Contemporary dance and Horton technique | Composition | Marta Ladjanszki

Contemporary dance and Horton technique

Lester Horton lived and worked in Los Angeles from 1929 until his death, creating a significant body of concert and movie choreography, and a training technique currently used in numerous studios and schools. Many performers and choreographers have credited their success to working in his company and studying with him, among them Alvin Ailey, Bella Lewitzky, Joyce Trisler, James Truitte ­ just to mention a few.

The technique that Horton developed is often reflected in Alvin Ailey’s work. It is marked by strong trusts of extended arms, legs, and torso; broad strokes of the body in space; hips used as accents and motivators; lunges and deep second position pliés that emphasize power and space; swings of the legs and torsos, leaps and jumps into space.” Copyright © 2012 Dance Heritage Coalition

We will use the exercises of the technique as warming up and learn some contemporary choreographies of Márta Ladjánszki’s repertory.

Composition

In the frame of the composition workshop Marta Ladjanszki is open to work together with dancers who have experience on improvisation as the class is based on it. The focus is on deepening the skills of finding movement materials and to fix them on a creative way. Please prepare pen/pencil and paper for the class.

Biography

After learning classical ballet, gymnastics on the apparatus, jazz and modern dance in Hungary and in Vienna, she has co-founded KOMPmANIA Contemporary Dance Theatre at the end of 1996. Until 2002 she has worked there as dancer and co-creator and had her own works beside that group. She started her solo carrier and won several prizes, too. In 2001 she was invited to join the L1 Independent Dancers’ Partnership, which was founded by seven dancers/creators in Budapest. She was chosen to be the artistic director of the union and from 2011 on she took over the artistic leadership of L1 association – which name was changed to L1 Independent Artist Association of Public Utility.

In the latest years she started to collaborate with independent artists, as well as to create group pieces. Her interest is the body and its physical limits and combining the music with the choreography, using live music as well.