I care about lester horton because his work has affected my dance studies and the way I move and condition my body. To me his work is important because it gave me as a dancer a way to strengthen and improve my body. He researched the way my insides work so I can understand myself better. Lester also made it acceptable to dance for yourself. He made it okay to do what you love weather someone is watching or not. He worked for himself in the studio to improve for himself and no one else. If it weren't for lester horton dance would still be more about pleasing the audience than pleasing yourself as an artist.

The public should care about lester because

Lester Horton was such an influence in dance. He created over eighty peices and twelve films. He created a technique that is prominent in dancers still today and has been for over thirty years. From Alvin Ailey: "He (Lester Horton) was a genius at the theatre, a major choreographer, and he designed a dance technique which is so unique and so insightful that it is continuing to train dancers and inspire teachers and choreographers today, thirty years after his death. The technique I learned from Lester has continued to affect and influence me and my work. It is an important part of the curriculum at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, and continues to be an inspiration for my choreography. He was an incredible man."

Lester hortons technique can be found in almost every technique created after his time. He developed new ways to go up, to go down, to use one leg, to use both legs, and to see how long a balance could be held in what seemed an impossible position. We see dance the way we do today because of lester Horton. We push even more limits because f lesters creative, organic and daring ways.

Lester horton was a down to earth man. He did not get carried away in fame, drama, or the arts scene. He liked to do his own thing, on his own coast. he believed in studying, research, and training in the studio. A lot of other choreographers before him had been all about feeling, emotions, prefoemance, making a statement, and showing off. I think lester may have been this way because of what was going on in the word around him. It was a time when people were starting to simplify and industrialize. Assembly lines were just being invented and factories and corporations were taking off. The first grocery stores were opening and people were starting to research and create new ways to simplify living. This is almost what Horton was doing for dance. He was researching and creating a way to train the body that was efficient.

The 1920's through the 1940's Lester Hortons life was devoted to developing his own dance technique. He based a lot of his movement around his studies of traditional native american movement and dances. Lester also studied the Aztecs, Haitians, and Africans. His work differed so much from other choreographers in this time period because of his study and focus on the human body. He studied anatomy and the way dancers use their bodies. He spent a lot of time on research and in the studio rather than on stage and preforming. Lester believed the classroom was the stage; there were no mirrors or barres. There was no traditional ballet in any case. For instance his technique is designed to improve dancers physical limitations. He formulated exercises to strengthen the body for performance in any style. His movement was kinetically sound and adaptable. There were pelvic movements in dance for the first time. Lester developed them from traditional African movements. He used the deepest second and fourth positions possible knowing that the body is the strongest and most solid there from his anatomy studies. His goal was to mobilize every joint. To achieve this there were swinging patterns, and sharp, clear, and exact rib articulations. For example a jazz warm up today could compare to a Horton exercise. Ana Marie Forsythe, the chair of the Ailey schools Horton department states. . ." Many jazz teachers incorporate some of Hortons Ideas in their warm-ups." The Flat backs, Lateral stretches, tilt lines, and lunges I have personally experienced in jazz warm ups I have been involved in.

Lester experimented with popular music of the time. He used musicians such as Duke Ellington, Stan Elington, and Les Baxter.

Lester Horton. . . Who is He?

The first time I heard the word Horton was during my first modern dance class. It was first introduced to me as a modern dance technique. Although Horton is in-fact a modern dance technique there is also an amazing man behind the technique. Lester Horton.

Lester Horton was born January 23rd, 1906 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is Best known for his dancing and choreography. Lester moved to LA, more specifically West Hollywood while in his 20's. From there is when His dancing took off. At the age of forty He opened Lester Horton Dance Theatre in 1946. It was one of the first permanent theaters devoted strictly to modern dance in the United States. The company closed in 1960. He danced from 1912 all the way up until his death. Lester began choreographing In the 1920's. He choreographed his very own dance technique throughout the next thirty years of his life. Lester Horton died young of a heart attack at age 47 in 1953. His death was unexpected and he unfortunately passed before getting the chance to completely document his ideas, or work or make any future plans. Lesters sudden death has a lot to do with why it is so hard to find information about this great man. He never wrote an autobiography or got the chance to document his life or the skills he acquired during it.