New Music USA Online Library

Pagan Dance

Kris Peysen

At its heart, Pagan Dance is a rhythmic piece. Rapid changes in meters, most often clearly outlined by motoric rhythms, give the piece its energy and drive. Polymeter and polyrhythm characterize the piece as well, and those, alongside a harmonic progression that reappears throughout, help unify the piece. When this piece was performed by the Voices of Change, a reviewer described it as a “neoclassicism-meets-minimalism affair, cheerful chirpings and pulsing framing contrapuntal exchanges.” I think that works well as a concise description of my piece.

The title Pagan Dance comes from me envisioning a primitive tribal ritual that occurs over the course of a full day and night. The rhythmic language of the piece goes along well with this narrative, as the driving eighth-note beat can be intrepreted as constant activity in the form of the dancers, while changes in the overall tone of the music can in turn coincide with different parts of the day as the ritual enters new stages. At the end of the piece calm is at last achieved, a musical exhalation that is representative of the fact that the ritual has finally come to a close.

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