Miami City Ballet to Perform ‘The Moor’s Pavane’ Friday in West Palm Beach

The Miami City Ballet will present a rare performance of “The Moor’s Pavane” Friday in West Palm Beach – specifically, at the Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway.

MCB’s performance honoring famed Mexican dance company founder Jose Limón’s coincides with the museum’s “Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection” exhibit on view through February of 2022. 

Miami City Ballet has only performed this work once before, 33 years ago.

“The Moor’s Pavane, based on Shakespeare’s Othello, is considered one of Jose Limón’s choreographic masterpieces,” said Amber Dorsky, director of public communications and marketing at Miami City Ballet.

Katia Carranza and Renan Cerdeiro rehearse The Moor’s Pavane. © Alexander Iziliaev

“Limón was a Mexican immigrant credited with creating one of the world’s most important and enduring dance legacies— an art form responsible for the creation, growth and support of modern dance in this country.”

The Norton is celebrating 75 years of the Limon Dance Company. MCB had originally planned to perform this work at both its Miami Beach studio headquarters and the Norton Museum to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Because of COVID and limited capacity issues (the school and rehearsals are both in session), it was decided to postpone the performance at the Miami venue. 

Hannah Fischer and Rainer Krenstetter rehearse The Moor’s Pavane. © Alexander Iziliaev

Performers from the Miami City Ballet will perform the work at 7 p.m. in the museum’s Stiller Auditorium. It will be followed by 20-25 minutes of conversation with Jose Limon Artistic Director Dante Puleio and Daniel Lewis, president of Miami Dance Futures, interspersed with cuts from the 1949 dance film. A question-and-answer session follows.

Katia Carranza rehearses The Moor’s Pavane. © Alexander Iziliaev

Katia Carranza, MCB’s principal dancer who is from Mexico, is performing in this work.

The program is free with admission to the museum, and museum members are admitted free. RSVP is required at https://www.norton.org/events/art-after-dark-miami-city-ballet-10-29-2021-2

Born in 1908 in Culiacán, Mexico, his family fled during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. At age 7, he moved to Los Angeles, Calif. However, it wasn’t until age 20, when he moved to New York City, that he became interested in dance. 

He studied with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman and soon began his professional career in their company, where he became known for his dynamic, masculine dancing.

In 1946, Limón formed his own company and appointing Doris Humphrey artistic director. His potent choreography, often steeped in drama, relayed the human experience drawn from Hispanic history, culture, literature and religion. For 25 years, he established himself and his company as one of the major forces of 20th century dance.

Limón is most known for his iconic masterpiece, The Moor’s Pavane which premiered at the Connecticut festival in New London in 1949. Based on Shakespeare’s “Othello,” The Moor’s Pavane is a picture of the corrosive force of jealousy and the destruction of good by evil.