José Limón
| José Limón | |
|---|---|
Limón performing Mexican Suite in 1944. Photograph by Barbara Morgan.
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| Born |
January 12, 1908 Culiacán, Mexico |
| Died | December 2, 1972 (aged 64) |
| Occupation | Modern dancer, choreographer |
| Years active | 1929–1969 |
| Former groups | José Limón Dance company |
| Dances | The Moor's Pavane (1949) |
José Arcadio Limón (January 12, 1908 – December 2, 1972) was a dancer and choreographer. In 1928, at age 20, he moved to New York City where he studied under Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. In 1946, Limón founded the José Limón Dance Company. His most famous work is called The Moor's Pavane (1949), based on Shakespeare's Othello.
José Arcadio Limón was born January 12, 1908 in Culiacán, Mexico, the eldest of twelve children. In 1915, his family moved to Los Angeles, California. After graduating from Lincoln High School, Limón attended UCLA as an art major. He moved to New York City in 1928 to study at the New York School of Design. In 1929, he was inspired to dance after attending one of Harald Kreutzberg and Yvonne Georgi's performances.
Limón enrolled in the Humphrey-Weidman school later that year and, just a year later, performed on Broadway. Later in 1930, Limón choreographed his first dance, “Etude in D Minor”, a duet with Letitia Ide. In addition to his the duet partner, Limón recruited schoolmates Eleanor King and Ernestine Stodelle to form "The Little Group". From 1932 to 1933, Limón made two more broadway appearances in the musical revue Americana and Irving Berlin's As Thousands Cheer, choreographed by Charles Weidman. Limón also tried his hand at choreography this year at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre. Limón made several more appearances throughout the next few years in shows such as Humphrey's New Dance, Theatre Piece, With my Red Fires, and Weidman's Quest. In 1937, he was selected as one of the first Bennington Fellows. At the Bennington Festival at Mill College in 1939, Limón created his first major choreographic work, titled Danzas Mexicanas. After five years, however, Limón would return to Broadway to star as a featured dancer in Keep Off the Grass under the choreographer George Balanchine.
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