I’ve been working furiously on my latest project, was hoping to have the opening section (“La Spagnoletta”) pretty much completed, but not quite yet — about 70% done, which represents a LOT of work. But a more-or-less finished version of the 2nd dance (the Jig) is now available for your listening pleasure!

If you’ve been following my progress (yeah, a little hard to stay attentive with the large gaps between contributions here), you know that “La Spagnoletta” will be the longest, a proper thematic statement and development, probably 8+ minutes in length. The rest, including the Jig, will be short, around 2-3 minutes — just enough to establish a dance-like rhythm and a small amount of thematic development. So don’t assume that this vignette will feel like the rest. Lots of other dances coming!

• Vignette #1: Jig — with small snare drum
• Je danse, J’apprends Project page

Besides “La Spagnoletta” and the Jig, I have the beginnings of a gavotte (it will feature cymbals as the percussion), and probably a reel (that’s probably the best fit in terms of rhythm). None of these “dances” will have a strong relationship with their ethnic and historical names, nor will you be able to use the results to accompany real dances. They just feature rhythm more than melody. We’re hoping to be done with it all by May!

[I like to add meaningful pics, thought I’d give Bing’s AI image generator a try. The below used “dance jig elementary school gym class” as the prompt.]