Workshops on Jose Limon Dance Technique

Ann Vachon, Director of the Limón Institute, was a member of the dance faculty at Temple University for 28 years. A graduate of the Juilliard School, her teachers included Doris Humphrey, Louis Horst, Martha Graham and José Limón. She performed with the Limón Dance Company from 1958 until 1975, with time off for raising a family. In 1981 she founded Dance Conduit, a Philadelphia-based company for which she choreographed, commissioned guest choreographers, and directed historic reconstructions, including Limón’s “Mazurkas” and Doris Humphrey’s “Dawn in New York.” In 1993 the company was disbanded, and Dance Conduit began a series of special projects, including a reconstruction of Limón’s “Symphony for Strings.”  More recent projects included a multi-media production of “Pierrot Lunaire” involving six choreographers, video, and live music, and a Philadelphia production of “From the Horse’s Mouth.” She has presented numerous papers on Limón at international conferences, and contributed to The International Dictionary of Modern Dance, José Limón; the Artist Re-Viewed, and the International Encyclopedia of Dance. She is the producer of the award winning documentary film, Limón; A Life Beyond Words, directed by her son, Malachi Roth. It was first broadcast on public television in 2004, and is now available on DVD.
 
Janet Pilla, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater from Syracuse University and her Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Temple University. She toured nationally and internationally as a soloist of Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit (a company dedicated to the preservation of the Jose Limon Style) for 12 years. She was featured in performances in Czechoslovakia as a soloist and in England, Scotland and Taiwan as a company member of Terry Beck Troupe and Ed Groff/Jin Wen Yu Dancers. She has performed with many Philadelphia choreographers and companies, including The Arden Theater, Group Motion, Danceteller, SCRAP Performance Group, Trapezius Aerial Dance and Kun-Yang Lin. Janet has performed numerous reconstructions of the choreography of Jose Limon, Doris Humphrey, Anna Sokolow, Pauline Koner and others.  In addition to teaching Limon repertory at colleges, universities and professional companies on the east and west coast, Ms. Pilla has has been an adjunct faculty member at Temple University, Drexel University and Bryn Mawr College and is currently on the adjunct faculty at Arcadia University. Ms. Pilla currently dances with Jeanne Ruddy Dance, Melanie Stewart Dance Theater and Dancefusion.  She is the recipient of a 2008 Dance Advance grant for the research, reconstruction and performance of a 1963 Pauline Koner solo.