doris Humphrey's most popular dance reaches into the heart of human experience: love, birth, loss, companionship, death, and continuation, and the meaning and solace of work. Within a spare dance form, a man, his first love, wife, and child tell the poetic story.

Rooms (1955)

Choreography: Anna Sokolow
Music: Kenyon Hopkins

Sokolow's seminal work about urban alienation re-enters the repertory Winter 2008, with help from the American Masterpieces Dance Project.

Chaconne (1971)

Choreography: José Limón
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach

The Chaconne as a dance form originated in New Spain, now Mexico, as a robust and raucous dance. Bach employed the strict musical form of the Chaconne but enriched it with powerful emotional implications. Limón tried to capture in his dance both the formal austerity and the profound feeling of the music.