Jose Limon Essay

“We are never more truly and profoundly human than when we dance.” Jose Arcadio Limon was a dancer and choreographer born and raised in Mexico. He was inspired to begin his studies in modern dance when he saw a performance of Harald Krutzberg and Yvone Georgi. Limon enrolled at the dance school of Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. He continued to work with Humphrey until 1946, when he founded the José Limón Dance Company. His most successful work is called The Moor's Pavane and it is based on Shakespeare's Othello. The Limón Dance Company still exists and is part of the Jose Limon Dance Foundation, an institution dedicated to preserve and disseminate his artistic dance work and technique. Jose Limon is important in the American Dance History

Limón left to the world of dance a wide range of choreography and dance technique. His choreographic language is distinguished by his passion, expression of human emotions, spontaneity, and musicality. He had a great ability to express a dance in its purest essence, without gestures or unnecessary movements. His technique is one of the most preserved in America and you can find almost in every city a place where it is taught.

Jose Arcadio Limon born in Culiacan Sinaloa, Mexico in 1908. He was the oldest of eleven brothers. His father, Florencio Limon, who was an orchestra conductor and the director of La Academia de Musica de Sonora, taught Jose to play instruments such as the organ. Francisca Translavina, Jose’s mother, was a Yaqui Indian descendant. Limon was born in a very difficult time for Mexico; the Mexican Revolution began and the city where he was born, fell into great economic problems. The Mexican Revolution was a major armed