Kathleen Pierson, Musician for Dance

Since the sixties, when I first began accompanying dance as a work-study job while an undergraduate at Goucher College, I have played for academic ballet, modern, and choreography/improvisation classes. I use piano, percussion, voice, and/or guitar, as appropriate. The music is improvised, even for ballet, in styles that reflect the intent and phrasing of the movement, and in ways that can be responsive in real time (change of tempo, change of meter, etc.) to the instructor's wishes. It is a collaborative art, requiring my attention to both the instructor's desires and to the effects of my music upon the students. Having choreographed and taught dance myself, years ago, I have a strong sense of "what works" for dance. My goal is to enhance the artistic and pedagogic potentials of every class, by whatever musical means I can imagine.

2002 Dance Class 'Showing'At Denison

Beyond the classroom, I also compose for specific choreographic works, and I help faculty and students choose, edit, mix, or create their own scores for their choreography. This is also a deeply collaborative process.

Links to related pages within this site:

My c.v. offers details of my work in the Dance Departments of Goucher College, Towson University, Kenyon College, Denison University, Kent State University, University of Arkansas, and Carver Center for Arts and Technology

Examples of my compositions for dance can be heard on my page of mp3 samples

There are several brief Quicktime video excerpts

There is a page detailing some of my activities while serving as Resident Musician in Dance at Denison University

I belong to International Guild of Musicians in Dance and I have presented a workshop on rhythm at both the IGMID conference and at two of the American College Dance Festival Association conferences,

I have been an invited accompanist at seventeen American College Dance Festival Association conferences and there is a page of details of those seventeen conferences

I have played for hundreds of dance teachers across the decades, and a partial listing of their names can be found here,

I have related experience in grassroots Arts Administration, having founded and administered Performing Arts Collective in Arkansas

and there is a page of images from my own choreography.

To return to Kathleen's homepage, click here