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Flat back exercise;
❌-  hunched back, not engaging my core, it felt right but too comfortable to be Horton technique!
✅- correct technique, core is engaged, head in line with arms, leaning forward in my feet causing a stretch in my hamstrings, not rocking back onto my heels

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First position
❌- turnout muscles aren’t engaged, ankles are rolling forward, although feet are in first position the correct muscles within my glutes and thighs are not engaged therefore this is not correct first position (Howes, 1988)
✅- turnout muscles are engaged, back of the knees pressing together, hip rotators engaged, ankles are in correct alignment thus not rolling forward= correct first position

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When dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet come onstage, you know where they're from faster than with any other species of dancer. Geographically, Denmark is a little off center, so the R.D.B. was subject to fewer foreign influences than other companies were. Furthermore, the troupe was directed for almost five decades (1830-77) by one man, August Bournonville, who was a great choreographer and created fifty ballets for his company. When Bournonville retired, his teachings were carried on by faithful pupils. For close to two centuries, Bournonville's ideas have dominated the R.D.B. dancers' daily existence. That makes for a substantial imprint.

What does the style look like? Over all, it favors petit allegro: small, quick, hoppy steps. These may be very difficult. Bournonville didn't mind having a dancer travel downstage and then, without pausing or turning, travel back upstage on a diagonal. But the steps are made to look easy, because, whatever else is going on, a Danish dancer usually maintains a stable torso. Where most other ballet dancers will have the arms out-curving, beckoning-Danish dancers hold their arms modestly down and rounded, like the outline of an apron. The dancing shows none of the effort we see, for example, in Russian ballet (and which, at times, is the Russians' glory). We are won without being pushed, always a satisfying experience.

This is related to a moral appeal. Bournonville's world is Biedermeier. It is centered on home pleasures, middle-class virtues: reason, harmony, fidelity, affection. The ballets feature ordinary mortals. One is hot-tempered; one likes the ladies too much. These flawed characters are still cherished, if also chastened. Bournonville frankly instructs us, and the fact that the ballets are both kind and commonsensical makes the lesson seem true. You exit a Bournonville evening vowing to be a better person.

Until the late nineteen-fifties, the R.D.B. was pretty much unknown in the United States. Then came a number of American tours, together, eventually, with festivals in Copenhagen loaded with Bournonville ballets and smorgasbord parties. Most American critics adored the Danes. Partly, this was because the critics were then facing the full onslaught of Europe's so-called "contemporary ballet": rage, despair, panties. Such ballet, in the hands of Kenneth MacMillan, John Cranko, Maurice Béjart, Roland Petit, and others, stressed excitation above all: great whirlings and twirlings and pitchings of self and others onto the floor. Eventually, that style triumphed in Europe, and Bournonville's world came to seem old-fashioned in many quarters. This displacement was obvious in the season that the R.D.B. recently gave at Lincoln Center.

We got some of the old-time religion-"La Sylphide" (1836, the earliest extant work by Bournonville), the story of a Scottish Highlander, James, who, on the morning of his wedding to his neighbor Effie, wakes up to find a pretty little fairy running around in his front room. "What are you doing here?" he asks her in mime. "I'm in love with you," she replies. "How can you marry that other girl? You should love me, and come to the woods with me." He agrees, and in Act II lives to regret it. Through a misdeed, he has annoyed a local witch. She gives him a scarf to present to the sylph. He does so, and the scarf turns out to be poisoned. The sylph's wings fall off, and she dies. Meanwhile, a wedding procession comes through the woods: Effie has given up on James and is marrying someone else. James has lost everything. He falls to the ground in anguish.

On the night I saw the ballet, danced by Susanne Grinder and Marcin Kupinski, all the technical gifts that Bournonville lavished on the sylph and James, to characterize them, were in place. Grinder's soft jumps, her gentle ronds de jambe, her piqués, which looked just like walking, or walking the way a fairy would: this is everything we would want from a sylph. But, as Bournonville constantly reminds us, she is not human. She scales rocks as if on an elevator. She shivers when she hears the birds call; she is one with them. This is not a creature you should run off with, especially if you have a nice human fiancée at home.

