Horton Technique: The X Factor

Horton Technique is one of the main modern techniques taught and utilized in choreography today. Lester Horton created this technique and taught it at his company in Los Angeles. It is based on his early interest in Native American dance as well as his time working with Michio Ito, a Japanese Dancer. The most well […]

A Scholarly Journal

Lester Horton: Modern Dance Pioneer was written by Larry Warren and reviewed by Anne Hatfield in her scholarly journal: Dance Research Journal. The article analyzes the biography of Horton’s life, emphasizing the achievements in his career. The article argues that Horton should be recognized as one of the three modern dance pioneers along with Martha […]

Horton in Review: “Liberian Suite”

In 1952, Lester Horton choreographed “Liberian Suite” to music by Duke Ellington. In 1975, Alvin Ailey restaged the piece with the help of James Truitte for the Alvin Ailey City Dance Theater. Since the exact choreography could not be remembered, the piece was said to be “Choreographed by James Truitte, restaged and freely adapted from […]

Personal Thoughts

I have been training in modern dance technique for at least 10 years now. One of the modern techniques that my modern teachers have always taught is Horton Technique. While I’ve known the name “Horton” for much of my life as a dancer, I had not thought to study him as a person until taking […]

Horton in History

When Lester Horton founded his dance company in the 1930’s he was making history in two important ways. The first is that he was introducing the first modern dance company to the West Coast. Up until this time, modern dance was mostly pioneered on the East Coast in New York City. By creating his dance […]

Horton’s Background

Lester Horton was born in 1906 in Indianapolis, Indiana. After seeing Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis’s tour in Indianapolis in 1922, Horton was inspired to start studying ballet. He later toured with Forrest Thornburg, who was a former Denishawn dancer, and therefore learned many Denishawn works and was able to study modern. After returning […]