Limon Dance Company Announces Residency at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park

The Limón Dance Company will return to Kaatsbaan for a four week residency that culminates with a virtual performance featuring three dances: a new work by choreographer Chafin Seymour and two of Limón's masterpieces, The Moor's Pavane (1949) and There is a Time (1956). The live stream performance from Kaatsbaan Cultural Park's stage will take place on Saturday, December 19 at 7pm.

The residency will also offer Limón's Home Edition V, an online training dance program that provides participating students an opportunity to be in-process with the Company. This workshop includes exclusive access to Company class, rehearsals, a behind-the-scenes streaming event, and a ticket to the Company's performance. The program will be held from December 1-19 with three unique options: All Access Pass, Weekly Pass, or Drop in class. Prices range from $15-$250. For more information and to register visit the company website.

The Company's performance showcases two dances by José Limón which are considered among the 20th Century's greatest works of modern choreography presented alongside a brilliant new piece Suite Donuts by emerging choreographer, Chafin Seymour. The pairing of these works now seems fortuitous. Recent events which have raised awareness of social consciousness and racial justice make this group of dances all the more relevant today.

The Moor's Pavane incorporates nobility, deceit, seduction, and innocence in a way that could only be achieved in dance. Based on Shakespeare's "Othello", Limón created a work that addresses the power of rumor, lies, and racism, motifs that continue to resonate in today's world. The stately and formal choreography provides a stark contrast to the emotional and passionate characters in this tragic story.

Limón's widely acclaimed, There is a Time, is choreographed to a Pulitzer Prize winning score by composer Norman Dello Joio. The dance was inspired by a passage in Chapter 3 "Ecclesiastes": "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the sun," Through dramatically affecting dancing, There is a Time conveys a powerful sense of unity and community. It evokes the breadth of the human experience and the cyclical nature of life

Choreographed for the Limón Dance Company, Suite Donuts is by contrast, a light contemporary piece with an urban groove that was co-commissioned by the American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. Mr. Seymour, a native New Yorker who now lives in California and teaches at San Jose State University, was set to premiere his work as part of the Limón Company's program at the 2020 American Dance Festival before the pandemic derailed the plan. His new endeavour is danced to an eclectic mix of music that ranges from classical (Erik Satie), to hip hop (Slum Village), to the contemporary works of composer Miguel Atwood Ferguson.

Mr. Seymour recently described his aesthetic and style: "I firmly believe in the possibility of dance to contain emotion, narrative, cultural and intellectual relevance while still entertaining an audience. Using movement and music to create environments and tell stories, my work tends to rest on a thin line somewhere between classically inclined and extra bold."

Like José Limón, Mr. Seymour derives his movement from a resilient relationship to gravity, the inevitable fall and effort to rise. His compelling hybrid movement vocabulary stresses physicality and musicality.

*The Limón Dance Company will be gathering under the health and safety guidelines established by Kaatsbaan Cultural Park, the José Limón Dance Foundation and a community agreement created by the Company's performing artists in residence.

Photo Credit: Christopher Jones