Let's Dance Suite
Date: 2013
Total duration: 19.00
​
The Let’s Dance Suite consists of four works originally written on the Fairlight computer between 1985 and 1988. They were arranged for two pianos and compiled in 2013 for various concert performances.
‘Let’s Riff’, ‘Let’s Swing’ and ‘Let’s Funk’ were originally commissioned for the theatre productions: Madame Mao, An Imaginary Life, and Pipedreaming, respectively. 'Let's Swing' was later repurposed for the music theatre production Bodysongs (1998). ‘Let’s Dance’ was commissioned by the Flederman ensemble as part of a larger set of works titled Melodramas and other pleasures, the first performance of which was at the Sydney Opera House in 1985.
The works are based on various aspects associated with popular music. ‘Let’s Dance’ (movement 3) is not directly based on popular music idioms, it being more abstract in concept. Inspired by composers Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky and Conlon Nancarrow, it uses textual and formal techniques found in the other three movements.
The Let’s Dance Suite can also be combined with the composer’s arrangement of five arias by G.F. Handel for two pianos and female voice.