Limón Dance Company to Continue 80th Anniversary Celebration at The Joyce Theater
The program features José Limón's MAZURKAS alongside Aszure Barton's commission JOIN, led by artistic director Dante Puleio.
The Limón Dance Company will continue its celebration of the company's 80-year history with a captivating program that honors eight decades of revolutionary modern dance by its founder, José Limón, and amplifies the voices of today. The program runs at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, NYC, from October 6-11, 2026 and features a Curtain Chat on October 7. Performances: Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 2pm & 7:30p, and Sunday at 2pm.
The Limón Dance Company's 80th anniversary celebration bridges legacy and innovation through landmark new work commissions and powerful cultural partnerships over 18 months, solidifying the Company as one of the most vital voices within the landscape of American and global dance. The company also honors six years of leadership from Artistic Director Dante Puleio, who took the helm of Limón Dance Company in 2020 just as the dance world went into lockdown. Puleio's artistic vision pairs new commissions by brilliant contemporary choreographers with radical revivals of legacy works by José Limón and his mentor Doris Humphrey. Six years later, we have celebrated 6 world premieres, 10 acclaimed reconstructions of iconic dances, 2 historic museum installations celebrating Limón's contemporary impact, and our first Bessie Award in twenty years. The success of his approach has emphasized Limón's importance in today's world, showcasing how legacy work can speak across generations when it is contextualized for today's audiences.
The program will include both José Limón's 1958 work Mazurkas and LDC's 2025 commission, Aszure Barton's Join. Mazurkas, born from Limón's journey to Poland after World War II, was inspired by the resilient spirit of the Polish people. Limón crafted a work of exuberant movement and rich musicality as a tribute to his dancers and the indomitable vitality he witnessed abroad. The original cast members were all part of the grueling and euphoric 1957 European tour, which inspired both Missa Brevis and Mazurkas. But it was the purpose behind the creation of Mazurkas that sets this work apart, it was Jose's ways of personally thanking each dancer with a solo or duet especially tailored to that artists' particular qualities. Even today sections of the work are still referred to by the names of the original cast members, providing a direct line to the dance icons that each section was created to honor. The work is aptly set to ten mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin, widely considered one of the greatest Polish composers of his time. This historical reconstruction comes to life with live piano accompaniment, and will be performed in its entirety for the first time since 1964.
The program will close with the 2025 commission of Aszure Barton's Join, created in collaboration with Grammy-nominated composer Ambrose Akinmusire. Together they have taken José Limón's vivid, poetic description of a lost Doris Humphrey work and created a new world of spellbinding movement and transcendent storytelling. Doris Humphrey choreographed an enormous body of work, some of which are still regularly performed, some sit on shelves waiting to be rediscovered, and some are lost entirely. In Limón's An Unfinished Memoir, he recalls his mentor's process and staging of Orestes with adoration and respect, claiming it “as one of her greatest works”. Unfortunately the work's magnitude, with an orchestral score by Darius Milhaud, made it impossible to produce, so it never premiered.
Barton was so moved by Limón's writing, she took his words as inspiration for a new piece rather than attempting to recreate a lost Humphrey work. This springboard of inspiration connects the performing artists steeped in the Humphrey/Limón tradition to the forefront of contemporary dance making; bridging generations of artists who make up a tapestry of artistic exploration built over a century. Aptly titled Join, Barton's work centers on relationships in a group dynamic and the complex interconnectivity that joins them.
Mazurkas (1958, José Limón)
Composer: Frédéric Chopin
Music: Mazurkas (played live)
The Mazurkas (or as they were first titled Dances in Honor of Poznan, Wroclaw, Katowicz and Warszawa) was created in honor of these cities and their people in Poland. Performed to Chopin's Mazurkas, these dances are a tribute to the people's heroic spirit in their revival after World War II. First performed August 15, 1958 at the American College Dance Festival, New London CT by the Limón Dance Company
Mazurkas is a work of exuberant and musical dancing. Following a visit to Poland after WWII, Limón created this piece to celebrate the vitality of the Polish people with music by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin.
Join (2025, Azure Barton)
Composer: Ambrose Akinmusire
Aszure Barton, in collaboration with Grammy-nominated composer Ambrose Akinmusire, has taken José Limón's vivid, poetic description of a lost Doris Humphrey work to create a new world of spellbinding movement and transcendent storytelling. Barton and Akinmusire have created a work with demanding vocabulary, intricate partnering, and virtuosic use of space and musicality. Together, they elevate the Limón legacy and bridge the eras of groundbreaking craftsmanship. Featuring costumes designed by Canadian fashion designer Rémi van Bochove. This was the final of three choreographic commissions focused on female choreographers and the women who inspired our founder's life, work, and legacy.
