The Limón Dance Company (LDC) continues its celebration of the company’s 80-year history with a captivating program that honors eight decades of revolutionary modern dance by its founder, José Limón, and amplifies the voices of today. The program runs at The Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Avenue, NYC, from October 6-11, 2026 and features a Curtain Chat on October 7. Performances: Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 2pm & 7:30p, and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets start at $17, including fees, and are available at https://www.joyce.org/performances/limon-dance-company-ns9f/.

The Limón Dance Company’s 80th anniversary celebration bridges legacy and innovation through landmark new work commissions and powerful cultural partnerships over 18 months, solidifying the Company as one of the most vital voices within the landscape of American and global dance. The company also honors six years of leadership from Artistic Director Dante Puleio, who took the helm of Limón Dance Company in 2020 just as the dance world went into lockdown. Puleio’s artistic vision pairs new commissions by brilliant contemporary choreographers with radical revivals of legacy works by José Limón and his mentor Doris Humphrey. Six years later, we have celebrated 6 world premieres, 10 acclaimed reconstructions of iconic dances, 2 historic museum installations celebrating Limón’s contemporary impact, and our first Bessie Award in twenty years. The success of his approach has emphasized Limón’s importance in today’s world, showcasing how legacy work can speak across generations when it is contextualized for today’s audiences.

The program will include both José Limón’s 1958 work Mazurkas and LDC’s 2025 commission, Aszure Barton’s Join. Mazurkas, born from Limón’s journey to Poland after World War II, was inspired by the resilient spirit of the Polish people. Limón crafted a work of exuberant movement and rich musicality as a tribute to his dancers and the indomitable vitality he witnessed abroad. The original cast members were all part of the grueling and euphoric 1957 European tour, which inspired both Missa Brevis and Mazurkas. But it was the purpose behind the creation of Mazurkas that sets this work apart, it was Jose’s ways of personally thanking each dancer with a solo or duet especially tailored to that artists’ particular qualities. Even today sections of the work are still referred to by the names of the original cast members, providing a direct line to the dance icons that each section was created to honor. The work is aptly set to ten mazurkas by Frédéric Chopin, widely considered one of the greatest Polish composers of his time. This historical reconstruction comes to life with live piano accompaniment, and will be performed in its entirety for the first time since 1964.

The program will close with the 2025 commission of Aszure Barton’s Join, created in collaboration with Grammy-nominated composer Ambrose Akinmusire. Together they have taken José Limón’s vivid, poetic description of a lost Doris Humphrey work and created a new world of spellbinding movement and transcendent storytelling. Doris Humphrey choreographed an enormous body of work, some of which are still regularly performed, some sit on shelves waiting to be rediscovered, and some are lost entirely. In Limón’s An Unfinished Memoir, he recalls his mentor’s process and staging of Orestes with adoration and respect, claiming it “as one of her greatest works”. Unfortunately the work’s magnitude, with an orchestral score by Darius Milhaud, made it impossible to produce, so it never premiered.

Barton was so moved by Limón’s writing, she took his words as inspiration for a new piece rather than attempting to recreate a lost Humphrey work. This springboard of inspiration connects the performing artists steeped in the Humphrey/Limón tradition to the forefront of contemporary dance making; bridging generations of artists who make up a tapestry of artistic exploration built over a century. Aptly titled Join, Barton’s work centers on relationships in a group dynamic and the complex interconnectivity that joins them.