Thursday, February 4, 2010
7:00 p.m.
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue
New York, NY
Map of location

There is a Time. Photo by David Levy.

Music of the Americas is proud to start a new collaboration with the renowned José Limón Dance Company. In these salons, members of the company will discuss aspects of its work and that of its founder.

On February 4, the company's Artistic Director Carla Maxwell will discuss the influence of Jose Limón in the world of contemporary dance and the company’s preservation and dissemination of his works and aesthetic ideas. The evening will include a performance of excerpts from Rooms and There is a Time.

Due to the overwhelming response, we are no longer able to accept reservations. Please feel free to join us on a stand-by basis. Americas Society members receive guaranteed admission to our culture programs and Members-only Meet-the-Artist receptions. To learn more about Americas Society membership, click here.

Special offer for Americas Society Members: Get more than 50 percent off tickets for the upcoming performances of the Limón Dance Company at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, February 9, and Wednesday, February 10 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. Location: Baryshnikov Arts Center, 450 West 37th street (between 9th and 10th Ave.) Program: Anna Sokolow - Rooms in collaboration with Manhattan School of Music; Jose Limón - There is a Time Please email membersres@americas-society.org or call 212-277-8359 ext 4 for more information. This offer is only available for the first 10 members who respond, so contact us now!

About the Americas Society February 4 program:

ROOMS
Choreography by Anna Sokolow

Rooms was premiered in 1955 at the ANTE Theater in New York City on the American Dance series. A piece for 8 dancers, Rooms is a stark commentary about urban alienation. The piece consists of 7 solo and group vignettes: “Alone”, “Dream,” “Escape,” “Going,” “Desire,” “Panic,” and “Daydream.” The piece begins with the dancers on a bare stage seated on chairs conjuring a modern dance version of Hitchcock’s Rear Window, we as audience peer voyeuristically into the private lives of these eight youths. Rooms ends as it begins with the dancers in their chairs, staring blankly at the audience. With Rooms Sokolow has the distinction of being the first choreographer to commission a serious jazz score for dance. The composer Kenyon Hopkins scored the work for jazz quintet: piano, bass, reeds, trumpet and drums.

THERE IS A TIME
Choreography by José Limón

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”

There is a Time was premiered in 1956 at New York City's Juilliard School. The entire work is, both choreographically and musically, a theme with variations. The choreographer used as his theme a large circle, which, at the opening of the work, fills the stage and moves majestically as if to evoke the interminable passage of time. This circle is seen repeatedly in many guises, rhythms, and dramatic shapes, always making allusion to the text from Chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes and its evocation of human experience. The commissioned score by Norman Dello Joio, “Meditations on Ecclesiastes,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

Dante Puleio, Dancer


About the company:

Founded in 1946, the Limón Dance Company is the living legacy of the movement technique and philosophy of theater developed by José Limón and his mentors, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, their innovative works have been recognized as great masterworks of American dance.

About José Limón:

José Limón, born in Culiacán, Mexico, in 1908, emigrated to the United States at the age of seven. When he was 20, he moved from Los Angeles to study painting in New York, where he discovered modern dance. After serving in the U.S. Army, Limón formed his own company and, over the next 25 years, established it as one of the major forces in twentieth century dance.

Americas Society Culture Program Reservations Americas Society Members - Reserve your FREE tickets today for guaranteed admission to our culture programs this season and Members-only Meet-the-Artist receptions! To reserve for this program, email membersres@americas-society.org or call 212.277.8359 ext. 4. Not yet a Member? Don’t be left out! Join today to guarantee your free admission to our culture programs. Learn more about member benefits, and email membersres@americas-society.org, or call 212.277.8359 ext. 4 to join. Non-Members admission - Registration is now open for this program. Please click the register link above to reserve your seat. *Americas Society culture programs are open to the public and free of charge.

The MetLife Foundation Music of the Americas concert series is presented with the generous support of MetLife Foundation. The Spring 2010 Music Program is also supported in part by The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York, the Consulate General of Brazil in New York, and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.


In-kind support is graciously provided by the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Quintet of the Americas, and the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. The Momenta Quartet's performance is made possible through the generous support of The Aaron Coplan Fund for New Music and Meet the Composer's Cary New Music Performance Fund.