Between light and darkness, silence and sound: The Limón Dance Company balances the scales of human emotion with impeccable precision
By Siphumelele Gumede
The Limón Dance Company (New York, USA) presented three pieces at the 2021 Digital JOMBA!, all a testament to the renown of the company. Delving into the depths of human emotion with poignant precision, two works are by its founding member, José Limón, along with a third piece by the emergent choreographer, Chafin Seymour. All three works speak to the present moment in how they reveal the commonality of our human experience and are true to Limón’s founding vision, which was to use contemporary dance as a way to reflect the beauty of humanity in all its forms.
Suite Donuts (2020) is contemporary dance fused with the playfulness of 90’s hip-hop. Seymour named it after the last album of “J Dilla” (James Dewitt Yancey) who was well-known in the 1990’s underground hip-hop scene. It is a mix of classical moves that playfully dissolve into refined and yet recognizable hip-hop moves. The dancers, in their hip-hop inspired dress of multi-coloured sweatpants and crop-tops, move from jeté’s and perfect formations to iconic 90’s hip-hop dance moves. Seymour reminds us of the endless possibilities in dance and movement.
Seymour’s piece is tied to Limón’s by the visual similarities. They are characterized by the stark blackness of the stage, along with recurring periods of silence where breathing and the movement of the dancers’ feet across the stage can be heard. These stark contrasts heighten the intensity of the choreography and keep the viewer absorbed.
In Limón’s The Moor’s Pavane (1949), a pair of couples explore the dominant themes of Shakespeare’s timeless Othello. Limón was apparently emphatic on this not being a re-enactment of Othello, but rather a passionate display of love, deceit, rage, and despair.
The Moor’s Pavane is marked by absolute commitment to the polarized emotions of the characters. The choreography moves us across the extremes of human emotion — from the scarlet-clad Othello’s passion and devotion in the beginning to his murderous rage and despair in the end. The drastic shifts in emotion are reflected in the fluctuating pace and tone of the choreography.
There is a Time (1966) also explores polarity but with less brutality and more refined gentleness. The different combinations of dancers on stage and the undulations of the music signal the Ecclesiastical changing of seasons: weeping into joy, striking down into raising up, sowing into reaping. The extensions and elongations in the piece are sometimes coupled with the dancers’ shadows, linking all the seasons as each develops and morphs into the next. The filmography also pushes boundaries as the camera eventually moves not just linearly across the stage but also from angles below the dancers, adding to the artistry of the choreography.
The minimalist aesthetic choices of the Limón Dance Company are the power behind their performances. The stage, in its deceptive simplicity changes ever so subtly, outlining the crispness of each limb as it cuts across the darkness. This brutal simplicity makes the narratives that much more spellbinding and the transitions from each page to the next are flawless in their unpredictability.
