The Horton Technique: Strengthening and Increasing the Expressive Range of Every Body Type
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“The Horton Technique”
By Diana Dinerman
Directions: Please read the attached article about Horton Technique and answer the following questions using complete sentences, proper grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
Modern Dance innovator Lester Horton (1906-1953) pioneered dance in Los Angeles from 1928-1953. Today, Horton’s technique is taught in varying versions at numerous institutions in the United States and Overseas. By the 1950s, the Horton technique had evolved through several phases into a massive body of movement vocabulary that included exercises for every part of the body, even the eyes and tongue. Horton was at the height of his creativity in the early 50s when he re-codified his dance technique (after 15 years of collaboration with Bella Lewitzky). He used the students and their diverse physiologies, rather than his own, to develop a technique that works to broaden a dancer’s range of movement and expression, not define or limit it. “The technique strengthens and increases the expressive range of every body, not just classically proportioned ones,” said Milton Myers, Director of the Modern Program at Jacob’s Pillow. Lester Horton’s aim was to endow dancers with strength, extension, lyricism, fluidity and, most importantly, versatility.
The Horton technique can be separated into six movement categories. For each category Horton developed detailed exercises, that he called “studies.” Projections are studies that deal with varied and specific qualities of movement, for example, ‘Leg Slices’ and ‘Hip Pushes’. Locomotions are traveling steps (walking, running, leaping, jumping, gliding, skipping, etc.), for example, ‘Accented Runs’ and ‘Arch Springs.’ Preludes are short phrases of movement designed to quickly stimulate and tone the psycho-physical instrument. Rhythms are music dance patterns, rhythms of work and play, plus emotional
“The Horton Technique”
By Diana Dinerman
Directions: Please read the attached article about Horton Technique and answer the following questions using complete sentences, proper grammar, punctuation, and capitalization.
Modern Dance innovator Lester Horton (1906-1953) pioneered dance in Los Angeles from 1928-1953. Today, Horton’s technique is taught in varying versions at numerous institutions in the United States and Overseas. By the 1950s, the Horton technique had evolved through several phases into a massive body of movement vocabulary that included exercises for every part of the body, even the eyes and tongue. Horton was at the height of his creativity in the early 50s when he re-codified his dance technique (after 15 years of collaboration with Bella Lewitzky). He used the students and their diverse physiologies, rather than his own, to develop a technique that works to broaden a dancer’s range of movement and expression, not define or limit it. “The technique strengthens and increases the expressive range of every body, not just classically proportioned ones,” said Milton Myers, Director of the Modern Program at Jacob’s Pillow. Lester Horton’s aim was to endow dancers with strength, extension, lyricism, fluidity and, most importantly, versatility.
The Horton technique can be separated into six movement categories. For each category Horton developed detailed exercises, that he called “studies.” Projections are studies that deal with varied and specific qualities of movement, for example, ‘Leg Slices’ and ‘Hip Pushes’. Locomotions are traveling steps (walking, running, leaping, jumping, gliding, skipping, etc.), for example, ‘Accented Runs’ and ‘Arch Springs.’ Preludes are short phrases of movement designed to quickly stimulate and tone the psycho-physical instrument. Rhythms are music dance patterns, rhythms of work and play, plus emotional