UCR Department of Dance

Dance and Music students are welcome!

Choreomusical Practice and Music-Dance Relationships

Lecture/Workshop with composer
Kim Helweg
Director of Musical Accompaniment for Dance Program - Danish National School of the Performing Arts

February 14, 2019
Thursday, 11:10am-1:00pm
Large Dance Studio, ARTS 100  
Free and open to the campus

The lecture will include an overview of the relationship between music and dance from Baroque to the present, with an emphasis on today's art, and the cross-disciplinary practice of choreomusicology at the Danish National School of the Performing Arts. The workshop will give the participants an opportunity to explore the different choreomusical strategies in practice.

Participants will:
•  Learn strategies for music/dance collaboration
•  Dance or play music, applying different strategies and relationships
•  Discuss and evaluate how the techniques can reinforce and optimize artistic expression
 

Kim Helweg has written music for more than 50 dance performances, one opera, (Stalingrad) and an international award-winning musical (The Kreutzer Sonata). In addition, Kim has composed music for a wide range of scenic experiments and a lot of works for orchestras, chamber ensembles and not at least for two pianos.

His collaboration with the dance has resulted in a long list of experimental works which investigate the relationship between music and dance in the newer choreographic practice as well as in the neo classical ballet. Furthermore, he has developed the discipline of Choreomusical Practice by thoroughly renewing the music in classical ballet training, as well as introducing conceptual musical compositional thinking in contemporary dance training programs. He has also created and strengthened a wide-ranging international collaboration in this field. The MAD (Musical Accompaniment to Dance) programme, launched in 2008, is based on these ideas. For the renewal of music for dance technique classes and the establishment of the MAD programme he has received the following prizes: Vibeke Rørvig's Fund in 2015 and the Ballet's Friend's Applause Award in 2017.

For more information, please email
Dance Department Music Director Jeff Zahos at jzahos@ucr.edu