Lester Iradell Horton (January 23, 1906 – November 2, 1953) was an American

dancer Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

, and teacher.

Early years and education

Lester Iradell Horton was born in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

on January 23, 1906. His interest in dance was mainly stimulated by his fascination with American Indian culture after watching tribal dances in a

Wild West show Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of co ...

. He studied the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

and Red River Indians, and

Penobscot The Penobscot (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic p ...

and

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

tribes. He studied ballet for two years with a local teacher in Indianapolis, Theo Hewes. At that time he also took classes at the Herron Art Institute and worked with the Indianapolis Little Theater. Seeing a performance of the Denishawn company had a great impact on him.

Career

Horton arrived in California in 1927 to perform ''The Song of Hiawatha'', a dance-pageant by Clara Bates based on Longfellow's poem, at the Argus Bowl, a natural amphitheater in

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

. He took a job with the sculptor Kathleen Stubergh, with whom he remained close for his lifetime. They produced

wax figures A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. Often these are effigies, usually of a notable individual, but there are also death masks and scenes with many figures, mostly in relief. The properties of beeswax make it an excel ...

and Horton painted faces on the window mannequins.Warren, Larry. Dance Perspectives 31 Autumn, 1967. He chose to work in California instead of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, which was considered the center of modern dance at the time. In 1931, Horton created his first solo concert choreography, ''Kootenai War Dance''. That same year he was invited to perform this dance along with a new choreography ''Voodoo Ceremonial'' at the Los Angeles Olympics. His success garnered an invitation to perform at the Paramount Theatre on the same bill as Judy Garland and the Garland sisters for a two-week run. In 1932, Lester Horton formed his own dance company called the Lester Horton Dancers. That company evolved into what was briefly known as the Lester Horton California Ballets (1934) and then the Horton Dance Group (1934). The Horton Dance Group, billed in its film appearances as the Lester Horton Dancers, lasted until early 1944. Later, Horton attempted to develop a company on the East Coast for dancer Sonia Shaw, but Shaw's husband stopped underwriting the venture and the company collapsed before it could give any public performances. In 1946, after a brief hiatus, Horton formed the Dance Theater of Los Angeles with his longtime leading dancer,

Bella Lewitzky Bella Rebecca Lewitzky (January 13, 1916 – July 16, 2004) was an American modern dance choreographer, dancer and teacher. Lewitzky was a lifelong advocate for artistic freedom in dance, and continuously pursued political and artistic objec ...

. He purchased a location in West Hollywood for rehearsals, performances, and teaching. It was a school, a theater, and the first space in Los Angeles dedicated to modern dance. The partnership with Lewitzky ended when she left in 1950, but Horton's final company continued until 1960 under the direction of Frank Eng. In order to finance his school and various dance companies, Horton choreographed a number of Hollywood musicals, beginning with ''Moonlight in Havana'' (1942). Many of the films, like the

Maria Montez María África Gracia Vidal (6 June 1912 – 7 September 1951), known professionally as Maria Móntez, was a Dominican actress who gained fame and popularity in the 1940s starring in a series of filmed-in-Technicolor costume adventure fil ...

vehicle '' White Savage'' (1943), were Universal productions, which could not rival the budgetary extravagance of MGM or Fox, though many were in Technicolor; the most notable was Arthur Lubin's '' Phantom of the Opera'' (1943). Horton's dancers also frequently worked at clubs, including the Folies Bergère in New York and Earl Carroll Theatre and Restaurant in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Horton's best-known works, which he called "choreodramas," are ''Salome'' (which occupied Horton for nearly two decades) and ''The Beloved''. Dance Theater made only one appearance in New York, during the last year of Horton's life. The troupe was scheduled to perform at the reputation-making theater of the Young Men's and young Women's Hebrew Association on East Ninety-second street in New York City. Upon arriving the troupe discovered the venue did not provide publicity and so the performance was largely unknown and not well attended. Only about 300 people showed for the Saturday night performance and only about 200 tickets were sold for the Sunday matinee. This netted the company a total of 100 dollars. All but one of the reviews were good.Alvin Ailey: A Life In Dance, Jennifer Dunning,(1996): 64. One magazine praised the "superb dancers" but complained that "one technical and effective stunt follows another with hardly ever any sustained choreographic continuity." There was not enough money to return home from New York and Horton had doubts about the company's financial ability to attend

Jacob's Pillow Jacob's Pillow is a Dance studio, dance center, school and performance space located in Becket, Massachusetts, in the Berkshires. The facility itself was listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 2003. History The site of Jacob's Pi ...

later that summer. Horton's agent wired Horton the money to get the troupe home. At the time, Horton was drinking heavily and was emotionally and physically ill. Upon returning to Los Angeles he moved into a house on Mulholland Drive where he was attended to by his parents and friends. Determined to perform at the Jacob's Pillow festival, the group travelled to the Berkshires by car. The show was a success, though Horton could not afford to accompany the troupe to the festival. Riding on their success at the festival, the troupe was asked to open for Johnny Desmond in the fall; they were so popular that they were invited back for another two-week engagement.

