MISSA BRAVOS
The Limón Dance Company celebrates its 78th season at the Joyce Theater with an epic program that reflects José Limón’s humanist aesthetic: Limón’s The Traitor, Scherzo, Missa Brevis; Doris Humphrey’s Two Ecstatic Themes; and the world premiere of Kayla Farrish‘s The Quake that Held Them All. I enjoyed every minute of it. Even if you’re not a fan of modern dance, this company offers a poetic narrative content and emotional expression that are at the heart of each movement, partly because Limón, a pioneer of modern dance, was born in Mexico in 1908 and remained fascinated by the country’s culture even if he grew up in the United States. As a result, there is a lot of authentic human emotion, especially in the first dance, The Traitor (1954) — set to Gunther Schuller‘s Symphony for Brass and Percussion — that at times reminded me of Giovanni Pastrone’s silent film Cabiria (1914) for its visceral gestures and dramatic content.
Limón Dance Company in The Traitor (photos by Kelly Puleio)
The program explains that The Traitor was Limón’s response to the McCarthy hearings that destroyed the lives of many artists, thinkers, and intellectuals during the ‘50s. A climate of betrayal haunted the arts, so many Judases and Christs must have surrounded the choreographer. The curtain goes up and we are introduced to a leader (Eric Parra), his followers (Natalie Clevenger, Joey Columbus, Kieran King, Deepa Liegel, Nicholas Ruscica, Savannah Spratt,) and a traitor (Johnson Guo). Barbara Erin Delo‘s costumes are perfect for a Gethsemane scene and intentionally don’t help us distinguish the characters; they all wear similar loose pants. As soon as they start dancing, we know who was who because Limón is a master narrator, and we observe the followers’ dynamics, their paranoia in the way they look at each other, running in and out of the group but keeping a sort of unity. The traitor is the last follower to enter stage and Guo is compelling in the role of the oddball; hunched and edgy, trying to enter the circle of followers that do not accept him. The group moves away from him to form other circles without him.
Limón Dance Company in The Traitor (photos by Kelly Puleio)
Parra is the ideal master, dominant and a bit vain, clearly enjoying the followers’ adoration. When he looks troubled, the followers always run to support him. The traitor confronts the leader, pleading at first, and Guo’s solo during the third movement shows the traitor’s torment, a “confused and twisted spirit” per Limón, going through “the awful dilemma of a man who loves so much that he must hate.” The last part suggests The Last Supper, and the use of a white sheet the followers hold as a table, a wrap, a toga, is brilliant. The finale, with the betrayal the arrest of the leader, and the consequent traitor’s suicide become truly dramatic. Kurt Douglas’s staging and direction, like the ensemble, is flawless.
Kieran King, Joey Columbus, Nicholas Ruscica, and Johnson Guo
in José Limón's Scherzo (photo by Christopher Jones)
Fortunately, the second dance was light, vibrant and playful. Scherzo (1955) is a major revival since it hasn’t been seen onstage in nearly 45 years. It takes the form of a ritual dance that mixes past African rhythms with present dance beats. Columbus, Ruscica, and Guo come on stage as three energetic, athletic, joyous friends clearly enjoying life. When King, the soloist and the drummer, arrives, he has a snare drum that he tosses in the air and plays before passing it to the other dancers who also throw the drum around and hit it in a visceral rhythmic session, a game of coordination, musicality, and athleticism.
Limón Dance Company in The Quake that Held Them All (photos by Jack Baran)
The New York premiere of The Quake that Held Them All, by Bessie award-winning choreographer Kayla Farrish, with music by Alex MacKinnon, costumes by Márion Talán de la Rosa, and lighting by Katie Whittemore, closed the first part of the show in style. She re-imagines lost Limón’s works created in 1951 in Mexico City, examining themes like unity and identity, framed by avant-garde jazz and Mexican Muralism. Dancers Mariah Gravelin, Olivia Mozie, Jessica Sgambelluri and Lauren Twomley joined the rest of the talented, tireless ensemble.
Mariah Gravelin in Two Ecstatic Themes (photos by John Herr)
Back from intermission, we were welcomed by an example of very early modern dance, Doris Humphrey’s solo Two Ecstatic Themes (1931), danced superbly by Mariah Gravelin. Humphrey was Limón’s teacher and her theories on the importance of body weight, falling and recovering balance, going along with or fighting gravity, were the basis of Limón’s famous technique. The essence of dance happened in between these extremes, which Humphrey labeled “the arc between two deaths.” The two music pieces, composed by Nicholas Medtner and Gian Francesco Malipiero, were performed on the piano by Michael Scales.
Jessica Sgambelluri, Joey Columbus, Mariah Gravelin, Deepa Liegel, Nicholas Ruscica
in Limón Dance Company's Missa Brevis (photo by Hisae Aihara)
Jessica Sgambelluri in Limón Dance Company's Missa Brevis (photo by Hisae Aihara)
The last piece was Limón’s masterwork Missa Brevis (1958). A choreographer who was an immigrant, who lived through two world wars and was drafted into the army in 1943, Limón knew a lot about suffering, adapting, fighting back, and recovery, and this piece is his hymn to all of that, a hopeful prayer for peace. Zoltan Kodály‘s Missa Brevis en Tempore Belli (Short Mass in Time of War), remastered for this show by Darron L West, was composed by the Hungarian musician during the siege of Budapest at the end of 1944, when Soviet and Romanian forces encircled the Hungarian capital for 50 days. It was used a decade later by Limón to include all disasters, all wars. This 2024 reconstruction celebrates the 65th Anniversary of Missa Brevis, and is completed by Alter and Kurt Douglas. In the piece, Limón’s ability to communicate psychological states through important gesture is transparent. Lauren Twomley is the soloist and the outsider, and dancers Adele Carlson, Casidy Chan, Mikey Comito, Nyah Malone, Nathan Podziewski, Jasmine Presti, Richard Sayama, Xinyi Zhang and Tyler Brunson join the ensemble as the community, standing proudly and huddling as one body, one unit, when needed, projecting the power of the masses. An excellent program from beginning to end. Don’t miss it.
Limón Dance Company's Missa Brevis (photo by Hisae Aihara)
Limón Dance Company's Missa Brevis (photo by Anthony Collins)
Limón Dance Company (LDC)
The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue
Nov. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 at 7:30; Nov. 9 and 10 at 2
see program here
ends on November 10, 2024
for tickets, visit Joyce