As James, Kupinski was dramatically poignant-young, stupid, pitiable-and technically exact. Bournonville, who is said to have been a superb dancer, emphasized male technique. In his ballets, the men's steps-beats, air turns, flying jumps, turning jumps-are every bit as hard and as serious as the women's. In "La Sylphide," the men do them in kilts, so that we get to see the hardworking thighs. I think all male ballet dancers should perform in kilts.

But Nikolaj Hübbe, the company's new director (he took over in 2008, at the age of forty), is at pains to show that not all of the R.D.B.'s ballets date from the nineteenth century-for instance, "The Lesson" (1963), by Flemming Flindt. Loosely based on a play by Ionesco, the piece shows a ballet master enthusiastically murdering a student-in class, by means of ballet steps-and then, Sweeney Todd-like, ushering in a fresh one as the curtain comes down. What a pleasure it must have been for Hübbe to find, in the Danes' own repertory, this nasty modern piece. "See?" he's saying. "We have other ballets besides Bournonville."

Things got hairier in "Lost on Slow" (2008), by Jorma Elo, a widely admired épatiste from Finland. Here three couples interlarded classical steps with jerks, squats, fanny twitches, and the like. Neither kind of movement went anywhere, and, if it had, you wouldn't have been able to see it, because the ballet takes place amid huge belchings of dry ice. "I like this weird, buggy thing," Hübbe told Robert Johnson, of the Newark Star-Ledger. "I think it's funny." As in "The Lesson," the joke is on classical ballet.

In "Bournonville Variations" (2010), the update was gentler. This piece, a patching together of combinations from Bournonville's classes, is for the company's men only, twelve of them. It was a demonstration of their mastery of the style. Opposing that display, however, were some costumes that Bournonville would have found strange-trenchcoats, etc.-and some very gloomy lighting. Likewise, the beloved third act of Bournonville's "Napoli"-the act was given alone, as it often is-was danced, for the most part, in canonic form and style but with a bizarre setting. At each side of the stage were modern people on folding chairs, smoking cigarettes and bouncing up and down to the beat. Presumably, they were modern tourists watching some cute Italians do their native dances.

What you see in all this is a company director striving to honor the tradition of his celebrated organization-indeed, the tradition that made the organization celebrated-while at the same time pushing the troupe out of the nineteenth century and into the twenty-first. Speaking to Gia Kourlas, of the Times, Hübbe said, "I do not have Bournonville's view on Christianity, religion, sexuality, women, men." He assumes that modern ballet-goers share his opinion, and he is surely right. But, if dependence on outdated faiths is ground for retirement of art works of the past, what will we do with Dante, Michelangelo, Bach-let alone Bournonville?

We have to keep in mind the position that Hübbe is in, however. Unlike Dante, he needs to sell tickets. Peter Martins, who became the artistic director of New York City Ballet after Balanchine's death, in 1983, has had the same problem, as guardian of a monumental repertory for which he could find no equal. Nevertheless, he had to bring in new work, to show that the company was a living thing. He has not done well in this department. Hübbe, who left the R.D.B., his home company, and danced with N.Y.C.B. for sixteen years before returning to take over the Danish troupe, no doubt sympathizes with his old boss, and also hopes to do better.

One crucial element in the modern quandary is globalization, in this case the tendency of performing artists not to stay home but to go where they can get the best deal, in terms of money, repertory, and way of life. In an interview with Kourlas, Alban Lendorf, the twenty-one-year-old star of today's R.D.B., had a few things to say about Copenhagen, his home town: "You do a performance and you're like, Where can I get something to eat? There's nowhere." That's just the kind of thing that could impel a dancer to start looking for a contract in Berlin or New York. Contrariwise, many dancers might be attracted by Copenhagen: the job security, the lovely city, the Bournonville repertory. Approximately half of the R.D.B.'s dancers are not Danish. Some of them do brilliantly. (Marcin Kupinski, who was so correct and so moving in "La Sylphide," is a Pole.) Still, the dancers do not look as Danish-style, or as uniform, as they once did. And they seem weaker, especially in Bournonville. Some of the men in the back row of "Bournonville Variations" were having trouble. On the other hand, most companies would be hard put to show us twelve men doing Bournonville's most difficult steps perfectly. I should add that before this season I hadn't seen the Danes since 1992. (Their last New York appearance was in 1988.) The word on the street is that Hübbe has strengthened them, but in the technique of Balanchine (which he learned during his long stay in New York), not in Bournonville.

