Professional Studies Program

Professional Studies Program

The Professional Studies Program is a nine-month intensive program, designed to offer an in-depth understanding of the principles of Limón training in a context that includes historical and aesthetic perspectives. It is appropriate for international students with extensive dance backgrounds, and dancers who have completed at least four-year college program with a major in dance.

During the academic year students participate in over 500 hours of studio sessions, 30 hours of seminars and lectures, 10-20 hours of private coaching and rehearsals, and 10-20 hours of personal research. This results in a minimum participation of 16 to 18 hours a week. In addition International students requiring a student visa must enroll for an additional 20 classes a month at Peridance . These can be taken in Limón Technique, and in complimentary techniques such as Ballet, Pilates, Yoga, etc.

a) Technique Classes

PSP students are expected to attend 5 technique classes a week. These can be selected from the offerings at the School – morning advanced classes, or intermediate classes at 1:00 and 6:00, and Saturday classes – held at Peridance.

b) Workshops

PSP students participate in an introductory 2-week workshop entitled “Limón Principles.” This is followed by four 1-week repertory workshops, which offer an opportunity to learn and perform historic repertory by José Limón and Doris Humphrey.  In the spring two 2-week repertory workshops are offered. These offer a deeper experience with a Limón work, as well as contemporary choreography created on the students by a faculty member or guest artist.

c) Special PSP Sessions

In addition to daily technique classes, the curriculum includes three weekly sessions designed to educate the PSP students in ways that complement their work in technique classes, and familiarize them with the Limón legacy as well as the current activities of the Limón Dance Company.  Some sessions are lectures and discussion, some are studio experiences, and some a combination of both.  Guest speakers address the history of modern dance, and in particular the Humphrey/Weidman/Limón lineage, the aesthetics and the philosophy of ‘humanism,’ research methods, oral history, and an introduction to the Limón archives.  Studio sessions include improvisation, rhythm, and composition workshops that reflect Limón/Humphrey choreographic principals and preferences, choreo-analysis of Limón and Humphrey works, and repertory classes.

d) Performances

PSP students have three to five performance experiences each year. The Fall semester ends with an informal showing of the repertory they have learned, as well as a collaborative piece exploring underlying Limon principles, created by a faculty member with the students. In the spring the PSP participate with students from the other professional training programs in New York – Ailey, Graham, Cunningham, Dance Theater of Harlem – in a fund-raising concert for EFSD (Emergency Fund for student dancers), and in another fundraising performance for the Peridance Child Program. A final PSP performance presents the repertory they have learned in the spring, plus some of their performance projects. Some years there have been additional performance opportunities – such as a trip to Philadelphia to perform in a program honoring Limón’s bicentennial, and a performance at the 92nd Street Y honoring Charles Weidman

e) Research Projects

Each student is responsible for a research project, which is presented orally to the group. These vary greatly, from interviews, to teaching observations and syntheses, to video documentaries, to choreological analyses, to reconstructions of choreography, to occasional creative works. The emphasis is on developing a project that relates to the students career own interests, at the same time as it makes a possible contribution to the Limón archives.

f) Performance Projects

This is the area where the students experience the greatest challenge, self-discovery, growth, and pressure. Each student takes on a solo (or duet) section from the repertory – Limón primarily, but works by Doris Humphrey, Carla Maxwell, Ruth Currier, Pauline Koner and Charles Weidman are other possibilities.  This work is taught and coached by current and former company members, which develops a close mentoring relationship.  The students are encouraged to use the Limón archives to help decide what solo to learn. The Performance Projects are shown in an informal studio showing on the last day of the program. Some may also be included in the Final Performance.  

At the end of this course participants who have satisfactorily completed the Research and Performance Projects, and attended a minimum of 80% of the classes and PSP sessions, are awarded the Limón Professional Studies Program Certificate of Completion.

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