The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is opening a new exhibition tomorrow, October 27: The Mestizo as Ambassador: José Limón and the Transculturation of American Modern Dance. The installation celebrates Mexican American dancer and choreographer José Limón (d. 1972) and commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Limón Dance Company.
José Limón is considered one of the most prolific exponents of modern dance in the 20th century. While American modern dance was perceived in Limón’s lifetime as universal and individual with no debt to any particular culture, recent dance scholarship has revealed the depth of the contributions of artists from African, Asian, Indigenous, and Latinx communities to the foundations of modern dance. This exhibition explores how Limón’s choreography grappled with humanistic themes that extend beyond borders and identity through his own mestizo cultural lens, underlining the importance of the immigrant voice in the development of the ultimate “American” art form, modern dance.
The Mestizo as Ambassador will be on display through Saturday, March 5 in the Shelby Cullom Davis Museum at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (40 Lincoln Center Plaza). Learn more here.
Photo credit: José Limón in Hymn, 1934. Photo by H. Hewitt. Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