If that is true, then we face, with the R.D.B., a familiar situation. Things aren't the way we once loved them. Can we love them in a new way? Maybe not, maybe so. ♦

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When dancers of the Royal Danish Ballet come onstage, you know where they're from faster than with any other species of dancer. Geographically, Denmark is a little off center, so the R.D.B. was subject to fewer foreign influences than other companies were.

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New York City Ballet in George Balanchine's Serenade (by Paul Kolnik)

It's a thrilling moment: My fellow corps members and I rise to our toes and begin hopping on pointe in time to a beautiful Bach violin concerto. As we merge into two lines, we start an intricate canon with our arms-the first line opens one arm every four counts, and the other line opens it every three counts. The result is a visually stunning effect: You can literally see the music. And it happens during the last movement of George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco.

Feeling molded to the music is one of the biggest perks of dancing a Balanchine ballet. But his prolific repertoire (more than 400 works!) ranges from tutu ballets like Symphony in C to neoclassical masterpieces like Agon -and getting the hang of their fleet petit allégro, elongated, off-balance positions and innovative pointework can be tricky. Here's how you can find the freedom in Balanchine's ballets without sacrificing his signature style.

The Man Behind the Moves

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Balanchine studied at the Imperial Theater Ballet School and danced for the Maryinsky Ballet before turning his focus towards choreography. After serving as ballet master for Europe's Ballets Russes in the 1920s, Balanchine moved to the United States in the '30s and opened the School of American Ballet with the help of patron Lincoln Kirstein. He choreographed for Broadway, Hollywood and several small ballet troupes before founding the New York City Ballet in 1948, which he directed until his death in 1983.

"Balanchine was a musician who choreographed," says former NYCB principal Jacques d'Amboise. In fact, Balanchine was an expertly trained pianist. He would often stay up late breaking down a musical score into its different components, so that when he choreographed to it he knew, as d'Amboise says, "the orchestration's DNA."

"The work just flowed out of him," says Allegra Kent, one of his foremost ballerinas at NYCB. "He created very quickly and quietly-he never yelled. It was just about the work."

And that work forever changed classical ballet. Many of his ballets lacked a specific story; he wanted to let the dancing speak for itself. For that reason, he frequently did without elaborate costumes and sets, having his dancers perform in simple practice clothes. His choreography often incorporated elements of jazz and unconventional partnering never before seen in the ballet world. Today, Balanchine's ballets are performed in companies worldwide, and he continues to influence choreographers everywhere.

Balanchine's Style

Balanchine developed a distinct technical style to accommodate his choreography. He stressed precise musical timing, and emphasized phrasing and syncopation in his classes. "For example, Balanchine's fondu doesn't have the same timing on the way down as on the way up," says Suki Schorer, a longtime instructor at SAB. "It goes down slower and comes up a little faster. Frappé isn't even-its accent is out and out, while ballonné is in and in."

Balanchine wanted dancers to gobble up space, and gave classical technique a more streamlined look. He asked for longer lines, deeper lunges and a more open arabesque. "He disguised all his preparations," says NYCB principal Teresa Reichlen. "He tried to make the in-between stuff look just as fantastic as the bigger steps."

"There are no boundaries with his technique," says Miami City Ballet soloist Sara Esty. "Everything is stretched to the maximum."

How to Dance It

Speed and musicality are some of the hardest elements of Balanchine technique. "Be in time and on time-that's the most important thing," Schorer says. Developing speed starts at the barre during tendus and dégagés. "You need to stop in fifth position fully each time you close," Schorer says. For greater efficiency, cross your working leg so that it's directly in line with your body's center line, instead of the standing heel. And keep your weight forward over the balls of the feet, "so you're ready to move in an instant," Schorer says.

Rather than preparing for pirouettes with two bent legs in fourth position, the Balanchine style requires a straight back leg to create an element of surprise. "From two bent legs, it's a dead giveaway you're going to pirouette," says Schorer. "But from an elongated fourth you could be about to do anything." During turns traveling on a diagonal, Balanchine dancers spot the front instead of the corner so the audience can see their faces and the turnout of their legs.

In Balanchine works, it's OK to let your elbows and wrists bend and sweep up through the center of the body, and there should be space between each of your fingers. "The elbow picks up the wrist and the wrist brings the fingers," says Schorer. "The arms aren't one unit, but many pieces in motion, responding to the air."