“Ambrose and I create consciously together and hope to encourage people to join together, all while embracing honesty as care. By cultivating an environment of presence and deep listening, we are able to return to our bodies, accept our loneliness, and make space to celebrate the truth of what is — that our power as a collective is in our ability to connect, and that coming-together is joy (never without its challenge)!" said Aszure Barton.
This work was commissioned by The Friends of Perry-Mansfield and The 92nd Street Y, New York, as part of their 150th anniversary celebration, in honor and continued support of Jose Limón's rich 92NY legacy. It also received support from the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA's Organization Fund in 2023-24, and from The O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
JOSE LIMÓN (Founder/Choreographer, 1908-1972) electrified the world with his dynamic, masculine dancing and dramatic choreography. One of the 20th century's most important and influential dance makers, he spent his career pioneering a new art form and fighting for its recognition. Born in Culiacán, Mexico, in 1908, he moved to California in 1915 and, in 1928, came to New York, where he saw his first dance program. Limón enrolled in Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman's dance school and performed in several of their works from 1930 to 1940. In 1946, with Doris Humphrey as Artistic Director, Limón formed his own company. Over the next 25 years, he established himself and his company as a major force in 20th-century dance. Limón created a total of 74 works, including The Moor's Pavane, Concerto Grosso, and Missa Brevis.
Aszure Barton (Choreographer, She/Her) has been creating dances for as long as she can remember. Her works have been performed on stages worldwide as well as in museums and exhibits. She has choreographed for film, opera, and theater, including Broadway. Early in her career, she founded her own project, Aszure Barton & Artists, in order to create an interdisciplinary and collaborative platform for process-centered creation, resulting in choreography that the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts has equated to “watching the physical unfurling of the human psyche.” Barton has worked with artists and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jessica Chastain, Misty Copeland, Cyndi Lauper, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Nederlands Dans Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Martha Graham Dance Company, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Hamburg Ballett, Teatro alla Scala, among others. Barton recently premiered an evening-length work for San Francisco Ballet in collaboration with British music producer/DJ Floating Points, media artists Hamill Industries, and designer Michelle Jank. Barton is the current Resident Artist at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and was a longtime artist in residence at Baryshnikov Arts. Her latest venture is a collaboration with award-winning composer and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire; the two have created four works together to date. Their revered work, A a | a B : B E N D, will be touring internationally through upcoming seasons. Barton is a Bessie Awardee, a recipient of the prestigious Arts & Letters award, and Ambassador of contemporary choreography in Canada. As an educator, Aszure collaborates regularly with institutions including The Juilliard School and Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE (Composer, He/Him) Described by NPR Music as “a trumpeter of deep expressive resources and a composer of kaleidoscopic vision,” Ambrose Akinmusire has made a home at the crossroads of different musical forms and languages, from post-bop and avant-garde jazz to contemporary chamber music and hip-hop to singer-songwriter aesthetics. He began recording for Blue Note in 2011, earning widespread acclaim for his albums when the heart emerges glistening (produced by Jason Moran), the imagined savior is far easier to paint (“gorgeous, moving” – JazzTimes), A Rift in Decorum: Live at the Village Vanguard (“amazingly effective” – DownBeat), Origami Harvest (Top Albums of 2018, The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times), and on the tender spot of every calloused moment, 2021 GRAMMY nominee, Best Jazz Instrumental Album.
Akinmusire has also received numerous prestigious composer commissions; created music for film and television projects including the new Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal series Blindspotting; appeared as a featured soloist with the legendary artists Archie Shepp and Roscoe Mitchell; and made signal contributions to groundbreaking albums including Mary Halvorson's Code Girl, Brad Mehldau's Finding Gabriel and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly (on the closing track “Mortal Man”). He also played on Joni Mitchell's 2014 release Love Has Many Faces, and in 2018 accompanied Chaka Khan, James Taylor and other luminaries honoring Mitchell in a gala concert documented on Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration. Other sideman highlights include Jack DeJohnette, Marcus Miller, Steve Coleman, Terri Lyne Carrington, and many others. Akinmusire received his 2nd GRAMMY nomination, this time for “Best Improvised Solo” on Carrington's 2022 release, New Standards Vol 1.
