Limón Dance Company Sets 2023 Spring Season Featuring 3 Programs at 3 New Venues

Limón Dance Company will kick off its highly anticipated 2023 Spring season with an ambitious tour that spans three venues across Manhattan and Brooklyn. With performances taking place Wednesday, May 3 through Friday, May 19, 2023, Artistic Director Dante Puleio will bring Limón's unique brand of storytelling and choreographic craftsmanship to City College's Aaron Davis Hall (160 Convent Ave, West Harlem), The Museum of Jewish Heritage, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust (36 Battery Place, Lower Manhattan) for a one-night-only gala performance, and The Green-Wood Cemetery (500 25th Street, Brooklyn). Tickets for all performances are now on sale and can be purchased online here.

"The Limón Dance Company is getting the chance to redefine itself," said Dante Puleio. "We are thrilled to explore some unexpected spaces and meet some new people. It's a new era for dance and I want where we show our work to reflect that. By quite literally taking our season on the move, we hope to provide a new level of access to our audiences and build new, lasting relationships with lovers and patrons of dance."

The complete schedule and information for Limón's 2023 Spring Season is as follows:

CITY COLLEGE'S Aaron Davis HALL

Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 7 PM
Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 1 PM and 7 PM
Tickets from $10 - $35

This exciting program, taking place in Limón Dance Company's own West Harlem neighborhood, will feature Limón's moving tribute to Isadora Duncan in Dances for Isadora, and a revitalization of his iconic work, A Choreographic Offering - a memorial bouquet to his mentor and modern dance pioneer, Doris Humphrey. For these performances, the Company will be joined by members of Limón2, highlighting a commitment to educating and integrating the next generation of artists through the Limón Institute.

The program will also offer the second part of a multi-city collaboration with one of Florida's leading contemporary dance companies, Dance NOW! Miami who will perform their work Anusim: What is Hidden is Never Lost. Together, the two companies will perform Limón's final work The Waldstein Sonata - his breathtaking homage to Beethoven. This work was left unfinished at the time of Limón's death and was completed three years later by his protege, Dr. Daniel Lewis. In a moving gesture, Dr. Lewis will gift the rights to the work to the Limón Foundation in a public signing ceremony.

THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE, A Living Memorial to the Holocaust

Gala Performance, Thursday, May, 11, 2023 at 7 PM
Tickets starting at $50

True to Limón's artistic and social ethos, the Foundation places great importance on the nuances of the human condition, emphasizing community building and collective perseverance, making The Museum of Jewish Heritage an ideal place to see Limón's work in a new light.

This year's gala event will focus on new partnerships that illustrate the many facets of José Limón's identity and honor individuals whose work exemplify service to the performing arts field. The José Limón Foundation will present Jay H. McDowell with the Limón Foundation Award for Philanthropy in recognition of his six-decade career as an advisor and board member to charities and his patronage to the arts and Virginia Johnson, founding member and Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, will receive the Limón Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in celebration of her four decade-long chapter of dance history before her June 2023 retirement.

The special evening's program will feature a suite of Limón's Psalm, an epic drama based on André Schwarz-Bart's "The Last of the Just," inspired by the Jewish legend of the Lamed Vav. Eugene Lester's original score will accompany the dance, and will feature a live singer. Additionally, the program will include a performance by a selection of NYC public school students sharing their own creation inspired by Limón's A Choreographic Offering as part of the Limón4Kids program. Limón2 commissioned choreographer and former Limón Company Member, Ashley Lindsey, will premiere a new contemporary work.

THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY

Thursday, May 18 at 7 PM
Friday, May 19 at 7 PM
Tickets are $40 or $35 for members

The Limón Dance Company is thrilled to be the first major legacy company to perform at Green-Wood, a unique venue situated between Park Slope and Sunset Park Brooklyn. Beloved works from the company's repertoire, reflecting themes of death, remembrance, and the celebration of life, have been specially selected for this first-ever performance at the Cemetery. This program will feature A Choreographic Offering, a memorial bouquet to Limón's mentor and modern dance pioneer, Doris Humphrey. The program will also include an unforgettable performance of Orfeo, a powerful retelling of the Greek classic about loss and the boundless potential of love and one of the last works Limón choreographed in tribute to his late wife, Pauline Lawrence Limón. First performed in 1972, this performance will premiere gender neutral casting of Orfeo, redefining who tells their story of love and loss.

ABOUT THE LIMÓN DANCE COMPANY

Hailed as one of the world's greatest dance companies, the Limón Dance Company has been at the vanguard of American Modern dance since its inception in 1946. Having pioneered the idea that it was possible to survive the death of its founder, over the last five decades since Limón's passing, the Company has created a unique repertory that gives audiences an overview of some of the best and most important choreography, new and old, in the dance world. The Company is the living legacy of the philosophy of dance developed by José Limón and his mentors, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, whose innovative works revolutionized the American Modern Dance. Now in its 77th year, the Company is renowned for its technical mastery and dramatic expression, and demonstrates both the timelessness of José Limón's works and the humanistic vision that guides the repertory choices. The Company is one of the two components of the José Limón Dance Foundation, which also conducts educational programs and disseminates the Limón repertory through the Limón Institute. In 2008, the President of the United States awarded the Foundation the National Medal of the Arts, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.

ABOUT DANTE PULEIO

A widely respected former member of the Limón Dance Company for more than a decade, Dante Puleio is the sixth Artistic Director in the Company's 77-year history, a position that originated with Doris Humphrey. After a diverse performing career with the Limón Dance Company, touring national and international musical theater productions, television and film, he received his MFA from University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on contextualizing mid 20th century dance for the contemporary artist and audience. He is committed to implementing that research by celebrating José Limón's historical legacy and reimagining his intention and vision to reflect the rapidly shifting 21st century landscape.

For more information on the Limón Dance Company, please visit Limón.nyc.