Limon Dance Co in free Bryant Park concert
Friday June 21 at 6PM
THE LIMÓN DANCE COMPANY TO PERFORM A FREE CONCERT AT BRYANT PARK
Friday June 21 at 6 PM
Bryant Park, 42nd Street & Avenue of the Americas
Free Admission
Reservations not necessary – for information call the Limon
Organization at 212.777.3353 ext. 16
Artistic Director: Carla Maxwell
Dancers: Kathryn Alter, Raphaël Boumaïla, Durell Comedy, Elise-Drew-Leon, Roxane D’Orleans Juste, Kristen Foote, Logan Kruger, Belinda McGuire, Dante Puleio, Francisco Ruvalcaba, Aaron Selissen, Daniel Fetecua Soto
Musicians: Kinga Augustyn, violin Vanessa Perez, piano
The Limón Dance Company, Carla Maxwell, Artistic Director, will perform a free all-Limón concert Friday June 21 at 6 PM at the Bryant Park Theater on 42nd Street & Avenue of the Americas.
The program will consist of three Limón classics: MAZURKAS, CHACONNE, and THE MOOR’S PAVANE.
MAZURKAS was described by Mary Clarke in The Dancing Times of London as “a lovely sequence of dances to Chopin music, pre-dating Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering by a decade and using the mazurka as a base for choreography…in Limón there is no classical base but a marvelous understanding of how to translate national and character dance to the stage.” Staged by former Limón principal dancer Sarah Stackhouse, Mazurkas was composed after the choreographer’s 1957 visit to Poland as a tribute to the heroic spirit of its people. The Chopin music will be performed live by Venezuelan pianist Vanessa Perez.
Longtime company principal Raphaël Boumaïla will perform Limón’s 1942 solo Chaconne,”set to J.S. Bach’s “Chaconne” from Partita #2 in D Minor for Unaccompanied Violin, performed live by Kinga Augustyn. The Chaconne as a dance form originated in the choreographer’s native Mexico as a robust and raucous dance. Bach employed the strict musical form of the Chaconne but enriched it with powerful emotional implications. In this classic solo, Limón captured both the formal austerity and the profound quality of the music.
The program will be completed by another renowned Limón work, The Moor’s Pavane, a quartet that is or has been in the repertories of American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Bayerisches Staatsballett, and other companies around the world. Created in 1949 and subtitled “Variations on the theme of Othello,” Limón created this masterpiece in the form of a pavane and other dances of the high Renaissance to tell the story of the Moor, his wrongfully suspected wife, his treacherous friend, and the friend’s wife. Francisco Ruvalcaba will appear as The Moor, Logan Kruger as his Wife, Kristen Foote as His Friend’s Wife, and Durell Comedy in his debut as The Moor’s Friend.
The Limón organization is pleased to continue its relationship with Bryant Park with this free June 21st performance and with its Saturday 10-11 AM free classes, running through September 7th. Formal technique is not required in these exhilarating classes taught by a member of the Limón Institute, with live music accompaniment. All ages and levels are welcome in these sessions that attract professional dancers, teens, children, tourists, and anyone who takes joy in movement.
