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Horton Technique
The
Horton Technique is demanding on mind and body, but most rewarding in
developing the body as an instrument of movement. The body of instruction
itself was carefully culled and developed, changed and recast, sharpened and
refined over the many years into a codified system Mr. Horton classified
under:
Basic Technique
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1. Projections
2. Locomotions
3. Improvisations
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4. Fortifications
5. Preludes
6. Rhythms
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PROJECTIONS: Studies dealing with specific qualities of movement derived
from varied and dramatic sources.
LOCOMOTIONS: Dance studies designed around basic locomotive actions,
which are the bases of all theatrical and adroitness, brilliancy, and
communication. (walking, running, leaping, jumping, gliding, skipping, etc.)
IMPROVISATIONS: Are based on the experience of the student, and are
developed around the basic class material.
FORTIFICATIONS: Combinations designed to ensure protection and maximum
efficiency of the body’s capabilities. The Fortifications develop
stretch, resiliency, range strength, suppleness, precision, endurance,
postural alignment, dynamic stress, balance, isolations, coordinations.
PRELUDES: Short phrases of movement designed to quickly stimulate and
tone the psycho-physical instrument for disciplined action.
RHTHYMS: Studies involving the student in the common signatures of
various cultures of the world. Music dance patterns, rhythms of work and
play, plus emotional manifestations of rhythmic consequences.
The fortifications themselves are the ultimate basis of the entire Horton
range of technique. They are the framework of movement mechanics, of muscular
development coordination, elasticity and range of rhythm and timing of
movement phrasing in pulse and space. They range from the barest essentials
of coordinated movement to the most complex of dramatic movement studies.
The other categories are full extension of the Horton technique into the
theater itself and the refining process plus the application of the first
category. Here the Horton technique served purely as the dancers’
tools; they did not define his style or expression. For instance, theater
practice work in partner support gave the student invaluable training and
experience for future stage work.
Questions? Contact us at info@hortonsummit.org.
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“I am sincerely trying now to create a dance
technique based entirely on corrective exercises, created with a knowledge
of human anatomy, a technique that will correct faults and prepare a dancer
for any type of dancing he may wish to follow, a technique having all basic
movements which govern the actions of the body, combined with a knowledge
of the origins of the movements and a sense of artistic design.”
-Lester Horton
“We felt that the body
itself was the determining factor, and that is should be developed in as
many ways as would be needed by an choreographer.
So we set about to broaden the
technique, rather than limit or even define it. We worked in the opposite
register. We would get out on the floor and say, ‘How many ways are
there to go from up to down, how many paths are there?’ And we would
explore the ways of going from up to down… we would do the same thing
with moving across the floor. How many ways are there? What elements are
involved in depth, in space, in time? Our entire vocabulary in those days
was fashioned out of exploration on the part of the company. Then Lester
would draw from what we had done, guiding us toward the things he felt were
significant and welding them into technical studies.”
-Bella Lewitzky on developing the Horton technique
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