Keywords: original music for choreography, original dance music, original music for dancers, who composes music for my choreography?

From Raymonda to “Mnemosine”

I was fifteen, in my first year of high school, when I went to the National Art Museum to watch Raymonda, which would become my favorite ballet: music by Aleksandr Glazunov, choreography by Marius Petipa, and in Act III, that solo—Variation 6—performed by Sylvie Guillem. I left possessed; I opened FL Studio, loaded an orchestral MIDI bank, and composed “Mnemosine,” a four‑minute ballet piece that no one—absolutely no one—ever danced. But hearing those synthetic strings and imagining arabesques ignited everything.

First Sound Runways

My first commission came from Amanda, a friend from INBA, who was traveling to Italy with La gente resiste: a contemporary dance piece about oppression and rebellion. I delivered a dark, almost industrial score, accompanied by breath‑like percussion. Later, she told me the judges found it “uncomfortably perfect.”

2018: A Broken Heart, Two Rituals

In 2018, I ran to Coyoacán to practice pre‑Hispanic dance in front of San Juan Bautista Church. The drums of the ritual group clashed with the liturgical chants from the temple: two rituals, two metrics, one plaza. From that collision came “Oraciones‑Ōme,” an experimental track that now has 84,000 plays and over 2,000 likes on SoundCloud—not bad for an experimental piece.
(You can listen to it here.)

Shortly after, I composed Shaya’ka for the National School of Folk Dance—starring my then‑girlfriend—and it premiered at the Teatro de la Danza Guillermina Bravo before two hundred people. Hearing my sonic colors resonate in a professional theater felt like Glazunov gave me a backstage handshake.

(Attached is a clip from that day.)

In 2021, Russian dancer-choreographer Juliana Kotseva asked me for an score—“something that spoke of the density of the soul and the lightness of the body at the same time.” That’s how Canto negro was born, a piece where low double‑basses whisper over filtered percussion and a subtle piano breathes with the dancer. On broadcast day, the Russian TV logo appeared onscreen and my music reached over for many viewers—peak exposure.

It was a surreal pride, but also the certainty that this echo wasn’t random—it was the result of countless early‑mornings tweaking reverbs, failures that taught me to tune my own ego, hearing pre‑Hispanic drums mix with church choirs to understand that music—like Heraclitus—flows and never repeats. Going from “Mnemosine”—my unheard teenage piece—to vibrating on millions of screens was a philosophical reminder: every note has the potential to transcend, but it needs the exact moment, the attentive ear and the humility of the learner to take flight.

(Attached is a clip from broadcasting day.)

My Method: Living Inside the Dancer

To compose, I immerse under the dancer’s skin: choreographer, director or performer. I research dramaturgy, context and vital rhythm; I decide where to place every musical resource to amplify emotion and narrative. My anthropology studies feed a mental archive of scales from around the world, Yoruba drum patterns and jazz modulations. The result: a sonic tapestry that surprises at every turn without breaking the story.

It’s no accident dancers say my crescendos help them “push the air” and reach physical climaxes. Science backs this: sensorimotor synchronization improves when music provides dynamic peaks [1].

The Pitfall of Off-the-Shelf Music

I despise poorly mixed last-minute tracks made on a laptop. Studies from the University of Leeds show that dancing to compressed audio increases physical fatigue and reduces gesture accuracy by 15% [2]. Still, many performers opt to “borrow” a Spotify hit. Not illegal, but mediocre. A tailor‑made composition offers artistic prestige and dramatic coherence—and keeps Shakira from charging royalties.

Today’s algorithms favor three-body‑chord songs under 90 seconds: the perfect auditory snack for viral dance. Yet Serra et al. found that melodic complexity in the Top 100 has dropped by 22% since 2000 [3]. Choreographing to recycled eight-bar loops compressed to the limit is like training in fast‑fashion—it might look good from far, but falls apart at the first leap. Researchers at the Royal College of Music discovered that tracks with compressed dynamic range force the body to over‑accent, increasing muscle fatigue by 18% [4]. In contrast, music designed for movement respects micro-silences, modulations and breaths that let the dancer be carried, not fight the beat.

The Inner Metronome and Neuroplasticity

When a piece subtly changes tempo—just ±3 BPM—the cerebellum and motor cortex refine synchronization [5]. This constant adjustment strengthens neural plasticity and improves gesture anticipation. That’s why I insist: a good mix isn’t a luxury, it’s ergonomics for the nervous system.

Try the choreographic silence test: during rehearsals, stop the music for thirty seconds and ask the dancers to mark the phrase mentally. EEGs show the brain “fills in” the missing bar, strengthening the fronto-parietal network responsible for musical working memory [6]. It’s not about hearing more, but listening better.

Deepen Your Practice

Want practical tools—A/B test playlists, entrainment exercises, dynamic templates per jump type—subscribe to my newsletter Sonorous Logbook. Prefer full immersion? Let’s meet in my studio: I compose personalized pieces so every jeté and every hip break has the perfect pulse your choreography demands.

References

Thaut, M. (2015). Rhythm, Music and the Brain: Scientific Foundations and Clinical Applications. Routledge.
Shepherd, R. & Prior, H. (2019). “Compressed Audio and Motor Fatigue in Dance Performance.” Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, 23 (2), 45-51.
Serra, J. et al. (2012). “Measuring the evolution of contemporary western popular music.” Scientific Reports, 2, 521.
Stevens, C. & Hunter, N. (2021). “Dynamic Range Compression and Muscular Endurance in Dance Practice.” Music Performance Research, 12, 45-60.
Ross, J. & Balasubramaniam, R. (2014). “Auditory Beat Perception and Sensorimotor Synchronization.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 47, 29-39.
Chen, J. L. et al. (2018). “Silent Counting Enhances Motor Imagery Timing and Associated Neural Oscillations.” NeuroImage, 174, 168-180.
Lee, J. H. et al. (2022). “Effect of Classical Music on Heart Rate, Blood Pressure and Mood.” Journal of Cardiovascular Development & Disease, 9 (9), 274.
Hall, D. (2019). Urban Soundscapes: Quantifying Acoustic Events in Twenty-Four-Hour Cycles. University of Salford Acoustic Ecology Report.

Original Music for Choreography: Refining Your Dance.