NYCB principal Teresa Reichlen in "Rubies," from Balanchine's Jewels (by Paul Kolnik)

Grasping Balanchine's style requires time and consistent training. "It's a process," says Reichlen. "You have to work to develop the specific muscle groups that his technique stresses." Most importantly, though, don't forget to listen. "Every step he choreographed has a musical purpose," says Esty. "If you really dive into the music, it will lead the way."

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New York City Ballet in George Balanchine's Serenade (by Paul Kolnik) It's a thrilling moment: My fellow corps members and I rise to our toes and begin hopping on pointe in time to a beautiful Bach violin concerto. As we merge into two lines, we start an intricate canon with our arms-the first li...

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Studio Hire, Events, Dance & Fitness Classes in Central London

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Now one of the worlds leading studios, we offer an incredible variety of accessible dance, fitness, yoga, Pilates, martial arts and singing classes.

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Correct jazz turn alignment

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The Lester Horton technique constructs some of the best human skyscrapers in the dance world. And like good building design, the Horton technique's emphasis on flat backs, pelvic hinges, and "lateral T's" produces a long-muscled, powerhouse dancer--something not easily toppled. Uninitiated eyes widen the moment an advanced Horton dancer strikes a "lateral T." To create the position resembling the letter "T," a dancer stands on one leg, tilts his or her torso 90 degrees, and counterbalances it with the oppositional energy of the extending leg. Dancers capable of performing the lateral T in turns, jumps, and transitions to the floor project a sense of invincibility.

RELEVANCE TODAY With a sprinter's upper body strength, a gymnast's flexible lower back, and a classical dancer's articulated feet and legs , Horton dancers are athletic and expressive instruments. The technique produces an overall effect of fierceness, something many working choreographers desire.

HISTORY Born in 1906 in Indiana, Lester Horton studied Native American dance, researched world dance styles, was inspired by occasional Denishawn concerts, and was a keen observer of the natural world. Moving to California in 1928, Horton danced with Michio Ito, a choreographer who had trained in Dalcroze Eurythmics, and then he formed his own company. He also choreographed for theater, films, and nightclubs. Generous, paternal, and a bit of a ham, he developed his technique by studying anatomy and by formulating exercises to strengthen and open up the body for performance in any style. The Lester Horton Dance Theater, which formally opened in West Hollywood in 1946, was the first permanent theater in the U.S. devoted to modern dance. It stood out for its ethnic inclusiveness. Having a diverse company, said former Horton dancer Don Martin "wasn't a matter of being politically correct. If you could do the work, he wanted to work with you." Horton died at age 47. Today his technique's influence is worldwide.

HORTON'S DANCERS Horton developed his technique on a handful of students. His primary protegeeand later collaborator was Bella Lewitzky. When Lewitzky left to start her own company, Horton focused on Carmen deLavallade, James Truitte, Don Martin, Joyce Trisler, Janet Collins, Arthur Mitchell, and Alvin Alley. It was Ailey, a youngster, who stepped in after Horton's sudden death to choreograph the necessary premieres.

Today Alley dancer Matthew Rushing, former Bella Lewitzky dancer and choreographer John Pennington, and master Horton teacher Cynthia Riesterer-who worked closely with James Truitte when he set out to the entire technique at the University of Cincinnati-all credit the Horton technique as instrumental to their successful careers.

WHY STUDY HORTON? Milton Myers, who teaches at Jacob's Pillow and The Ailey School, says the technique strengthens and increases the expressive range of every body, not just classically proportioned ones.

Ana Marie Forsythe, who chairs the Horton department at The Alley School, says Horton's warm up, like the ballet barre, moves from simple to more complex exercises. It begins with roll downs and flat hacks. It culminates with fortification studies, many of which teach students to transition from the floor to knees to standing smoothly.

Cynthia Riesterer says the technique addresses every inch of the body and that "each one of the 17 fortificationsis based on working a specific body part or a quality of movement." Riesterer teaches at Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts.

James Truitte (1923-1995) said that the Horton technique creates dancers who possess meticulous attention to detail. Truitte taught at the University of Cincinnati for two decades.

