Limón Dance Company

Like the arch-betrayer Judas Iscariot, the protagonist in the dance drama,The Traitor (1954), symbolizes all those tormented men who, loving too much, must hate; these men who to our own day must turn against their loyalties, friends and fatherlands, and in some fearful cataclysm of the spirit, betray them to the enemy. Against a musical score of dissonant violence, passion and tenderness, the tragedy of Judas is portrayed as if it were taking place in our time.

Into My Heart’s House by Clay Taliaferro, former principal dancer and assistant artistic director with the Limón Dance Company, was commissioned to celebrate Limón’s 100th birthday, and was inspired by Limón’s love for the music of J.S. Bach. Taliaferro has had extensive involvement with American dance, earning an international reputation as an award-winning performer, teacher, and choreographer.

In 1958, Mexican-born choreographer José Limón created his masterpieceMissa Brevis, in response to war and the indomitable spirit of humanity. Limón and his fledgling company had just toured Poland, where against a background of war-ravaged cities they discovered people whose optimism and willingness to rebuild were profoundly inspiring. In honor of the people’s “heroic serenity,” as Limón wrote, he created Missa Brevis, a communal hymn against war and in celebration of the human spirit.

Set to Zoltan Kodaly’s magnificent Missa Brevis in Tempore Belli (for organ and choir), blends Limón’s expressive modern-dance idiom with folk-dance patterns and Christian iconography rendered through gesture. In this dance mass of affirmation and rebirth, communities cluster and circle in fear and hope, while single dancers burst forth in solos of anguish, passion and spiritual uplift.

Witness not only a part of dance’s artistic heritage created anew, but a timeless work of perseverance and faith. For this performance, students from the University of Minnesota’s Dance Department will join the 12-member Limón Dance Company. The Oratorio Society of Minnesota will perform Kodaly’s score.

The Oratorio Society of Minnesota is a 60-voice choral ensemble based in the Twin Cities. Since its inception in 1980, the Oratorio Society of Minnesota has been delighting audiences with performances of the great works of choral literature Society members are of all ages and from all walks of lifeand all have considerable choral singing experience. The 2008-09 season is the first under new Artistic Director, Matthew Mehaffey, and will feature music from five centuries of choral literature. For more information please visit http://oratorio.org.

Critic's Comments

“[‘Missa Brevis’] is a song of a strong and simple people, a song of thanksgiving for deliverance from the unspeakable horrors of war. Its dances express a deep awareness of the wonder of life, and the transcendent joy at its resumption…. Here the movement seems to spring directly from the heart.” -Dance Magazine

Performances at Northrop

1976, 2009

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Funding provided in part by a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders.