JOSE LIMON

1908-1972

BORN IN MEXICO AND CAME TO U.S. WITH HIS FAMILY AS A BOY, HIS MOVEMENT TECHNIQUE REFLECTS HIS MEXICAN HERITAGE.

THE PROUD, HIGH CARRIAGE OF HIS TORSO, ARMS, AND HEAD CHARACTERIZES HIS TECHNIQUE.

HE STARTED OUT AS A PAINTER. HE SAW A DANCE CONCERT BY HAROLD KREUTZBERG IN 1928 AND WAS INSPIRED TO BE A DANCER.

AT AGE 22 HE STARTED AT THE HUMPHREY-WEIDMAN SCHOOL AND HAD TO WORK VERY HARD TO ACHIEVE BALANCE AND COORDINATION.

JOSE LIMON

LIMON COMPANY

UPON RELEASE FROM MILITARY SERVICE AFTER WORLD WAR II IN 1945, HE FORMED A COMPANY OF HIS OWN.

DORIS HUMPHREY, WHO HAD JUST RETIRED FROM ACTIVE DANCING, BECAME HIS ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND TOGETHER THEY ENJOYED MANY FRUITFUL SEASONS UNTIL HER DEATH.

THE COMPANY HAS TOURED THE U.S., SOUTH AMERICA, AND EUROPE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE U.S. STATE DEPT.

FAMOUS LIMON DANCERS

A. PAULINE KONER

B. LUCAS HOVING

C. RUTH CURRIER

D. BETTY JONES

MAJOR DANCE WORKS

A. VIVALDI CONCERTO-TRIO OF THEMATIC MOVEMENTS TO VIVALDI

B. EMPEROR JONES- A UNIQUE TAKE ON PLAYWRIGHT EUGENE O'NEILL'S TALE OF AN ESCAPED FUGITIVE WHO IRONICALLY SUCCUMBS TO THE VERY TYRANNY HE RALLIES AGAINST

C. THE TRAITOR-TRANSPLANTS THE TRAGEDY OF JUDAS TO MODERN TIMES TO OFFER LIMON'S POINTED RESPONSE TO THE MCCARTHY HEARINGS THAT HEATED THE POLITICAL CLIMATE OF THE 1950S

D. THE MOOR’S PAVANE-HIS MASTERPIECE OF DANCE DRAMA RETELLING SHAKESPEARE'S OTHELLO

E. LA MALINCHE-RETELLING OF A MEXICAN LEGEND

F. MISSA BREVIS- INSPIRED BY THE FIRST VISIT OF THE COMPANY TO WAR-WRACKED POLAND

G. THERE IS A TIME-BASED ON THE BIBLICAL PASSAGE

VIVALDI CONCERTOJOSE LIMON, BEATRICE SECKLER, DOROTHY BIRD

THE TRAITOR

THE MOOR’S PAVANEPAULINE KONER, LUCAS HOVING,

BETTY JONES, JOSE LIMON

LA MALINCHEPAULINE KONER

MISSA BREVIS

LIMON TECHNIQUE

THE TECHNIQUE IS BASED ON PRINCIPLES OF WEIGHT, FALL, AND RECOVERY AS ESTABLISHED BY JOSE LIMON AND HIS MENTORS, DORIS HUMPHREY AND CHARLES WEIDMAN.

IT FOCUSES ON THE MOVEMENT OF BREATH THROUGH THE BODY, THE DYNAMIC USE OF WEIGHT IN EACH BODY PART, AND THE FLUID SUCCESSION OF ONE MOVEMENT INTO THE NEXT. 

THE CORE ELEMENTS IN LIMON’S TECHNIQUE COME FROM HUMAN MOVEMENT AND THE SENSATIONS THE BODY EXPERIENCES IN MOTION.

LIMON WAS INTERESTED IN HUMAN WHOLENESS, AND IT IS KEY IN HIS WORK THAT THE WHOLE PERSON PARTICIPATES—MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT.

LESTER HORTON

1906-1953

WHEN HE WAS 5 YEARS OLD, HE FELL IN LOVE WITH NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE AT A WILD WEST SHOW, WHERE HE SAW TRIBAL DANCES. THIS BROUGHT HIM TO DANCE.

HORTON’S OUTLOOK WAS CHANGEABLE, RESTLESS, AND VARIABLE.