John Pennington says the Horton technique, when taught with an intention that students should mine their body's capabilities like explorers, creates artists. "Philosophy of invention, imagination, and creation," said Pennington. "Those were the pillars" for Horton. Pennington teaches at Pomona College.

Don Martin says that the Horton technique creates disciplined, passionate, purposeful human beings. Martin teaches at the Los Angeles County School for the Arts.

Ezra Ezzard, who studies in the Ailey/Fordham program, says that the technique "not only challenges me physically but challenges my brain." Seeing the technique's influence in Ailey's Night Creatures, Streams, and Memoria, Ezzard likes knowing that he is following in the footsteps of powerful thinkers concerned with human rights.

Matthew Rushing, who has danced with the Ailey company for almost two decades, attributes his physical well being during the company's non-stop touring to the Horton technique. On tour Rushing's warm-up includes the study," of which a rendition can be seen in "I Wanna Be Ready," a section of Ailey's Revelations. In the codified study, a person's weight moves from an even distribution on the back and the legs to being entirely balanced on the coccyx (). This action-transitioning the body from a horizontal to a V shape-works the abdominal wall until it is pulses with fatigue.

ASPECTS OF A HORTON CLASS * Beginning and ending each exercise in parallel to create muscular balance * Beginning class with flat backs, then primitive squats, laterals, leg swings, metatarsalpresses, lunges and dimensional (the yawn stretch) * In exercises where extreme stretches, sustained extensions or deep hinges are executed, large muscles-like the quads and the gluteus-may shake. Do not be alarmed; it's normal! * After a sustained movement study, using a swing series or a rhythmic exercise to wake up the body and the mind * Never treating an exercise as though it is just for strengthening or limbering a body part. Using each exercise to explore its expressive qualities * Taking chances as the class progresses, but not diminishing the focus on precision work * Using improvisation to awaken individual dancers' movement sensibilities

COMPANIES USING HORTON Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadanco, the Joyce Trisler Dans-company, the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company.

WHO IS TEACHING? Go to: www.hortonsummit.org/faculty.html

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The Lester Horton technique constructs some of the best human skyscrapers in the dance world. And like good building design, the Horton technique's emphasis on flat backs, pelvic hinges, and "lateral T's" produces a long-muscled, powerhouse dancer--something not easily toppled. Uninitiated eyes wide...

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Article on Horton's connection with Alvin Ailey

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Article on Horton's connection with Alvin Ailey

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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."

Alvin Ailey studied with Horton and became a member of his company. When Horton died unexpectedly in 1953, Mr. Ailey temporarily took over leadership for the next year before moving to New York. In 1958, he launched Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with other dancers from the Horton company including Carmen de Lavallade, Joyce Trisler, and James Truitte.

Horton's legacy continues to be felt in the dance world but it is perhaps most visible today in Mr. Ailey's work. Horton technique is the foundation for many of Ailey's masterpieces including:
Members of the general public can study Horton technique as part of the Ailey Extension program:
Students who train at The Ailey School also learn the Horton technique. Dancers coming to their first Horton class can prepare by drawing on their experience with jazz dance. "Many jazz teachers incorporate some of Horton's ideas in their warm-ups," says Ana Marie Forsythe, chair of The Ailey School's Horton Department. For instance, Horton uses flat backs and lateral stretches, tilt lines and lunges, all movements that could be found in a jazz warm-up. Horton technique also incorporates lyrical, circular movements focusing on stretching in opposite directions.

"I've been teaching this technique for more than 40 years," Forsythe says, "and I continue to be impressed with the intelligence and sense of humor that Horton incorporated. It's maintained my interest after all these years. It's so accessible for dancers. And I love how it helps create dancers who are long and strong."

Read more about Horton technique in this Dance Spirit magazine feature story.

View photos of people around the world doing one of Lester Horton's most iconic movements, the 'lateral T'

Repertory Choreographed by Lester Horton

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Lester Horton | Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

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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.

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Article on Jazz Masters including Matt Mattox

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Article on Jazz Masters including Matt Mattox

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Luigi, Gus Giordano, and Matt Mattox: Jazz masters

By Rachel Straus

With syncopated hip, rib, and head isolations, jazz dance doesn't ignore the body's sexiness. It puts it front and center. The high-decibel energy trumpets cool confidence, regardless of whether the movement is lyrical, hard-edged, or silly. Like jazz music, jazz dance didn't develop inside the conservatory or concert hall. But having drawn as much from ballet's long lines as from the cacophony of a good street party, today it is recognized for its technical prowess.

