Limón Dance Company Announces 26/27 Tour Dates 80th Anniversary Commission: The Moor’s Pavane (Reimagined) by Akram Khan
Company:
Limón Dance Company
The Limón Dance Company (LDC) embarks on its largest choreographic commission to date in celebration of its 80th Anniversary season, a reimagining of José Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane by Akram Khan, with performances at Northrop at the University of Minneapolis on January 30, 2027, Quick Center for the Arts in Fairfield, CTon February 3, 2027, Onstage at Connecticut College in New London on February 6, 2027, and Vivo Performing Arts in Boston from February 12-13, 2027. To purchase tickets, visit https://www.limon.nyc/performances.
Developed over a series of ten weeks in the fall of 2026 and January 2027, Khan will re-envision a one-act version of Limón’s choreographic masterpiece. On January 16, 2027, Works & Process will offer an inside look into the rehearsal process during Limón Dance Company’s residency at The Campus at Marlboro Music. Details are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/works-process-limon-dance-company-tickets-2001638313077?aff=oddtdtcreator.
Northrop at the University of Minnesota is the lead commissioner on the project, with additional co-commissioning and development provided by Works & Process (in partnership with The Campus at Marlboro Music and Guggenheim New York). Newly announced co-commissioning partners include: Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Music Center, Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp, and the American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundation Award for New Works. SOZO IMPACT leads worldwide representation and is currently booking the 27/28 and 28/29 touring seasons, working in partnership with Quaternaire across the United Kingdom and Europe.
“This incredible, timeless piece was a work I had come across and studied as a young performing arts student. And although that was so many decades ago, it has remained with me and still schools me today. Most simply put, I realized even then that the work was about the human condition, in all its flaws and weaknesses. And though this work is short in length, I have always felt it to be an epic sweeping gesture of comment on our sense of who we are not, rather than who we are. And so, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to be inspired again and now to reimagine this work through my current artistic lens…. As not to take away from Limón’s original version, but instead, to pay homage to a work that has inspired so many artists over many generations. Bringing together the voices of my creative collaborators, Zeynep Kepekli (lighting designer), Aditya Prakash (composer), and the incredible artists of the Limón Dance Company, I am looking to create an emotionally physical experience that echoes the past yet expresses the present,” said Akram Khan.
The story of Giraldi Cinthio’s 1565 “Un Capitano Moro,” adapted by Shakespeare as Othello, is a chilling tale of race, power, and jealousy. José Limón further distilled this story to four characters and the infamous handkerchief in his classic The Moor’s Pavane. Limón’s work, first performed in 1949 at the American Dance Festival, is one of his crowning achievements, and the work continues to be performed by the Limón Dance Company and the most well-known ballet companies around the world. Reexamining the themes of this work in a contemporary context reveals a connection to over 500 years of storytelling.
“Akram Khan's reimagining of José Limón's The Moor's Pavane matters because it brings together two artists who, despite being separated by generations, share a profound commitment to exposing the deepest truths of human experience through movement. At its core, The Moor's Pavane is an intimate tragedy. It is a story of relationships undone by doubt, jealousy, betrayal, and conspiracy—a world where truth and falsehood become impossible to distinguish until it is too late. It is about the devastating consequences of mistrust and the wrongful destruction of love. These themes remain painfully relevant today.” - Dante Puleio
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Choreography & Direction by Akram Khan
Composer Aditya Prakash
Lighting Design by Zeynep Kepekli
Costume Design by Harriet Jung & Reid Bartelme
In 2026, the Limón Dance Company is celebrating its 80th anniversary and six years of leadership from Artistic Director Dante Puleio, who took the helm 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
Like Limón, Khan has a track record of creating generation-defining works of art by reimagining classic works through a contemporary lens. Khan’s Giselle, for example, has become a timeless, groundbreaking masterpiece. His deep examination and recontextualization of well-known works underscores the relevance of familiar stories, offering audiences a renewed sense of understanding of the human condition. This project provides the opportunity for Khan and Limón to be in conversation with one another across decades and generations. There is no living choreographer who shares such similarities to Limón as Khan. Bringing them together on one program threads together the foundational work Limón did in the mid-twentieth century to the visionary and forward-thinking direction Khan is taking contemporary dance today.
Limón's status as an immigrant who became known as the greatest male dancer of his time and one of the most prolific choreographers of the 20th century parallels the life and career of Akram Khan. Khan’s unique perspective, in-depth storytelling, and era-defining dance-making continue to expand what is possible in the dance field and further Puleio’s mission of ushering Limón’s legacy into the 21st century. Limón was the first ambassador of the arts in any medium; he toured the world several times, bringing his company and American modern dance to the far reaches of the world. This earned Limón many accolades and cemented his place in history. To continue to grow the Limón Dance Company's reach and innovation, the artists and new work we commission need to further Limón’s legacy and match his impact on the field. Khan continues to do that season after season.
Akram Khan (he/him) is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists of today. In 25 years, he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as Thikra: Night of Remembering, GIGENIS: the generation of the Earth, Jungle Book reimagined, Outwitting the Devil, XENOS, Until the Lions, Kaash, iTMOi (in the mind of igor), DESH, Vertical Road, Gnosis and zero degrees.
