The Chairman Dances

For Peter Martins' ballet, see The Chairman Dances (ballet).

The Chairman Dances is a 1985 composition by John Adams,^[1] subtitled Foxtrot for Orchestra and lasting about 13 minutes. A commission from the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, it has several dance-like tunes and has been described by Adams as an "outtake" from Act III of the opera he was working on at the time, Nixon in China.^[2] The word "Dances" in the title is a verb, not a noun. In the opera, the music depicts Madame Mao gate-crashing a presidential banquet, hanging paper lanterns, and performing a seductive dance; Chairman Mao descends from his portrait, and the two dance a foxtrot, back in time together. The piece ends with the sound of a gramophone winding down.^[2]

The Chairman Dances was used in the Civilization IV^[3] and I Am Love^[4] soundtracks.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for a large orchestra.^[5]

Woodwinds 2 flutes, both doubling piccolo 2 oboes 2 clarinets in B♭, second doubling bass clarinet 2 bassoons Brass 4 horns in F 2 trumpets in B♭ 2 tenor trombones tuba

Percussion glockenspiel vibraphone xylophone crotales sandpaper blocks wood blocks, high and medium crash cymbal hi-hat suspended cymbal sizzle cymbal, suspended claves bell tree triangle tambourine castanets snare drum pedal bass drum timpani

Keyboards piano Strings harp string section