Until Wednesday, a video of yours truly playing Chopin for the Mark Morris Dance Group is online on YouTube. (My segment starts at 15:45.)

I’m not giving Arthur Rubinstein any serious competition but it is still a fun watch/listen. Sangfroid starts with Op. 2 no 1 (the worst thing in the world to start with) and ends with the Winter Wind. The Berceuse is…not bad? At any rate, the choreography is wonderful and the music is right there, supporting the dancers.

The year is 2000. My best friend Julie Worden is featured…so is John Heginbotham, who has gone on to be an important choreographer in his own right. The other terrific dancers include Joe Bowie, Marjorie Folkman, Lauren Grant, David Leventhal, June Omura, Mirelle Radwan-Dana, and Matthew Rose. Memories!

There is a long tradition of “Chopin dances” and of course Mark Morris makes the form his own. It’s a truly great dance IMHO. The other two dances on the video, Bedtime and Canonic 3/4 Studies, are also Morris classics. The singer of the Schubert for Bedtime is the legendary Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.

Linda Dowdell, Colin Fowler, and I talk about Morris, dance, and piano in a public live-stream on Tuesday.

Dances to Piano Music: A Live Conversation 8PM ET
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
8:00 PM

Register here.