Dance the Sky is a warm, sweeping work for string orchestra. The violins introduce a lyrical theme that is expanded and passed by turns through the orchestra. Some moments are soaring and exhilarating, others playful and curious, and others tender and sweet. Together, these create a fond, joyful, and memorable adventure. 

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The motion and lyricism of the music put me to mind of winging through the sky. The title is inspired by a verse from John Gillespie Magee’s poem, “High Flight (An Airman’s Ecstasy).”

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    Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
    And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
    Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
    Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
    You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
    High in the sunlit silence.

 

This piece was commissioned by directors Lauren Gruber and Abby Wimbiscus Black and by the Music Department and Community of the Delaware City Schools, Delaware Ohio, in honor of Ms. Stacy Lemke, “in gratitude for the music you have shared with all of us over the years.”