Limón Dance Company’s Third July Residency at SUNY Brockport

--  Students Attend From All Over the World --

New York City --   The José Limón Dance Foundation announces its third annual summer residency at SUNY College, Brockport, July 8 through the 27.  The program will train 30 dancers from Italy, Bermuda and England, as well as from the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina and New York.

Instruction will be conducted by the 13-member Limón Dance Company and its Artistic Director Carla Maxwell.  During the three-week residency, students will learn Limón Technique and repertory, as well as performance techniques and composition.  They will also experience other approaches taught by Company members.  Daniel Fetecua Soto, for example, will teach Columbian Folklore; and Kurt Douglas, Hip Hop Technique.  Roel Seeber will offer a workshop titled, “The Dancing Body, Anatomy Exploration for Dancers.”

Seeber had this to say about the residency:

“It is going to be a great art collision.    Students, new and old, company members, past and present, all teaching and learning from one another. Dances are going to be made, remade and reexamined.”

José Limón’s (1908-1972) technique, which he considered to be constantly evolving, enables dancers to project emotional power.    It is based on fall and recovery, emphasizing the grandeur in the weight of the body in motion.   His exercises teach dancers to explore their own momentum within the Limón style.

"Having a true understanding of the principals of this technique would help a dancer in any style of movement," comments Carla Maxwell, "and would probably add light years to their dancing lives."

In addition to dance instruction, the Company will conduct open rehearsals of the reconstruction of Limón’s The Traitor.  

The Traitor premiered in 1954 at the American Dance Festival.   The title character refers not only to Judas Iscariot but also those who “named names” before the House Un-American Activities Committee, in full swing in 1954.  The betrayer, Judas, is used to symbolize all those tormented men who must hate – those men who, to this day, must turn against loyalties and friends, and in some fearful cataclysm of spirit, betray them. 

               Limón created Traitor for an ensemble of eight men.  The work remains a prime example of his success at freeing male dancers from merely propping up ballerinas.  Louis Horst, in Dance Observer (1954), described this best in his review of Traitor:

“The most vital instrument, the very core of the production, is the all-male group of dancers who perform the vigorous and superb passages designed for them with a refreshing and truly masculine energy…Its most effective and unforgettable moments occur in a middle section which portrays the tenderness and pathos of the Last Supper…Rivaling the spell of this scene was the terrific emotional impact, compounded of horror and peace, of the climactic closing moments.” 

               The Foundation invites the public to see The Traitor on July 26th, 5:30 p.m., Studio 152, Hartwell Hall, SUNY Brockport.

               The residency was made possible by a generous grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

José Limón Dance Foundation Announces Hiring of New Executive Director

--  Mike Radice Joins Company April 2007 --

NEW YORK CITY  --  The José Limón Dance Foundation announces the hiring of Mike Radice as Executive Director.   He replaces Randall Fippinger, who left to become Manager of Performances and Events at ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance (Williams College, MA).  Radice comes to Limón from The THANC Foundation, a medical organization supporting cancer research.  At THANC,he worked in fundraising, where he solicited major gifts and managed its annual golf tournament.  The tournament, held at Glen Oaks Club (Long Island ), grossed $770,000 last year. 

                Radice brings a diverse menu of experiences to Limón , having led organizations ranging from opera companies to fashion houses.  He served, for example, as chief executive officer of two arts organizations:  Lyric Opera Cleveland and Big Apple Performing Arts ( New York ).   At Lyric, he led the company through a strategic planning process.  The results were a residency move from The Cleveland Institute of Music to The Cleveland Playhouse, a rebuilt Board of Trustees, and a 10% budget increase. 

At Big Apple, a company producing concerts and theater at Carnegie Hall and Theatre Four, Radice served as Interim Managing Director.  Accomplishments included stabilizing the company and preparing it to hire its first, full-time, Executive Director.    

In the world of finance, Radice worked as Finance Director of Systems Electronics (Cleveland), and as Comptroller of Halsey Fashion Imports (New York).    At Halsey, he managed all budgets, audits, and worked with foreign manufacturers.   He also developed the company’s technological systems.

                With varied experiences and a graduate degree in arts administration, Radice brings specializations to Limón in board development, strategic planning, finance, fundraising and event production.   He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Education and Music from Miami University(Ohio), and a graduate degree in arts administration from New York University.   He is a native of Westlake, OH, and has lived in the New York City area since 1994.