HE WAS A TALENTED, VERSATILE, MAGNETIC FIGURE WHO CAST A SPELL ON THOSE AROUND HIM.

HE WAS A PROLIFIC CREATOR IN MOVEMENT AND IN DESIGN AND A BORN TEACHER.

HE HAD A GREAT RAPPORT WITH PEOPLE OF OTHER ETHNIC GROUPS. HIS COMPANY WAS INTERRACIAL WELL BEFORE THE IDEA WAS FASHIONABLE.

LESTER HORTON

HORTON’S WORKS

HE CHOREOGRAPHED 17 HOLLYWOOD FILMS BETWEEN 1942 AND 1953.

HE FOUNDED HIS DANCE THEATER IN 1946 IN L.A. AND CREATED 17 DANCE COMPOSITIONS FOR IT.

THE BELOVED IS ONE OF HIS MOST POWERFULLY DRAMATIC CREATIONS AND THE ONLY WORK TO SURVIVE.

HIS WORKS ENCOMPASSED A WIDE VARIETY OF STYLES AND INFLUENCES.

PUEBLO EAGLE DANCE 1929

BELLA LEWITSKY IN HORTON’S RITE OF SPRING 1937

SALOME 1950JAMES TRUITTE, ELLE JOHNSON, CARMEN DE LAVALLADE

LIBERIAN SUITE 1952ALVIN AILEY AND CARMEN DE

LAVALLADE FOREGROUND

HIS FAMOUS DANCERS

HORTON MENTORED DANCERS WHO CONTINUED HIS LEGACY AND MADE THEIR OWN NAME IN THE DANCE WORLD.

A. CARMEN DE LAVALLADE B. JOYCE TRISLER C. JAMES TRUITTE D. RUDI GERNREICH E. ALVIN AILEY F. BELLA LEWITZKY

SHORT LIFE

HE WAS UNDISCIPLINED AND UNSTABLE.

HIS PRODIGIOUS ACTIVITIES FED AN UNFOCUSED PERSONALITY, DROPPING HIM INTO DEPRESSION, AND TURNING HIM TO ALCOHOL.

HE ABUSED HIS BODY AND HIS STORE OF ENERGY, EVEN AFTER HE HAD BEEN WARNED BY A HEART ATTACK AND THESE ABUSES LED TO HIS DEATH AT 47.

HORTON TECHNIQUE

OVER TIME, HORTON'S TECHNIQUE HAS BEEN CODIFIED, PASSED ON, EMBELLISHED, ALTERED, AND CHERISHED FOR ITS INNOVATION AND THE ABILITY TO FORM A FULLY CAPABLE INSTRUMENT OF MOVEMENT WITHOUT IMPRINTING THE DANCER WITH A DISCERNIBLE STYLE.  

LESTER HORTON'S CONTRIBUTION IS SEMINAL TO THE MODERN DANCE OF TODAY, AND IMPARTS THE DANCER WITH STRENGTH, FLEXIBILITY, BALANCE, RHYTHM, AND LYRICISM.

HORTON’S TECHNIQUE WAS SUCCESSFUL IN PRODUCING STRONG, VERSATILE DANCERS WITHOUT MANNERISMS. HORTON DANCERS WERE KNOWN FOR THEIR HIGH EXTENSIONS AND FLUID BACK MOTION.

30 MINUTES OF ELEVATION OR JUMPING IN EVERY CLASS ENABLED THEM TO DO AERIAL MOVEMENTS WITH EASE.

THEY WERE GOOD WITH TURNS, FALLS, AND SEQUENCES THAT ROSE FROM THE FLOOR INTO THE AIR AND RETURNED.

THEY LEARNED A BROAD VOCABULARY OF ETHNIC GESTURES. THEY LEARNED CHALLENGING COORDINATION EXERCISES MOVING DIFFERENT BODY PARS IN DIFFERENT RHYTHMS.

BELLA LEWITZKY

1915-2004

BORN IN A UTOPIAN SOCIALIST COLONY; HER PARENTS WERE PART OF AN EXPERIMENT IN COOPERATIVE LIVING. SHE WAS RAISED ON ITS PRINCIPLES EVEN WHEN THE COLONY MOVED TO NO. CAROLINA. THIS STRONG SENSE OF IDEALISTIC PRINCIPLE NEVER LEFT HER.

