Jonathan Still, ballet pianist
Music, dance, IT, trivia. Not necessarily in that order.
It’s not just the tango that’s complicated or misleading: Scottish music is apparently prey to the same terminological confusion. Writing about naming conventions in collections of dance tunes dating back…
I wasn’t going to post this since I thought it was no longer surprising, but then I overheard an announcer on Radio 3 only this morning give full credit to…
The term ‘dancers counts’ is often used in a rather perjorative way – as if they’re incapable of seeing and hearing the world normally. Even dancers use the term against…
There is not a name for the precise mixture of rage and musical indigestion I feel when I have to put up with Sainsburys christmas music. When I was in…
Tchaikovsky has a reputation for bringing high production values to the composition of ballet scores by conceiving them architecturally and symphonically. But in practice, he’s as likely to borrow, copy…
The maxixe was a lower-class dance that caused outrage in upper and middle class society in late 19th century Brazil. Not only did partners hold each other by the buttocks,…