TeatroStageFest program listed below was featured from June 4-18, 2011 at the fifth annual festival. Please check back with us to read all about our upcoming year-round series of shows and events.
TeatroStageFest is proud to partner with the Limón Dance Company and feature their entire New York City Season in celebration of this prestigious company’s 65th anniversary!
José Limón was born in Mexico in 1908, and moved to New York in 1928. Maestro Limón’s unique artistic vision broke away from all conventions. His magnificent body of work includes reinterpretations of two major works originally written for the Theater: Othello by William Shakespeare and Emperor Jones by Eugene O’Neill, both of which are featured productions of TeatroStageFest 2011.
The Limón Dance Company is one of three companies featured at this year’s Festival that will travel to São Paulo, Brazil, in late summer to participate in TeatroStageFest’s first Latino International Theater Festival of New York, Inc. - SESC-SP International Cultural Engagement Partnership. Read more!
Photo credit: Scott Groller
Photo credit: Gabriel Morales
Location: Gerald Lynch Theater at John Jay College
899 10th Ave.
Subway: 1, A, B, C, or D to 59th St. - Columbus Circle.
Tickets: $36
Students/Seniors (65+): $25.50
Discounts available for groups of 10 or more!
If you like this show, we also recommend movement based theater piece The Orphans!
Presenting Partner:
Interview with Clay Taliaferro, lead Limón dancer who learned the role of Emperor Jones directly from José Limón. Read more!
Original 1957 Telecast of Emperor Jones starring José Limón! View here!
Limón Dance Company
New York City Season
Company Name: Limón Dance Company
Program A: There is a Time, Chrysallis and Emperor Jones
Tuesday, June 7 @ 7:30 PM; Friday, June 10 @ 8:00 PM;
Program B: La Cathédrale Engloutie, The Moor’s Pavane, and Missa Brevis
Wednesday, June 8 & Saturday, June 11 @ 8:00 PM; Sunday, June 12 @ 3:00 PM
Limón Gala: A Choreographic Offering, The Moor’s Pavane, and Missa Brevis
* Live music with 40 member choir Voices of Ascención
Thursday, June 9 @ 7:00 pm
Program A:
Emperor Jones (1956)
This major revival of José Limon’s masterwork The Emperor Jones is inspired by Eugene O’Neill’s play about the rise and fall of an escaped fugitive who becomes ruler of an island but quickly turns into a despot and is overthrown by the people. The original staging has been reconstructed by septuagenarian Mr. Clay Taliaferro, who learned the role directly from Mr. Limón as a young dancer in the Company, and features the original commissioned score by Brazil’s most renowned composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Choreography: José Limón
Music: Heitor Villalobos
There is a Time (1956)
“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.
Choreography: José Limón
Music: Norman Dello Joio
Chrysallis (2009)
An all-female piece based on the choreographer’s research of the Oracle of Delphi, that counts with an original musical score by one of Spain’s most renowned contemporary composers.
Choreography: Jonathan Fredrickson
Music: Marcos Galvany
Program B:
The Moor's Pavane (1949)
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.
Choreography: José Limón
Music: Henry Purcell
Missa Brevis (1958)
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.
Choreography: José Limón
Music: Zoltan Kódaly
La Cathédrale Engloutie (1975)
The piece was inspired by the music with the same name by French composer Claude Debussy, and tells a Breton legend of a sunken cathedral that is said to appear at a sunrise for a chosen few to observe.
Choreography: Jiri Kylián
Music: Jean Claude Debussy
Choreographic Offerings (1964)
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.
Choreography: José Limón
Music: Johann Sebastian Bach
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