As an instinctive and natural collaborator, Khan has been a magnet to world-class artists from other cultures and disciplines. His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actress Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue, indie rock band Florence and the Machine, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost.
Khan’s work is recognised as being profoundly moving, in which his intelligently crafted storytelling is effortlessly intimate and epic. Described by the Financial Times as an artist “who speaks tremendously of tremendous things”, a highlight of his career was the creation of a section of the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that was received with unanimous acclaim. As a choreographer, Khan has developed a close collaboration with English National Ballet. He created the short piece Dust, part of the Lest We Forget programme, which led to an invitation to create his own critically acclaimed version of the iconic romantic ballet Giselle. Creature is Khan’s latest work for English National Ballet.
Khan has been the recipient of numerous awards throughout his career including two Laurence Olivier Awards, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Fred and Adele Astaire Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival, the South Bank Sky Arts Award, and ten Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards for his company, AKC. He was awarded an MBE for services to dance in 2005. In 2022, Khan was announced as the new Chancellor of De Montfort University, and he is also an Honorary Graduate of Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the University of London, as well as Roehampton and De Montfort Universities, and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London as well as Curve.
Aditya Prakash is an award-winning singer and composer whose music is based in Karnatik music and influenced by a modern, cross-cultural approach. He lives in Los Angeles and performs internationally, with concerts in over 15 countries, thus extending the influence of South Asian classical music through composition, collaboration, and interdisciplinary performances. He started giving professional performances at the age of sixteen, touring with the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar and playing at places such as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The experience he had at that time laid the foundation for a lifelong relationship with tradition as a living thing—one that is open to reinterpretation, dialogue, and transformation. His collaborative efforts have included a wide variety of artists and fields, such as Anoushka Shankar, Tigran Hamasyan, Karsh Kale, and the choreographer Akram Khan, and he has moved easily between concert stages, dance, and experimental performance.
He founded the Aditya Prakash Ensemble, a group that combines Karnatik music with jazz. The group's album Diaspora Kid (2020) was praised by both Songlines and KCRW and reached the Transglobal World Music Chart. The Ensemble was also included in NPR’s Tiny Desk as part of GlobalFest. Prakash’s recent work includes the solo performance-theatre piece ROOM-i-Nation, the album ISOLASHUN, and two original scores for choreographer Akram Khan. He also composed music
Zeynep Kepekli is a lighting designer who presents work globally across Dance, Theatre, Opera, and ballet, as well as site-specific projects and installations. Her work is heavily influenced by nature, architecture and bodies in spaces. She is particularly interested in natural light and its relationship with the landscape. Some of her credits include: Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy (Theatre Royal Stratford East); LANNY (Nancy Medina, Bristol Old Vic); A Life in Four Seasons (Regent's Park Open Air Theatre); An Ideal Husband (Lyric Hammersmith/ Bristol Old Vic); RBO/ Shift (Royal Ballet and Opera); Coven (Miranda Cromwell, Kiln Theatre); The Talented Mr Ripley (UK Tour); Thikra: Night of Remembering (Akram Khan - Montpellier Dance Festival, France), Good Luck (Amit Noy - Montpellier Dance Festival, France), Gigenis: The Generation of the Earth (Akram Khan- Grand Theatre de Provence, France), The Little Mermaid (Miranda Cromwell, Bristol Old Vic); Festival of New Choreography (The Royal Ballet - Royal Opera House); The Meaning of Zong (Tom Morris/Giles Terera – Bristol Old Vic); Common Grounds (Pina Bausch Foundation/Ecoles des Sables/Sadler’s Wells).
Harriet Jung and Reid Bartelme (Costume Designers) met in 2009 while pursuing fashion design degrees at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. They began designing collaboratively in 2011 and have focused their practice primarily on costuming dance. They frequently design costumes for works by Pam Tanowitz, Kyle Abraham, and Justin Peck. They have devised costume centric performances for commissions from the Museum of Art and Design and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and have designed costumes for Broadway shows ILLINOISE (2024) and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (2023). Reid and Harriet have completed research fellowships at NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. They continue designing costumes and sets for dance productions around the world while expanding the scope of their practice outside the theater.
José 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 of 20th-century dance. Limón created a total of 74 works, including The Moor’s Pavane, Concerto Grosso, and Missa Brevis.
Founded in 1946 by José Limón and Doris Humphrey, the Limón Dance Company (LDC) has been at the vanguard of American Modern dance since its inception and is considered one of the world’s greatest dance companies. Choreographer and dancer José Limón is credited with creating one of the world’s most important and enduring dance legacies— an art form responsible for the creation, growth, and support of modern dance in this country. Acclaimed for its dramatic expression, technical mastery and expansive, yet nuanced movement, the Limón Dance Company illustrates the timelessness of José Limón’s work and vision. The Company’s repertory, which includes classic works in addition to new commissions from contemporary choreographers, possesses an unparalleled breadth and creates unique experiences for audiences around the world. www.limon.nyc
FUNDER CREDITS
In addition to our co-commissioning partners, this work is supported in part by the Limón Innovation Fund Partners: Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Karl & Sonia Feitelberg Christopher Jones & Deb McAlister, Peter Lyons, Andrés Mata, and Karyn & Ivan Sacks. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA’s Organization Fund in 2025-26, and The O’Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation. It was also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and The Mellon Foundation.
