Limon Dance Co. Features Two World Premieres THis Month

Limon Dance has announced two upcoming premieres. Learn more about all of the upcoming shows below!

Only One Will Rise

World Premiere- Program 1, April 19-April 24

(25 minutes)

Choreography: Olivier Tarpaga

Music: Olivier Tarpaga and Tim Motzer

Live Music: Tim Motzer, Daniel Johnson, Saidou Sangare

The overlap between Only One Will Rise and the themes of Limón's work creates a conversation that sheds light on what shapes an artist and impacts their creations. Tarpaga and Limón had similar upbringings and though continents and decades apart, Only One Will Rise reveals similarities in their expression of hope and inner strength.

"Dance is deeper than a combination of movements. A strong dance work for me is a journey that hits the audience's heart. My creative process is concentrated on the human condition. I start with personal questions that provoke personal gestures, which transform into movements, which become phrases that give life to a choreography." - Olivier Tarpaga

A native of Burkina Faso, Olivier Tarpaga is the Artistic Director of Nomad Express International MultiArts Festival in Ouagadougou in West Africa. Mr. Tarpaga has choreographed a new dance and composed original music that reflects his experience of escaping political unrest in his country of birth and creating an artistic career in the United States --a story very much like that of José Limón. This work has been co-commissioned by The Jacob's Pillow for their 90th Anniversary thanks to the Joan B. Hunter New Work Commission, with additional commissioning funds provided by the O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation.

Migrant Mother

World Premiere- April 26-May 1

(27 minutes)

Choreography: Raúl Tamez

Music: Los Cardencheros de Sapioriz, Cantos Tzotziles de San Pedro Chenalhó,

Juan Pablo Villa, Lila Downs, Felipe Esparza, and Los Cojolites

The first Mexican choreographer to create a work on the Company since José Limón. This work is a response to Limon's, Tonantzintla (1951), which means place of our little mother. Limón was mesmerized by a Baroque Catholic church built up by Mexican indigenous people, where they were partially allowed by the Franciscan friars to portray some of their enormously rich cosmology. The result was a unique style of syncretic baroque never seen before. This new piece encourages voices that are often marginalized in terms of symbolic domination, colonization, and creolization. It is a tribute to the majesty of the prehispanic heritage in Mesoamérica.

"My piece will be inspired by topics such as migration, indigenous voices, symbolic domination, syncretism in México, and interculturality. I would like to encourage voices that are often marginalized within the context of México and the United States relationship. It is an honor and a great privilege to talk about these delicate topics onstage, a challenge that I want to assume with care and sensibility." - Raúl Tamez

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