logo
livingroom

decorative bar

biographies


corner Last update of this page: July 29th 2004 corner
José Arcadio Limón
(January 12, 1908 - December 2, 1972) Mexico - U.S.A.

José Limón

Dancer, choreographer

separator

Born in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, Limón wanted to be a painter although, he quit painting to become a dancer his love for it never died. His family moved to the U.S. when he was 7 (first to Arizona, then California), where he attended Catholic school and continued his drawing and painting. He to New York City in 1928 after a year at UCLA as an art major.

In New Yorkhe joined the Humphrey-Weidman Studio performing with them untill 1940. Limon went into the U.S. Army in 1943. In 1945 he formed his own dance company with Doris Humphrey as his artistic director for many years (1946-1958).

In 1946, he established his own company with Humphrey as Artistic Director. During her tenure, Humphrey choreographed many pieces for the Limón Dance Company, and it was under her experienced directorial eye that Limón created his signature dance, The Moor's Pavane (1949).

José LimónLimón's choreographic works were quickly recognized as masterpieces and the Company itself became a landmark of American dance. Many of his dances - There is a Time, Missa Brevis, Psalm, The Winged - are considered classics of modern dance.

Limón was a consistently productive choreographer until his death in 1972 - he choreographed at least one new piece each year - and he was also an influential teacher and advocate for modern dance. He was in residence each summer at the American Dance Festival, a key faculty member in The Juilliard School's Dance Division beginning in 1953, and the director of Lincoln Center's American Dance Theatre from 1964-65.

Limón received two Dance Magazine Awards, the Capezio Award and honorary doctorates from four universities in recognition of his achievements. He died in Flemington, N.J. His autobiographical writings, An Unfinished Memoir, were edited by Lynn Garafola and published in 1999 by Wesleyan University Press.

He was the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The Dance Heroes of José Limón (Fall 1996), and in 1997 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, NY.

separator

Click on the letter L to go back to the list of names

corner © Matt & Andrej Koymasky, 1997 - 2008 corner