José Limón

About

Remembered best for The Moor's Pavane, a 1949 dance piece based on Othello, this Mexican-born choreographer and dancer is also notable for his "Limon technique" of modern dance training. Over the course of his career, he taught at the Juilliard School and headed the Lincoln Center's American Dance Theatre.

Before Fame

After studying visual art at both the University of California-Los Angeles and the New York School of Design, he trained as a dancer. He made his Broadway debut in the early 1930s; a decade later, he established his famous Limon Dance Company.

Trivia

During the World War II years, he choreographed a piece titled Concerto Grosso for the United States Army Special Services.

Family Life

One of eleven siblings, he spent his earliest years in Culiacan, Mexico, and the bulk of his childhood in Los Angeles, California. Sadly, he and his wife both died of cancer in the early 1970s.

Associated With

He was a dancer in a Charles Weidman-choreographed Broadway production of the Irving Berlin musical As Thousands Cheer.