Description

Dance Phrases by June Olsson

Dance Phrases CD Series is a collection of musical pieces written for Modern Dance classes.  The music is composed in groups of musical phrases which have tempos, meters, and structures based on patterns of tension and release found in dance combinations.

Each piece has an Introduction, a Section (which is repeated a number of times), and an Ending.

The term Section refers to a specific grouping of musical phrases that correspond to a basic dance combination.  The Section is repeated a number of times like a basic combination might be repeated in various positions or as groups of dancers move across the floor.  Sections are easy to recognize when they repeat even though there are slight musical variations to add interest.

Sample Count Books

Additionally, count books, with dancer’s counts, are provided as visual aids for organizing the counts and phrases of each piece.  By using phrase outline in the COUNT BOOKS and becoming familiar with the musical Sections, a dance instructor can easily create interesting  combinations that fit exactly with the music.  This can be especially helpful when teaching rhythmic accuracy and counting meters.

Each CD is organized to follow a basic class and contains a variety of odd/even meters and phrases structures for variety

DANCE PHRASES Set Includes CDs 1 & 2 and 2 Count Books which detail the phrases of the music.

CD 1

CD 2

ALSO see:  Dance Phrases II – Variations – 2 CD set (cds 3&4)

SHEET MUSIC BOOKS AVAILABLE

Piano Music for Modern Dance Class – Volume 1 – Dance Phrases
Piano Music for Modern Dance Class – Volume 2 – Dance Phrases

DANCE PHRASES Single CDs

Dance Phrases CD 1
Dance Phrases CD 2
Dance Phrases CD 3
Dance Phrases CD 4

Single CDs include a Count Book which detail the phrases of the music.

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Sample Countbook page

Sample page from Count Book 3

  Play this excerpt Quarter Turns from DANCE PHRASES CD3 – Variations and follow along with the counts on the sample page.

   The music begins with an introduction, 4 measures of three beats, counted 123,223,323,423.

   The first phrase is 6 measures long (123,223,323,423,523,623).
The phrase is organized as 4 measures followed by 2 measures (123,223,323,423 – 523,623).
This 6 measure phrase repeats 4 times. The end of this section is marked by the // lines on the count book page.

The second section is a 9 measure phrase in 3. ( 123,223,323 . 423,523,623 . 723,823,923. ).  This phrase of 9 repeats twice in the excerpt. (The whole song is longer – this excerpt fades out)

The entire exercise would then repeat again, as indicated by 2 Reps after Basic Combo on the heading.

Advanced students can dance combinations with rhythms following the phrases but working against the accent pattern.

For example, in section 1, instead of dancing to 123,223,323,423 – 523,623 as is; the danced phrase could be 123,223,323 – 423,523,623, with a strong accent on the 4th measure instead of the 5th measure as accented in the music.  The dance combination could have accents on unaccented measures of the music.
A more difficult example might be applied in section 2 by showing a dance phrase of 123,223 – 323,423 – 523,623 – 723,823,923 against the music.  In this example, the dance combination would show accents every 2 measures, going against the flow of the music which is showing an accent every 3 measures.  They would then come together for the last 3 measures of each group.

These techniques can be applied to all the selections in DANCE PHRASES & DANCE PHRASES II – Variations series and can help students to develop rhythmic independence.