The American Dance Festival, 2000

June 24, 2000

The Limon Company, formed in 1946, is one of the oldest modern dance groups performing today (especially since the recent suspension of the Martha Graham Dance Company). Its ADF program featured works from both the living present and the historic past of the company.

An Anatomy of Intent premiered at ADF 2000. Choreographed by Mark Haim, the piece made the most of the varied body types and movement styles of the Limon Company, an unusually broad range for a professional troupe.

The other two pieces on the program, Dark Elegies, a 1937 creation of noted choreographer Antony Tudor, and Jose Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane, drew on the company’s exceptionally deep repertoire. The "Pavane," one of the most respected pieces in the history of modern dance, premiered at the American Dance Festival of 1949, when ADF was still at Connecticut College.

In all the presented pieces, the male dancers, especially Carlos Orta, Robert Regala and Zhen Jun Zhang, impressed with their powerful, masculine style — a tribute to the Limon Technique. Jose Limon (1908-1972), an early student of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, continues to provide a viable role model for young male dancers today, through his Technique preserved in the teaching of the Limon Institute.

— R.Wright