Classical Music used for Dancing
 

What classical music pieces are made especially memorable for you because of the dances (ballet, ice skating routines, or others) choreographed with them in mind?

For clarity's sake, I'm using this definition of classical music:

...but if you can think of dances set to Indian classical music or Japanese traditional music, etc., that's fine by me! :)

Three of my favorites:

Ravel - "Bolero" - ice skating routine by Torvill & Dean that won them the 1984 Olympics Ice Dance Gold Medal.

I remember watching this performance and feeling very excited by it. The routine was beloved by almost everyone I knew at the time! This music/dance combination helped inspire me to get involved in modern dance, which I enjoyed for 12 years.

Interestingly, the French composer, Maurice Ravel, felt "Bolero" (1928) was "trivial and once described [it] as 'a piece for orchestra without music.' " Maurice Ravel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Tchaikowsky - Nutcracker Ballet - "Dance of the Snowflakes" and "Sugar Plum Fairy." I never tire of watching this ballet with its beautiful music...and I must have seen it at least 8 times. :)

I love how there is so much beautiful music to accompany dance numbers. I should know a bunch off the top of my head seeing as I used to take ballet and other dance lessons. I'll get back with my selections tomorrow!

I was introduce to Ravel by an unlikely source - The Ventures. It was featured on their Joy album which featured instrumental rock versions of art music, it was probably the first Classic Rock album to be released j/k:D.

Ravel's Pavanne - The Ventures

There were two youtube videos that featured Pavane pour une infante défunte one was still-pic of the painting Lake George, by John Frederick Kensett and this one. I thought you might like this video because it fits in well with your topic.

That would be great, Burning Down, because I haven't seen many ballets...mostly just the same one over and over! :p: I'd like to be familiar with more ballets than *just* The Nutcracker, great as it is.

The Ventures' song was fun!

And the video *does* fit in perfectly with my topic. Thank you, Neapolitan, for sharing it. The dancing definitely makes the swimming, amorphous music more memorable for me as the dancer/actress, Patricia Blair, moves from nature to the city and finally to the studio in this modern ballet piece that I suspect was choreographed just for her, since the choreographer was Martin Vincent Blair (who I think was her husband). Patricia Blair is still alive. She's 80 now! :)

Manuel de Falla: El amor brujo ("Love, the Magician"). First composed as a symphonic suite, and then as a ballet too. Two of its best-known movements are #8 (Ritual Fire Dance) and #10 (Song of the Will-o'-the-Wisp). This video is from a film based on the ballet:


But, of course, you can also stare at a bonfire, and you'll see how fire dances in time to the music. ;)

nothing beats The Blue Danube Waltz

I enjoyed Swan Lake tremendously

Wow! That is *lovely*, Zaqarbal. So dramatic and intense. Hot hot hot!!! You Spanish people, you know how to dance, don't you! I love the sensual flamenco style, the swish of the skirts that sounds like licking flames, and the dragging and stamping of the feet.

I read the plot of the story, and this dance makes perfect sense now that I know the story. I think this clip ends with Lucia dancing with the ghost of Jose to exorcise him from the earth so that he stops haunting his ex-wife whom he married in an arranged marriage while his heart was really with Lucia. This ballet makes "The Nutcracker" romance between a pre-adolescent girl and a...nutcracker...seem rather bland. :/

Duce, what YouTube video of "Swan Lake" shows your favorite section?

I love On the Beautiful Blue Danube (An Der Schöen Blauen Donau) by Johann Strauss II.



and here's a fun Simpsons take on that piece:



I also like Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, in particular the Neapolitan Dance:



When I was a kid, we did a ballet dance routine to Léo Delibes' Suite from Sylvia: Pizzicato. You may know this piece from the movie Babe, when Babe was fooling around with the paint cans and the yarn.



And finally, for some 20th century ballet: Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Here's some of it (well the first part!)

I got a Finlandic production - probably not on youtube, it's probably Act 2 Scene 1 - as the Prince wanders out and finds the Swan Princess, with Mephisto lurking in the backgrund

Thank you for all those additions to the thread, Burning Down!

I didn't know Léo Delibes' Suite from Sylvia: Pizzicato was used in the movie Babe, when Babe was fooling around with the paint cans and the yarn. :)

I couldn't find the Finlandic production, but here's another professional production (Ballet of the Kirov Theatre St. Petersburg) of Swan Lake, Act 2 Scene 1, that I'm watching now to see what it is like since you recommend it. Beautiful music.

My only complaint with the choreography is that there is an awful lot of arm/wing flapping! :p: I know they're swans and all, but still...when you've seen 10 flaps, 1000 gets a little tiring.