The luxury of live music during technique classes
Many dancers are familiar with the image of a dance class where the dancer is accompanied by a pianist. In your mind you can already hear the dance lecturer giving instructions – the voice invariably moves to the beat of the piano. Yet, with the advent of digital music, this image is disappearing. ‘That’s a pity,’ says Ernst Ernst, piano accompanist for the Dance course. ‘Live accompaniment actually enables customisation.’
A tiny clue is enough
‘One does not exclude the other of course,’ Ernst begins his story, ‘but live accompaniment is definitely the luxurious icing on the cake. It makes the classes so much better. After all, with a digital playlist you can never react that directly to the dynamics. For example, a lecturer’s minuscule clue suffices for me: a hand gesture, a nod of the head, that’s all it takes. This allows the lecturer to stay in the moment and the dancer benefits from this. Sometimes I notice that something is not going well. Then I suggest we change the time. I don’t see a playlist doing that!’
Live accompaniment of great added value
Ernst continues: ‘Students are very pleased with accompaniment. Sometimes, as a pianist, you can play similarities between classical and modern music. That recognition is always nice and at the same time provides an introduction to classic themes. Music is really something magical: it can make you jump just a little higher. The boots to the body is impressive. That’s why we also work with percussionists; you see the dancer reacting instantly to this penetrating sound. For this reason ArtEZ – and Introdans too – still works with live musical accompaniment. This is not common practice everywhere and is therefore a real luxury for students.’
Ernst studied Classical Music, with piano as his major, at the ArtEZ Academy of Music. He now works as a pianist for dance courses at ArtEZ and Introdans.
https://www.introdans.nl/introdans-en/
