josé limón

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José Limón


José Limón, a legendary modern dancer, redefined the imagery of male dancers. He was acclaimed for his dramatic expressions, technical mastery and expansive yet nuanced movement.


  José Limón was born on January 12, 1908 and passed away on December 2nd, 1972. He was born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico and was an art major in UCLA on 1928 for one year. Afterwards, Limón moved to New York where he saw his first dance program by German expressionists Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi. That was when Limón was inspired to become a dancer.

'What I saw simply and irrevocably changed my life. I saw the dance as a vision of ineffable power. A man could, with dignity and towering majesty dance... dance as Michaelangelo's visions dance and as the music of Bach's dances.'

Limon attended the dance school of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman and performed the majority of his teachers' pieces during the 1930's and 1940 whilst creating and teaching dances. He formed small concert groups, choreographed, and danced in many Broadway musicals.

It was then, on 1946, when Limon's career skyrocketed when he created his own dance company with Doris Humphrey as artistic director. His performance at Broadway's Belasco theatre in early 1947 was an immediate success and his company was later named as one of America's most important modern dance institutions.

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José Limón choreographed his first piece in 1931 and consistently made dances until his demise. This is one of José Limón's pieces called The Moor's Pavane or Variations on Theme of Othello. It was created in 1949 and premiered the same year with José Limón himself. He played the role of Othello at the American Dance Festival. 'There is a dance for every single human expression.'  To Limón, dance was a way of expressing human emotions and spirituality.

Limón contributed many things to the dance world that changed forever. He was an important faculty member in the Julliard School's Dance Division and directed Lincoln Center's American Dance Theater. Limón was also a recipient for many awards, such as two Dance Magazine awards, the Samuel Scripps Award from American Dance Festival, and the introduction into the National Museum of Dance Hall of Fame. He has written his own autobiography which were published in 1998 as José Limón: An Unfinished Memoir.

Notes:

Those of us who watch people dance sometimes don't understand how the dance that they are currently watching has become. I, myself, didn't know that male dancers statures were belittled before due to the fact that there are so many male dancers in this century at present.

Seeing how José Limón spent his entire career to strengthen the portrayal of male dancers, I feel more appreciative of the male dancers that I see in the media and those around me. I learned that even though there still isn't as much male dancers as there are females, that those who are dancers and are male they hold dignity and are proud of their talents.

I understand when I was younger that I also thought that male dancers were a bit weird only because I was accustomed to seeing the majority of the dancers as females.

Even after José Limón's death, he is still respected for all the passion that he infused with his work and the paths he paved for aspiring male dancers.

Bibliography

http://www.limon.org/