Ten Little Waltzes: a wrap-up

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First of all, I have a confession to make.

In working to complete Little Waltz X. Finale, I decided to STEAL FROM THE BEST, that is, myself. Since there is little hope of my ever finishing the Symphony in G, or even less hope of it ever being performed even if I did finish it, I ripped the final two phrases from III. Allegro gracioso, reduced them to what I hope is a manageable piano transcription, and I was done.

Actually, I stole the last bit first, which gave me the opening theme for X. Finale, which I think is pretty fabulous for an opening: That simple, downward-scale theme, with its gently insistent bass line, creates a sense of anticipation, which of course pays off at the very end.

Of course, the original piece ends in the key of D major, which worked for the orchestra but which I found sounded a bit high and thin on the piano. I transposed it down to F major — and then when I decided to steal the penultimate section, that section worked best in the original key of D, which meant I had to tapdance my way into that key change.

Whatever. It worked.

Be advised that I am still tweaking here and there, so if you are serious about wanting to play or perform this ::scans crowd:: just be aware that you might want to check with me to make sure you have the latest iteration before committing to the several hours of practice it might require.

And now, the exciting news: On March 27–28, 2026, the Southern Arc Dance Company will premiere Ten Little Waltzes as the first half of their spring concert!

Here’s how that happened. As I was writing these pieces, of course I envisioned people actually waltzing to them. It was probably I. Invitation and V. Cheekily that made me first think of a performance by ballet et. al dancers, and after I had all but IX. Passionately and X. Finale done I sent everything to Paulo Manso de Sousa, the artistic director of Southern Arc, to see if he’d be interested.

Yes, he was, and last Thursday we met to seal the deal, as it were. We listened to the suite together, and I proposed the following scenarios, with the assurance that he was free to do whatever with the music (although I did strongly advise that he stick to my ideas for I. Invitation, V. Cheekily, and X. Finale). Fortunately he seemed willing to entertain all my suggestions.

So in the interest of letting people see what the collaborative version of the ABORTIVE ATTEMPT > GESTALT > SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION cycle looks like (described in Lichtenbergianism: procrastination as a creative strategy, p. 60–67), here’s what I proposed as a scenario for the piece.

POTENTIAL SCENARIOS FOR TEN LITTLE WALTZES

I. Invitation | score [pdf] | mp3

  • We see portable barres on either side of the stage, perpendicular to the front. Dancers at the barre, doing start-of-class things, maybe some small partner work in the center during the repeat.

  • Measure 22, the lighting shifts, and at m.23 we see the inner dreams of the dancers as they take flight.

  • It has also been suggested that the dancers at the barre are younger dancers, beginners, and the “dream” dancers are the older versions of themselves.

  • M. 32, they’re back at the barre, but at m.43 the dream cannot be denied and the whole company soars — then retreats to the barres for the end, ending in 5th, outside foot, arm raised.

  • In the younger dancer version, the older dancers rejoin their younger selves at the barre.

II. Romance | score [pdf] | mp3

  • Probably a pas de deux? Or maybe adult dancers (like the Nutcracker party people) in a ballroom waltz number? (This one I could actually choreograph: perioddance.org)

III. Tranquillo | score [pdf] | mp3

IV. Lullaby (For Corbett) | score [pdf] | mp3 

  • Maybe a pas de deux, after which the boy starts V. Cheekily while his partner has to stand there and be abandoned. Humor.

V. Cheekily | score [pdf] | mp3

  • Solo for male dancer; impish, showing off, smirking at the audience after each pas; finish with jeté offstage, of course

VI. Sweetly | score [pdf] | mp3

VII. Delicately | score [pdf] | mp3

  • TBD

VIII. Vivace | score [pdf] | mp3

  • 1 m, 2f; silky, flowing movements; not exactly a pas de trois, just three dancers — FMF — in parallel most of the time; I have some images in mind: the Three Graces, curves of Modigliani and Brancusi, generating the models of beauty for the universe

IX. Passionately | score [pdf] | mp3

  • Pas de deux? Or a corps piece, lots of running/sliding/rolling?

  • This is the waltz that may be unplayable — I am not averse to ditching it and writing something new in the same vein

X. Finale | score [pdf] | mp3

  • It’s right there in the title.

  • Intro: Company takes the stage.

  • Rehearsal letter A: maybe mirror the “warm-ups” in “I. Invitation”; simple, memorable movements, still “basic”

  • maybe bring back each group from the whole performance — think the finale of Nutcracker

  • Rehearsal letter F: bring back the “warm-ups” sequence, now fully developed and grand; all join in

All scores and sound files can be found at https://www.dalelyles.com/mymusic/general/#tenlittlewaltzes, and for those who would like such a thing, here is the full suite, laid out with minimal page turns built in. Just print front and back! Full suite | score [pdf]

And now… we take a break and let TASK AVOIDANCE do its work.