{"id":896,"date":"2012-06-30T18:18:47","date_gmt":"2012-06-30T22:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/?p=896"},"modified":"2012-06-30T18:21:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-30T22:21:00","slug":"looking-back-forging-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/2012\/06\/looking-back-forging-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back, Forging Ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Daniel Fetecua Soto (L) and Durell Comedy in Jos\u00e9 Lim\u00f3n’s The Emperor Jones<\/em>. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

A man in a fancy military jacket\u2014gold epaulettes and all\u2014sits slumped on an outsized throne. Six men creep in warily, circle him, bow mockingly, jump about, seem to confer. The man doesn\u2019t move. This is how Jos\u00e9 Lim\u00f3n\u2019s The Emperor Jones<\/em> begins. Lim\u00f3n choreographed the dance, based on Eugene O\u2019Neill\u2019s play of the same, in 1956, to a turbulent commissioned score by Heitor Villa-Lobos. The d\u00e9cor and costumes by Sharon Liu are new.<\/p>\n

In one sense, the piece is very much of its era. When the title character rises and pulls himself together, it is to perform a long solo that establishes his power-mad character and his crazed vision of himself as master of his domain (now limited to six rag-tag followers). You don\u2019t see this kind of weighty solo much anymore. Like other heroes played by Lim\u00f3n (and the heroines whose conflicting urges Martha Graham mapped out), the emperor is beset by memories and feelings. The real domain is the interior of his mind, and in it time becomes elastic.<\/p>\n

Lim\u00f3n choreographed the dance in bold, weighty strokes to evoke incidents in Jones\u2019s past: a chain gang, a murder, an auction block, a flame-lit African ritual (lighting by Carol Mullins, executed by Joshua Rose). These scenes emerge like pictures coalescing in the central figure\u2019s memory and as quickly dissolve. The nimble men become whatever the Emperor needs them to be. (For the record, they are: Rapha\u00ebl Bouma\u00efla, James Brenneman III, Gregory Livingston, Dante Puleo, Francisco Ruvalcaba, and Aaron Livingston\u2014all terrific in their many roles.)<\/p>\n

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Jones relives his days on a chain gang. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

The self-proclaimed ruler of a small island also has a nemesis, called in this production \u201cThe Trader.\u201d\u00a0 In the original production, Lim\u00f3n played the Emperor Jones and Lucas Hoving the character originally billed as The White Man. In this reconstruction directed by Clay Taliaferro (who was once a formidable Emperor Jones himself), Daniel Fetecua Soto takes on Lim\u00f3n\u2019s role and Durell Comedy assumes Hoving\u2019s. Fetecua Soto is not as large a man as Lim\u00f3n was, but he extends himself both physically and emotionally to convey the shifting moods of glee, suspicion, fear, and rage. Comedy, like Hoving, is tall and slim\u2014well suited to the eely, loose-jointed duplicity built into the choreography. With a little more sanity and a little more elegance, we could be watching Iago dupe Othello (roles Lim\u00f3n and Hoving played in the 1949 masterpiece, The Moor\u2019s Pavane<\/em>).<\/p>\n

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The Emperor Jones, Daniel Fetecua Soto (red pants) amid his memories. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

In 1956, the production reproduced the racial scenario of O\u2019Neill\u2019s play. Hoving was fair and blond; Lim\u00f3n and, at least in one production I recall, the six men used fairly dark makeup. (For a glimpse of the original cast: www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6AaR352rOIg<\/a>.<\/cite>)<\/cite>\u00a0 Fetecua Solo is Hispanic (as was Lim\u00f3n), and Durrell is African American. The casting has removed the element of colonial exploitation, but in return evokes the dictatorships in African and Caribbean countries, some of which postdate O\u2019Neill\u2019s tale, thus giving the dance a new relevance. Think Idi Amin, Charles Taylor, Papa Doc Duvalier, and their ilk, along with their sycophantic advisors.<\/p>\n

Carla Maxwell, who became the Lim\u00f3n Dance Company\u2019s artistic director in 1978, has done a remarkable of job of keeping it flourishing. This involves choosing carefully which works by Lim\u00f3n and his mentor, Doris Humphrey, to present and directing them with care; making difficult decisions about casting; and commissioning new works that will bring the company into the present yet work well when juxtaposed to its repertory.<\/p>\n

