Dance Collaborations

After a lifetime of no collaborations with dancers as a composer, there are all of a sudden three in one semester. Several years ago, I performed Libby Larsen's duet for clarinet and percussion, "Corker," for a dance recital while a student at UNC-Greensboro. Now, I have a couple of my pieces being choreographed and get to coach another exciting collaboration. 

Just the other day, my percussion quintet Sizzle! was performing live by the Exclamation! Percussion Ensemble (directed by Delaina Oberman) and dancers at the Flint School of Performing Arts. The performance piece, titled Random Velocity was choreographed by Flint Youth Ballet ballet mistress and FYB alumna, Elizabeth Philippi. More info...

Coming up on March 15, 16 & 17, my marimba/piano duet, Almost Beyond, will be performed on Dance Concerts at High Point University, choreographed by Cara Hagan. Unfortunately, I will be out of town for two of the performances, so they will be dancing to a live recording.

Lastly, Cara & I have paired up students from her Dance Composition class and my Music Composition Seminar class to produce little 1-minute vignettes to be performed at the end of the spring semester. We're leaving up to the students whether the music or dance should come first or whether it should just be an organic process. I'm really excited to see what they churn out.

Looking forward to being proactive about creating more dance collaborations in the future.