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A Choreographic Offering
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Ensemble work for 12-22 dancers
12 – 58 minutes
A seamless marriage of movement and music, Limón’s
tribute to his teacher and mentor is built upon Humphrey’s own choreographic
motifs. While the full work is close to an hour long, it is most often presented
in shorter suites: the variety of dances—solos, duets, trios, quintets,
and ensemble groupings—make it an excellent work for dance companies
and student ensembles alike.
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The Emperor Jones
Music: Hector Villa-Lobos
Ensemble work for 8 men
24 minutes
Based on the classic Eugene O’Neill play,
this dance elaborates on the play’s central theme of the
superstitious terror of the self-appointed emperor. The dance does
not attempt to adhere
to the play’s sequence, seeking instead to give it another
dimension, and creating a dramatic and powerful piece of theater.
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Mazurkas
Music: Frederic Chopin
Ensemble work for 3 men and 4 women or 4 men and 5 women
20 – 40 minutes
A tribute to the heroic spirit of
the Polish people, the work was created in 1958 for three men and
four women. Mazurkas was restaged
in 1985 for five women and four men, and consists of five solos,
three duets, a men’s trio, a women’s quartet, and several
group dances. It can be performed with the piano onstage.
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Missa Brevis
Music by: Zoltan Kodaly
22 dancers (including 10 men)
40 minutes
Limón’s powerful choreography is a memento
to human resilience and the cities destroyed during WWII. The score
is written
for mixed chorus and organ, and the Company often performs the
work with live music in monumental spaces such as Riverside Church in New York City and the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
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Orfeo
Music: Ludwig von Beethoven
Quintet for 1 man and 4 women
18 minutes
One of Limón’s final works, this lyrical lament of
love and loss is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.
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Psalm
Music: Jon Magnussen
Ensemble work for 11-16 dancers
16 - 30 minutes
Originally created in 1967 with music by Eugene Lester, Artistic
Director Carla Maxwell recreated Psalm
in 2002 with a new score by Jon Magnussen. Weaving together belief,
ritual, and history, Psalm is a
stunning choreographic achievement, combining powerful ensemble
dancing with extraordinary solo work.
Note: Psalm is
not available for licensing until 2005.
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Symphony for Strings
Music: William Schumann
Ensemble work for 2 men and 4 women
Reconstructed under the direction of Ann Vachon for a workshop in
1995, this abstract, yet deeply emotional work has not been publicly
performed since 1955.
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There is a Time
Music: Norman Dello Joio
Ensemble work for 10-16 dancers (at least 4 men)
35 minutes
Originally titled Variations on a Theme, this 1956
masterpiece alludes to a chapter of Ecclesiastes and its evocation
of the human experience. Limón himself made several choreographic
revisions in his lifetime, including a version for 16 dancers.
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The Traitor
Music: Gunther Schuller
Ensemble work for 8 men
20 minutes
Limón’s interpretation of the story of Judas Iscariot
and the betrayal of Christ, this work alluded to the McCarthy era
and the Red Scare when it was created in 1954. The protagonist symbolizes
those men, who, loving too much, must hate; men who turn against
their loyalties, friends, and country to betray them to the enemy.
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The Unsung
Danced in silence
Ensemble work for 6 - 8 men
18 -28 minutes
A tribute to Native American chiefs and the prowess of the male
dancer, this unforgettable work is accompanied only by the physical
sounds—running, stamping, leaping, breathing—of the
movement. Each dancer has a solo in addition to the ensemble work.
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The Waldstein Sonata
Music: Ludwig von Beethoven>
Ensemble work for 4 men and 4 women
20 minutes
(completed by Daniel Lewis after Limón’s
death).
Limón’s homage to the musical artistry of Beethoven,
this work is performed with a piano onstage. While it consists of
three movements, the first section can effectively be performed
by itself.
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The Winged
Music: Jon Magnussen
Ensemble work for 16-22 dancers
29 – 48 minutes
Created in 1966 for a cast of 19, partly in silence and with incidental
music by Hank Johnson, Carla Maxwell restaged it in 1999 with a
new score by Jon Magnussen. The work is sectional, and includes
solos, duets, a quintet and several large ensemble passages.
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Solo/Duet/Trio/Quartet |
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Chaconne
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
Male or Female Solo – 13 minutes
Limón created this solo for himself in 1942, and it has since
been performed by Company principle dancers (men and women) and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Limón tried to capture the formal austerity and the profound
quality of the music with his choreography, and the solo is stunning
when performed with a violinist onstage.
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Concerto
Grosso
Music: Antonio Vivaldi
Trio for 1 man and 2 women - 16 minutes
This three-part choreographic invention evokes the formal beauty of
the high baroque and reflects the contrasting moods of the music’s
movements: the elegance of the opening fugue; the tender melancholy
of the largo, and the brilliance of the finale. Note: a group version
for 6 or 12 dancers is also available.
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Dances
for Isadora
Music: Frederic Chopin
Five solos for five women – 20 minutes
Limón regarded Isadora Duncan as his “dance mother,”
and this series of solos evokes different periods of her life by intertwining
aspects of her artistic and personal lives.
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The
Exiles
Music: Arnold Schoenberg
Male-female duet – 18 minutes
Limón’s original program note was taken from John Milton’s
Paradise Lost: “They, looking
back, all the eastern side beheld of paradise, so late their happy
seat.” This virtuosic duet, a dramatic presentation of Adam
and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden, has three sections:
“The Flight,” “The Remembrance,” and “the
Cherubims and a flaming sword”.
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La
Malinche
Music: Norman Lloyd
Trio for woman and two men – 16 minutes
This trio, which premiered in 1949, was the first work Limón
created for his own company. It is a product of Limón’s
childhood memories of Mexican fiestas, which climaxed with performances
celebrating local history and tradition, and has three characters:
Malinche, El Conquistador, and El Indio.
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The
Moor’s Pavane
Music: Henry Purcell (arranged
by Simon Sadoff)
Quartet for two men and two women – 21 minutes
The most well-known of Limón’s works, The
Moor’s Pavane has been in the Company’s repertory
since its creation in 1949. Based on the tale of Othello, it has been
performed by numerous companies, including American Ballet Theater,
Joffrey Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Nureyev and Friends,
Paris Opera Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, and
Royal Swedish Ballet.
Note: The Moor’s Pavane is only licensed to
professional companies.
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Scherzo
Music by: Hazel Johnson
Quartet for 4 men -- 11 minutes
This energetic, athletic dance for four men and a drum they toss between
them is a compelling exploration of rhythm and movement. In moments
when the percussion score stops, the movement—the beats the
men create on their bodies—becomes the music.
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