What did Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Paco de Lucia all have in common? They all were composers, gifted performers and improvisors, and they all wrote dance music.
Sometimes when listening to a Bach fugue, one of Chopin's nocturnes, or one of Duke's suites, it's hard to imagine that these talented composers had ever bothered to sit down and write some dance music. Yet a large part of their repetoire was music made for dance.
Bach had the (German) allemande, (Spanish) sarabande, (French) courante, minuet and (English) gigue (jig). Beethoven had sonatas, string quartets, symphonies and the vigorous eccossaise. Chopin had the (Polish) mazurka, barcarolle, and polonaise. The music of Duke and Count Basie was meant to swing. There were dances like the fox-trot, slow waltz, jitterbug and variations of latin dances. Paco, of course, plays flamenco. The very word flamenco not only implies the song and the guitar, but the dance also.
It's interesting to note how much all of these musicians have in common. It's interesting to see how important dance was in the creation of their art. The dance is such a large part of the fabric of human society. Our perception of dance has evolved and today there are more styles of dance than ever.
Try to remember the next time you sit down to listen to some Baroque, or a classical symphony, or a Romantic piano piece, a jazz ballad, a spirited tango or a pumping house track, that they were all intended for much the same purpose. They were meant to move you...literally.
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