Roxane D'Orleans Juste This year The Limón Dance Company celebrated their 68th season (The Joyce Theater – April 29 – May 4), and this mix of old and new works was good. In Limón’s Mazurkas (1958) a period piece performed to live music, couples crisscross the stage with signature Limón vocabulary, metered runs and stomps, heel kicks just off the floor, plus technically difficult movement that might end with a slap of leg, or a soft lift of the chest that hang in the air. Most memorable is Elise Drew Leon’s performance of Opus 30, No. 2. There is always drama in a Limón work, and Psalm (1967) is no different. Replete with unison sequences and repeating canons, this work builds before the curtains rise with choral hymns. When the dancers do appear we see a mass of bodies moving to sung prayers and hallelujah versus. Dante Puleio was exquisite as “The Just Man.” One of the new works, She Who Carries The Sky by Dianne McIntyre and performed by Roxane D’Orleans Juste was a match made in heaven. Juste captures McIntyre’s elegance and intricate movement, but presents it with her own pleasant bravura. Her Shaman-like investigation of space is both inviting and curious. The other new work, Nocturne For Ancestors by Sean Curran is a walk down memory lane, and moment to highlight each dancer. In this nod to dance icons such as Ruth St. Denis, and of course Limón, Curran craftily move groups through complicated gestures and sequences with hints of folk dance (Tango, Hora, Salsa, Bharatanatyam) all the while having fun. The very cool costumes were by Amanda Shafran. Kudos and plaudits to the company: Katheryn Alter, Raphael Boumaila, Durell R. Comedy, D’Orleans Juste, Drew Leon, Daniel Fetecua Soto, Kristen Foote, Ross Katen, Logan Frances Kruger, Brenna Monroe-Dook, Puleio, Francisco Rubalcaba, and Aaron Selissen. The season was dedicated to the life of beloved Limón alumni, choreographer, teacher, mentor, musician, and composer, Alan Danielson.
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