Beyond Tchaikovsky
Fresh Music Choices for Your Next Choreography
While the classics of ballet repertoire will forever hold their magic, today's choreographers are breathing new life into the art form by exploring sonic landscapes far beyond the traditional canon. If you're seeking inspiration for your next piece, look no further than these incredible composers and their works.
Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds creates profoundly emotional soundscapes that blend piano with string arrangements and subtle electronic elements. His music possesses a cinematic quality that lends itself beautifully to narrative-driven choreography, offering both delicate intimacy and sweeping grandeur.
Start With:
"re:member" - For its repetitive, evolving patterns that create a mesmerizing foundation for movement exploration.
"Broadchurch Score" (excerpts) - For its emotional depth and atmospheric tension, perfect for dramatic pas de deux.
Choreographic Inspiration
Arnalds' music responds wonderfully to fluid, weighted movement and intricate partner work. Try using his repetitive motifs as movement phrases that evolve throughout the piece, much like his compositions build and transform.
This vibrant American composer draws from classical traditions, jazz, and folk music to create works that are rhythmically dynamic and bursting with color. Montgomery's music often explores themes of cultural identity, offering rich conceptual territory for choreographic development.
Start With:
"Starburst" - A dazzling, energetic piece perfect for showcasing technical virtuosity and ensemble work.
"Rhapsody No. 1" - For its lyrical quality and emotional range, ideal for expressive solo work.
Choreographic Inspiration
Embrace the rhythmic complexity in Montgomery's writing. Play with syncopation, sudden changes in dynamics, and contrasting sections of fluidity and sharpness. Her music invites choreography that is both physically demanding and musically intricate.
German pianist and composer Nils Frahm reimagines the possibilities of piano and electronic music. His minimalist approach focuses on texture, space, and subtle development, creating immersive sonic environments that allow dancers to breathe and movement to unfold organically.
Start With:
"Says" - A building, pulsating piece that creates incredible tension and release, perfect for structured improvisation.
"Øde" - For its spacious, contemplative quality that supports slow, sustained movement and emotional depth.
Choreographic Inspiration
Frahm's spacious compositions are ideal for exploring quality of movement over complex steps. Focus on breath, micro-movements, and the relationship between sound and silence. His works often build gradually, allowing choreography to develop corresponding intensity.
Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir creates vast, elemental sound worlds that seem to evoke geological processes and natural phenomena. Her music is less about melody and more about texture, density, and immersive sonic experiences that transport listeners to otherworldly landscapes.
Start With:
"Metacosmos" - A breathtaking journey through expanding and contracting sonic universes, ideal for large ensemble work.
"Aeriality" - For its atmospheric quality that suggests weightlessness and floating, perfect for exploring ethereal movement qualities.
Choreographic Inspiration
Think sculpturally and environmentally with Thorvaldsdottir's music. Her compositions invite choreography that explores group shapes, floor patterns, and the physical relationship between bodies in space. Consider how movement can visualize the textures and densities in her sound.
Best known for her Oscar-winning score for "Joker," Icelandic cellist and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir creates deeply psychological and atmospheric music. Her work often features the cello in unconventional ways, processed through electronics to create haunting, visceral soundscapes.
Start With:
"Chernobyl" (TV Series Soundtrack excerpts) - For its unnerving, atmospheric tension that supports narrative and character development.
"Without Sinking" - Album featuring solo cello works that are both intimate and expansive, perfect for solo or duet work.
Choreographic Inspiration
Guðnadóttir's music excels at creating mood and psychological depth. Choreograph from an internal, emotional place rather than following musical phrases. Her works support intense character development and exploration of complex emotional states.
Expanding Your Musical Horizon
When exploring new music for choreography, listen beyond the surface melody. Pay attention to rhythm, texture, dynamics, and emotional tone. Don't be afraid to edit pieces or use excerpts that serve your artistic vision. The most compelling choreography often emerges from a deep, intuitive connection to the music—whether it was written centuries ago or yesterday.
The future of ballet lives not just in innovative movement but in innovative soundscapes. By expanding our musical horizons, we expand the very language of dance itself. What will you discover in the space between the notes?