Technique

Horton developed his own approach to dance that incorporated diverse elements including Native American Folk Dance, Japanese arm gestures, Javanese and Balinese isolations for the upper body, particularly the eyes, head and hands. Horton also included Afro-Caribbean elements, like hip circles. Horton's dance technique, which is now commonly known as ''Horton Technique'', has no style, per se. The technique emphasizes a whole body, anatomical approach to dance that includes flexibility, strength, coordination and body and spatial awareness to enable unrestricted, dramatic freedom of expression. "I am sincerely trying now to create a dance technique based entirely upon corrective exercises, created with a knowledge of human anatomy; a technique which will correct physical faults and prepare a dancer for any type of dancing he may wish to follow; a technique having all the basic movements which govern the actions of the body; combined with a knowledge of the origin of movement and a sense of artistic design." -Lester Horton, in a letter to Dorathi Bock Pierre, "From Primitive to Modern," American Dancer (October 1937)

Death and legacy

Horton died of a heart attack at his home on November 2, 1953. Alvin Ailey briefly ran the company following Horton's death, but eventually moved to New York City, where in 1969 the Horton Technique became standard training for students at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Since Horton's death, his dance technique and choreography have become widely known and practiced. Horton's legacy has survived through th
www.lhdt.org Lester Horton Dance Theater Foundation, Inc.
which is dedicated to preserving and promoting Horton's contributions as a dancer, choreographer, and educator. Also, various dance companies such as the Joyce Trisler Danscompany focus on Horton's technique,", as well as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and School.

Notable students

James Truitte was later an authority on Horton's technique and choreography, and taught at

University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a performing and media arts college of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. Initially established as the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1867, CCM is one of the ...

. Other figures who emerged from Horton's school and company include actress Lelia Goldoni and Sondra Kerr Blake. The founder of the Mattachine Society, Harry Hay, had a daughter who took classes at the dance theater. Janet Collins, a twenty-year-old ballet student (who would go on to be the first African American dancer to perform full-time with the Metropolitan Opera in New York) was one of the students approached by Horton to perform in exchange for free classes. Collins enthusiastically agreed, and yet admitted to Horton that she knew "nothing about modern dance." Horton told her not to worry—he would teach her. Other past students included: * Alvin Ailey * Eleanor Brooks * Janet Collins *

Rudi Gernreich Rudolf "Rudi" Gernreich (August 8, 1922 April 21, 1985) was an Austrian people, Austrian-born American fashion designer whose avant-garde clothing designs are generally regarded as the most innovative and dynamic fashion of the 1960s. He purposef ...

William Dale Jennings Dale Jennings may refer to: * Dale Jennings (activist) * Dale Jennings (footballer) {{hndis, Jennings, Dale ...

* Joan Kerr * Carmen de Lavallade *

* James Mitchell * Carl Ratcliff * Jeri Faubion Salkin * Joyce Trisler

Films

Horton choreographed the following films: * '' Moonlight in Havana'', 1942 * '' Rhythm of the Islands'', 1943 * '' White Savage'', 1943 * ''Phantom of the Opera'', 1943 * '' The Climax'', 1944 * ''

Salome, Where She Danced ''Salome, Where She Danced'' is a 1945 American Technicolor western (genre), Western drama film, directed by Charles Lamont and starring: Yvonne De Carlo, Rod Cameron (actor), Rod Cameron and Walter Slezak. The film follows the adventures of a da ...

'', 1945 * ''That Night With You'', 1945 * '' Frisco Sal'', 1945 * ''Shady Lady'', 1945 * ''Tangier'', 1946 * '' Siren of Atlantis'', 1948 * ''Bagdad'', 1949 * '' South Sea Woman'', 1953 * ''3-D Follies'', 1953

Early years and education

Career

Technique

Death and legacy

Notable students

Films

See also

References

Further reading

External links