Concert vs Dance Band

Composer David Mills bifurcates music and dance into two categories:  concert and social.  Although concert music and dance may be more exciting to watch and are more engaging in a fixed media form, a dance band that reunites live music with social dancing has socio-economic implications that are transformative.  On this page we will compare two concert performances of David Mills compositions with the transitional dance band arrangements of the same songs.

The DoSo Dance Band scores show four melody instruments, however, there are alternative parts written for the trumpet and euphonium, and those adaptations are written specifically for the replacement instruments.

The videos below offer a concert recording of each song followed by an excerpt from the computer playback of the DoSo Dance Band score.  There is a link to the score just below each video.

Bad Girls Swing (score print)

Everybody Knows (score print)

Dancers also bifurcate their craft into two categories:  “concert dance” and “social dance.”  The latter includes both group dancing and couples dancing.  A concert dance performance deserves the undivided attention of the audience.  The video below is an excerpt from a piece choreographed by Alison Chase for the Pilobolus Dance Theater with a solo guitar score written and performed by David Mills.  Performed at the Joyce Theater in NYC, you could hear a pin drop during this section of the piece.