IN 1934, BELLA JOINED HORTON FIRST AS A STUDENT, THEN AS A PARTNER. SHE BROUGHT A FIRST-RATE PERFORMING ABILITY AND A TALENT FOR ORGANIZING CLASS WORK TO HIS DANCE THEATRE.

SHE BECAME THE INSTRUMENT THROUGH WHICH HORTON REALIZED HIS CHOREOGRAPHIC VISION, AND THE DISCIPLINED MIND AND BODY THROUGH WHICH HE ESTABLISHED HIS TECHNIQUE.

BELLA LEWITZKY

HORTON VS LEWITZKY

HORTON AND BELLA HAD OPPOSITE PERSONALITIES.

SHE WAS DISCIPLINED, WELL ORGANIZED, AND A PERFECTIONIST.

HE WAS WILDLY CREATIVE BUT UNORGANIZED AND HAPHAZARD.

SHE WANTED A SMALL, WELL-TRAINED COMPANY.

HE LIKED TO FILL THE STAGE WITH LARGE GROUPS OF PEOPLE.

THE LEWITZKY COMPANY

IN 1940 HORTON AND LEWITZKY SEPARATED FOR THE FIRST TIME

IN 1946 THEY JOINED UP AGAIN IN L.A. TO FORM A PERMANENT HOME FOR THE SCHOOL AND COMPANY.

BY THE THEATRE’S SECOND SEASON, THE STRAIN BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM WAS BEGINNING TO WORSEN. IN 1950 THE PARTNERSHIP DISSOLVED.

ON HER OWN, BELLA TAUGHT CHILDREN AND ADULTS, CHOREOGRAPHED, AND DANCED.

BELLA STARTED HER OWN COMPANY IN 1966.

HER COMPANY WAS ONE OF A HANDFUL OF HIGHLY REGARDED PROFESSIONAL COMPANIES IN LA.

SHE FORMED AND HEADED THE DANCE DEPARTMENT AT CAL ARTS AND WON A DANCE MAGAZINE AWARD IN 1978 FOR HER DANCING AND HER CONTRIBUTION TO DANCE EDUCATION.

THE LEWITZKY DANCE COMPANY

ALVIN AILEY

1931-1989

BORN IN TEXAS. STUDIED FOREIGN LANGUAGE AT UCLA. DANCED WITH LESTER HORTON’S DANCE THEATRE. ADOPTED HORTON TECHNIQUE WHICH USED ETHNIC MATERIAL IN AN AFRO-ASIAN WAY.

AFTER HORTON’S DEATH, HE CHOREOGRAPHED FOR THE COMPANY AND THEN MOVED TO N.Y. TO STUDY WITH MODERN DANCERS OF THE TIME, ACT, AND PERFORM ON BROADWAY.

ALVIN AILEY

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE

IN 1958, HE FORMED ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRE.

AILEY WANTED TO PRESERVE MODERN DANCE CLASSICS WITH HIS COMPANY. HE REVIVED WORKS BY TED SHAWN, MAY O’DONNEL, KATHERINE DUNHAM, AND PEARL PRIMUS.

AILEY'S CHOREOGRAPHY FOR BLUES SUITE (1958), HIS FIRST FINANCIAL AND CRITICAL SUCCESS,  MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE ALVIN AILEY DANCE COMPANY. WORLD FAME QUICKLY FOLLOWED.

THE GROUP WAS THE RESIDENT COMPANY OF THE BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC FOR THREE SEASONS STARTING IN 1969. IT BECAME THE FIRST AMERICAN DANCE COMPANY TO TOUR THE USSR IN FIFTY YEARS.

HE RACIALLY INTEGRATED HIS FORMERLY ALL-BLACK DANCE COMPANY IN 1963

IMPORTANT WORKS

CRY 1972SOLO FOR JUDITH JAMISON ABOUT THE HURT, DEGRADATION AND HUMILIATION BLACK WOMEN HAVE TO FACE.

BLUES SUITE 1958A SUITE OF DANCES EXPRESSING THE MOOD OF A BLUES SONG.

REVELATIONS 1960HIS SIGNATURE WORK. SET TO SPIRITUALS AND GOSPEL SONGS. SET IN THE SOUTH AND IS COMPOSED OF SCENES SHOWING A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE FROM EARLIER IN THE 20TH CENTURY IN THEIR CHURCH AND A DANCE HALL.

CRYJUDITH JAMISON

BLUES SUITE

REVELATIONS

REVELATIONS