The Joyce Theater programs (June 19 through 24) that opened with The<\/em> Emperor Jones<\/em> celebrated the company\u2019s 65th<\/sup> anniversary. Roxane D\u2019Orleans Juste\u00a0 (now assistant artistic director) performed Lim\u00f3n\u2019s solo Chaconne<\/em> to the chaconne from Bach\u2019s Partita in D minor, played by violinist Kinga Augustyn.\u00a0 Gender isn\u2019t an issue in this case, although D\u2019Orleans Juste gives an understated performance, emphasizing subtleties of timing and gesture.<\/p>\n

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Belinda McGuire and Rapha\u00ebl Bouma\u00efla (foreground), Francisco Ruvalcaba and Elise Leon-Drew in Jir\u00ed Kyli\u00e1n’s La Cath\u00e9drale Engloutie<\/em>. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

Jir\u00ed Kyli\u00e1n choreographed\u00a0 La Cath\u00e9drale Engloutie <\/em>in 1975 for Nederlands Dans Theater. I\u2019ve often thought that a few early Kyli\u00e1n works were influenced by Lim\u00f3n; certainly the dance fits into the company\u2019s style while adding some sexier images. Set to the haunting piece of the same name by Claude Debussy (played beautifully at the Joyce by pianist Anna Shelest, despite the taped sound of breaking waves that keeps interrupting the music), the dance seems to be about loss and repentance.<\/p>\n

The composer was inspired by the tale of a cathedral that sank into the sea because of the dissoluteness of the community that supported it. The women in their plain dresses and the men in shirts and trousers reflect the tides that conceal (and once a year reveal) the church. The initial image shows two women sitting on their heels, facing offstage, with two men who several times gently pull the women\u2019s heads back to urge them to move farther away from what they\u2019re gazing at. Kyli\u00e1n\u2019s movement is earthy; the six dancers bend and arch their bodies as if swallowing regret or remembering abandon. The dancers roll like waves into relationships, tossed by memories.<\/p>\n

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(L to R) Kathryn Alter, Francisco Ruvalcaba, Kristen Foote, and Aaron Selissen in Rodrigo Pederneiras’s Come With Me<\/em>. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

The world premiere is Come With Me<\/em>, choreographed by Rodrigo Pederneiras, a choreographer associated with Brazil\u2019s Grupo Corpo, and set to a commissioned score by Paquito D\u2019Rivera. The music with its use of Brazilian and African rhythms is the sort to set feet dancing, and when the piece starts, you realize that the other works on the program\u2014with the possible exception of Chaconne<\/em>\u2014focus on big movement of the whole body; the dancer\u2019s feet just carry them along. The mood of Come With Me<\/em> is festive, and the performers treat it like the well-ordered carnival that it is. Maria Luiza Magalh\u00e0es\u2019s flowered pants for the men and flouncy skirts for the women are imaginative and tasteful within their gaudiness.<\/p>\n

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Kristen Foote jumps for joy. Durell Comedy turns his\u00a0 back. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

Is the piece a major work of art? No (and at some point it begins to feel long). But it shows the vividly expressive dancers in ways that the rest of the program doesn\u2019t and is perfectly in keeping with a company repertory that has included Humphrey\u2019s Ritmo Jondo<\/em> and Lament for Ignacio S\u00e1nchez Mej\u00edas. <\/em>The dancers kick up their heels, swing their hips, show off for one another, and exult in the good time they\u2019re having. Now and then Pederneiras calls your attention to this one or that one as they join and separate. Kristen Foote looks lusciously alive in a short solo, Other moments highlight Comedy\u2019s loose-limbed deftness and Logan Frances Kruger\u2019s lustiness. Kathryn Alter and Fetecua Soto shine in a duet. The celebration never stops; the little vignettes just bubble up and then rush away or flow into other activities. Also adding to the festivities: Aaron Selissen, Elise Leon-Drew, Bouma\u00efla, Puleo, and Ruvalcaba.<\/p>\n

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Logan Frances Kruger lights up the festivities. Photo: Yi-Chun Wu<\/p><\/div>\n

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A man in a fancy military jacket\u2014gold epaulettes and all\u2014sits slumped on an outsized throne. Six men creep in warily, circle him, bow mockingly, jump about, seem to confer. The man doesn\u2019t move. This is how Jos\u00e9 Lim\u00f3n\u2019s The Emperor Jones begins. Lim\u00f3n choreographed the dance, based on Eugene O\u2019Neill\u2019s play of the same, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[275],"tags":[362,184,359,363,361,360],"class_list":{"0":"post-896","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-classic-modern-dance","8":"tag-carla-maxwell","9":"tag-jiri-kylian","10":"tag-jose-limon","11":"tag-lucas-hoving","12":"tag-rodrigo-pederneiras","13":"tag-the-emperor-jones","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/dancebeat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}