The first part of the class is going to be about watching a number of videos to familiarize yourselves with the origin and development of the technique as well as with Horton's legacy.
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a) After observing these videos on Horton's and Alvin Ailey's work, create 4 more moves in order to add to your previous 4 moves phrase. Now you have 8 moves to finish choreographing your phrase for this unit. Add this phrase to your previous solo phrases.
* You should have by now 6 phrases (Laban's box, Humphrey/Weidman's floor work, Duncan's based phrase, Dunham's inspired phrase, Horton/Ailey's referenced phrase.
VI. Written Component
c) What was the main connection between Horton and Ailey?
d) What is different between Horton's original technique and Ailey's adaptations.
Anastassia Cafatti
DAN 211 Class 4/2: Horton (Part II): Two Important Legacies
Research Work
The first part of the class is
going to be about watching a number of videos to familiarize yourselves with
the origin and development of the technique as well as with Horton's legacy.
Lester Horton (1906-1953)
In the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, Lester Horton developed a modern dance technique based on Native American dances, anatomical studies, and other movement influences. In addition to creating his technique and choreographing a number of works for stage and film, Horton established the Lester Horton Dance Theater, one of the first permanent theaters dedicated to modern dance in the U.S., in Los Angeles in 1946. (It closed its doors in 1960.) He was also among the first choreographers in the U.S. to insist upon racial integration in his company — in his 1995 autobiography, Alvin Ailey wrote, “What it came down to was that, for Lester, his art was much more important than the color of a dancer’s skin.” (alvinailey.org)
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I. Horton's Legacy
(3:36 min)
Remembering Lester Horton
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II. Horton's Work
https://youtu.be/sncN5sq0ONY
(10:54 min)
Reconstructing The Beloved (1948)
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https://youtu.be/NZZ8RP8cTcs
(2:32 min)
DNB -- The Beloved (1948) by Lester Horton
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III. Alvin Ailey's Legacy (1931-1989)
https://youtu.be/vumYpy_dD1c
(5:16)
Alvin Ailey and the Importance of the Arts | The New Yorker
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IV. Ailey's Work
(5:10)
Blues Suite (1958)
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(2:32 min)
Revelations (1960)
These two videos above are Ailey's two signature pieces. Based on the Foulkes' account on page 180, what did Ailey tried to express in these pieces?
Based on the Foulkes´account, what Aliey tried to express in both of these pieces was the experience of African Americans. They helped shed light into the social conditions and living conditions that they faced. Blues Suite, or the first video was a “somewhat angry statement about the racial conditions of the United States” and the second video, Revelations “was a very positive, very spiritual expression of our creating in an environment in which we could survive” or what could be thought of as a fuller vision of the United States. Both dances include metaphors of freedom and collective harmony, much of what African American´s life was like at the time.
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V. Experiential Work
Activity:
a) After observing these videos on Horton's and Alvin Ailey's work, create 4
more moves in order to add to your previous 4 moves phrase. Now you have
8 moves to finish choreographing your phrase for this unit. Add this phrase to
your previous solo phrases.
* You should have by now 6 phrases (Laban's box, Humphrey/Weidman's floor work,
Duncan's based phrase, Dunham's inspired phrase, Horton/Ailey's referenced
phrase.
--------------------------------------------------
VI. Written Component
a) Modern Dance was not created for entertainment purposes. The Beloved is dark and unconventional.
Please, explain in writing: what do you think the piece is about? (3 sentences). [5 min]
When I hear the name “The Beloved” I think this piece might be about someone that was loved or deeply cared for, and that something happened to that person. Since it says it is dark and unconventional, I imagine there will be a turn of events and that something really bad will happen. I also imagine there will be a lot of expression and emotion since it is modern dance.
b) Click on the link below and read page 180.
LINK:
Modern Bodies: Dance and American Modernism From Martha Graham to Alvin Ailey
By Julia L. Foulkes
Summarize, in your own words, the three
paragraphs on page 180.
The first paragraph talks about Ailey’s begging journey in dance. In the 1940s African Americans were excluded from most dance studios, so Ailey found a group which he could attend an hour and a half away from where he lived at the school of Lester Horton in Los Angeles. He became such an outstanding dancer and took on such amazing opportunities that after the death of Horton in 1953, Ailey became the company’s choreographer.
The second paragraph talks about how important the year 1954 was for Ailey because it marked a big transition for him since he was asked to appear at a Broadway production, House of Flowers, by Herbert Ross who had spotted Ailey in the movie Carmen Jones. He danced with a ballet and incredible dance masters such as Martha Graham and Hanya Holm. He also pulled together African Dancers to give them more opportunities at a concert appearance called 92nd Street Y and later debuted Blues Suites in 1958.
The third paragraph is about what the two main dances of Ailey, Blues Suites and Revelations where about. He talked about the conditions of African Americans and how each production shed different lights on the conditions of the lives they lived. It also talks about how to create these productions he combined dance techniques from Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Lester Horton with those of Katherine Dunham, Asadata Dafora, and Pearl Primus. It later goes on to describe each dance and what the main movements where about. There was a lot of torso contractions, balance, and stretched arms and legs, forces of gravity and falling,
c) What was the main connection between Horton and Ailey?
Horton was like his teacher, his dance
master and the progenitor of modern dance in L.A. Ailey attended his dance
school which allowed for whites and African Americans to learn together. Horton
basically trained Ailey in dance.
d) What is different between Horton's original technique and Ailey's
adaptations.
Horton´s original techniques focused on a dance technique based on Native American dances. His technique focused on fortifying the body as a whole and approaching it anatomically in terms of the use of balance and flexibility. There is no right without left. Movement and balance are achieved using the whole body. A lot of work was done with adjacent, lateral movements, and working with the energy in motion to produce more movement. There was a lot of strength and spatial awareness involved. Horton also taught about free expression and feeling.
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Yingjie
Horton is Ailey’s teacher, and Ailey took Horton’s dance class.
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