Lester Horton's Dance Techniques

Modern Dance is defined as being a dance style that focuses on a dancer's interpretation as opposed to the structured steps of Ballet. It was developed in the early twentieth century, primarily in Germany and the United States. The dance style was a rebellion against the rigid formalism of Ballet. The pioneers of the dance style were Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, and Ruth St. Denis in the United States, Rudolf von Laban and Mary Wigman. Modern dance is known for its nature-like and free flowing movement. Many great dancers further established the dance style by creating their own technique. Lester Horton was one of those dancers

Lester Horton was born on January 23rd, 1906 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is credited with starting the modern dance

Lester Horton created his first solo concert in 1931, it was entitled Kootenai War Dance. In 1932, Horton began developing his training methods and was invited to participate in a Dance Festival in Los Angeles. Horton also began teaching at Norma Gould’s studio that same year. There he furthered established his technique. Horton was quickly becoming an artist to look out for. After establishing his company 1934, many doors opened for Horton as he began to further establish as an artist. Horton was invited to teach at colleges, choreograph movies and became increasingly recognized for his work in the years 1934-1948. Sadly Horton passed away in 1953. His work was acknowledged world wide.

Lester Horton dance technique relies heavily on Native American dances and anatomical structures. Being a specific type of modern dance, it relies heavily on ballet, which is where modern dance finds its roots. Horton’s technique finds great importance in lines of the body and parallelism. Like all techniques, the technique has signature moves that best define it like the Egyptian Walk. Horton’s technique can be best described as a mixture between ballet, Native American influences and lines of the