Carlos Orta, a longtime leading dancer and teacher with the José Limón Dance Company and a choreographer, died suddenly on May 15 outside the Limón studios on Broadway and Houston Street in Manhattan. Mr. Orta was 60 and lived in Manhattan.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Mr. Orta trained in dance at the Scola Cantorum in Paris and at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany, where he studied with Pina Bausch. He joined the Limón company in 1979, dancing Othello in Limón's ''Moor's Pavane'' and lead roles in much of the Limón repertory, and in works by Susanne Linke and Donald McKayle.
Mr. Orta's dances were performed by the Limón, the Netherlands Dance Theater and companies in Germany, Colombia and Venezuela. He also choreographed for the Ice Theater of New York. He founded and was the director of a troupe called Corearte Dance Company of Venezuela in Caracas. He taught at colleges including Long Island University and Manhattanville College.
His choreography won him awards in the mid-1970's at the International Academy of Dance in Cologne, and in 1985 he received the Prize of Dance from the Venezuelan government.
16.04.2008