The jazz technique we know today developed from three artists who are now master teachers: Luigi, Gus Giordano, and Matt Mattox. Each of them performed in Hollywood movies and Broadway musicals during jazz dance's boom following World War II. They took the swinging, striking, funky sensibility and shaped it into a viable technique in the United States and abroad.

LUIGI After a car accident left him paralyzed and visually impaired at age 21, Eugene Louis Facciuto taught himself to walk and then dance again by repeating like a mantra "Never stop moving. Never stop moving." No longer leading-man material because of cross-eyed vision and a partially paralyzed face, he became the go-to chorus man, appearing in films like On the Town, An American in Paris, Annie Get Your Gun, Singin' in the Rain, and White Christmas. During breaks on film sets, Luigi stretched to prevent further injuries. In 1951 he held his first class based on his self-preservational movement studies; five years later he moved to New York City. Because Luigi's technique emphasizes smooth transitions, nearly constant motion, and symmetry, his classes attract dancers seeking physiological balance.

ASPECTS OF THE TECHNIQUE:

* The warm-up begins with the arms stretching alternately overhead.

* As with ballet, epaulement is constantly used to locate core balance in the body.

* Isolations of the head, shoulders, and rib cage are done delicately.

* Instead of a barre to hold on to, the arms are out to the side, the forearms and palms face the floor, the elbows are lifted, and the shoulders are gently shrugged for a release of tension. The total effect allows for an invisible support system for the upper body.

* Most classes end with Luigi's iconic walks: One hand is placed on the hip and the opposite arm is slowly raised overhead. These walks are equivalent to a bow to the audience and to oneself.

GUS GIORDANO While Luigi calls his codified technique the first in jazz dance, Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, founded by Gus Giordano in 1962, was one of the first troupes dedicated to bringing jazz dance to the concert stage. Giordano drew on disparate influences: the earthy, African-based sensibility of Katherine Dunham's technique; the regal upper body of classical ballet; and the music of composers like Jelly Roll Morton. Pattie Obey, who teaches the Giordano technique throughout the United States, Mexico, and Europe, says it nurtures dancers by helping them find their voice: "He would let us just explore."

ASPECTS OF THE TECHNIQUE:

* Isolations, ballet legwork, syncopations, and floor exercises culminate in one long combination.

* Key ingredient: moving the entire body while isolating different parts at once.

* Key look: an elongated neck, a lifted chin, and eyes focusing down and out.

* A deep plie gives a lower sense of gravity.

MATT MATTOX Mattox's ability to move with ballpoint ease, pinpoint precision, and catlike agility remains legendary. His artistic mentors included Jack Cole and Eugene Loring, whose fusion of ballet, modern, and jazz served as a template for Mattox's "freestyle" approach. Known for rhythmically complex and physically demanding classes, Mattox's style evolved in Hollywood, London, New York, and France. Though his classes, which jazz teacher Bob Boross describes as "ballet with isolation on top," were originally designed to help people get work in musical theater, they are now a way to improve any dancer's technique. In his combinations the ability to be up in the air and down on the floor "count after count," says Boross, is accomplished through "a completely relaxed feeling in the body."

ASPECTS OF THE TECHNIQUE:

* The warm-up is called the "barre": each anatomical zone is pinpointed.

* Isolations of the arms, feet, head, and rib cage are done simultaneously!

* In the final combination, the lack of emotion is cast off, and exuberance reigns.

Rachel Straus is a freelance writer based in New York City.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Dance Magazine, Inc.

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Luigi, Gus Giordano, and Matt Mattox: Jazz masters " Rachel Straus - Dance Writer

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With syncopated hip, rib, and head isolations, jazz dance doesn't ignore the body's sexiness. It puts it front and center. The high-decibel energy trumpets cool confidence, regardless of whether the movement is lyrical, hard-edged, or silly. Like jazz music, jazz dance didn't develop inside the conservatory or concert hall.

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Correct alignment when sitting in second (straddle) with a flat back
Knees and feet are facing upwards and not rolling forwards
Arms are in line with head

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Lowest splits this year!!!
And with correct technique

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Dynamics of Horton technique adagio

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Class warm up in Contemporary. Roll down and flat backs