Kathleen Pierson Video Work Samples:
Live Improvisations From Dance Classes,
and Composition For Choreography

(QuickTime player can be downloaded for free here)

Set One: Five Current Examples

Modern Class, Adagio emphasizing sustain and spiral:
example of live improvised guitar/vocal

Modern III (first-year majors), just learning this phrase, in one of the semester's first classes. Guitar with vocal to add melodic linear design and a sense of breath. September 2010

Modern Class, Across The Floor:
example of live improvised
percussive piano

Modern III (first-year majors), just learning this phrase, in one of the semester's first classes. The musical choice is syncopated 4/4 percussive piano to encourage big movement and unison effect. September 2010

Modern Class, Adagio:
example of live improvised
piano/drum/vocal all at once

Modern V, this is THE SAME adagio as the Mod III above, but with different soundscape of piano chords (sustained with pedal, to free hands) and "fill" drumming (djembe is in its stand right beside the piano bench), with vocal line to add sustain and vary the flavor. The students had been encouraged to "make it their own." December 2010

Modern Class, Across The Floor:
example of live improvised piano
with surprise addition of student drummer

Modern V, this is THE SAME across the floor as Mod III above, but with different music switched to a propelling 6/8, and with the djembe added by a student - sidelined by an injury - convinced in an inspired split-second to give "dancing with his hands" a try! December 2010

Faculty Choreography:
example of music composed/ performed for faculty choreography, prerecorded electronic with four singer/percussionists added live for the performances

Brief excerpts from each of the four sections of Lauren Kearns "Akasha," with pre-recorded loops and (too far downstage to appear on camera) four singers with one djembe and four handmade "chain sticks" to be rattled or struck. Click here for further details. November 2009

To continue to Set Two, more video examples, CLICK HERE.