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José Limón's The Moor's Pavane: An Interview with Lucas Hoving

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Naomi Mindlin
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Extract

José Limón's The Moor's Pavane, subtitled “Variations on the theme of Othello,” premiered on August 17, 1949, at the American Dance Festival in New London, Connecticut. The original cast consisted of José Limón as The Moor, Lucas Hoving as His Friend, Pauline Koner as His Friend's Wife, and Betty Jones as The Moor's Wife. With costumes by Pauline Lawrence and music arranged by Simon Sadoff (conductor and pianist for the José Limón Dance Company) from Henry Purcell's Abdelazar, The Gordian Knot Untied, and The Pavanne and Chaconne for Strings, the work was quickly recognized as a major modern dance classic. Now more than forty years old, The Moor's Pavane continues in the repertory of the Limón Dance Company, as well as in that of many ballet companies throughout the world.

John Martin, reviewing the premiere in The New York Times, declared that Limón had “definitely made a place for himself among the best of them” with his latest work. And Louis Horst wrote in The New London, Conn., Evening Day, “With a quartet of dancers… José Limón has, within the strict limitations he has set himself, produced a gripping and absorbing composition.” Horst also praised the dancers, noting that ”[t]he performance by the quartet was on a very high level, especially the stunning portrayal of the Iago role by Lucas Hoving, which was one of unforgettable malevolent intensity”.

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , Spring 1992 , pp. 13 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1992

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References

ADDITIONAL SOURCES

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