José Limón (1908-1972) was once one of many top figures of contemporary dance within the 20th century. Hailed by means of the New York Times as "the best male dancer of his time" while the José Limón Dance corporation debuted in 1947, Limón was once additionally a popular choreographer who received Dance Magazine Awards and a Capezio Dance Award, of dance's optimum honors. as well as directing his personal dance corporation, Limón served as creative director of the Lincoln Center's American Dance Theater and in addition taught choreography on the Juilliard university for plenty of years.

In this quantity, students and artists from fields as diversified as dance historical past, paintings background, Mesoamerican ethnohistory, Mexican American experiences, track stories, and Mexican historical past come jointly to discover one among José Limón's masterworks, the ballet La Malinche. delivering many issues of access into the dance, they study La Malinche from a number of angles, comparable to Limón's existence tale and the effect of his Mexican background on his paintings, an research of the dance itself, the musical rating composed by means of Norman Lloyd, the visible components of props and costumes, the historical past and fantasy of l. a. Malinche (the indigenous lady who served the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés as interpreter and mistress), l. a. Malinche's carrying on with presence in Mexican American tradition, and matters inquisitive about a contemporary restaging of the dance.

Also incorporated within the e-book is a DVD written and directed via Patricia Harrington Delaney that offers the ballet in its entirety, followed by way of professional observation that units La Malinche inside its creative and old context.