Dance/Still

Description

As suggested by its title, Walker's Dance/Still is in two distinct parts, though it is bookended by twelve repetitions of the same hieratic chord, stridently emphasised by a striking of a bell. The first part features jagged melodic lines and diverse rhythms, in stark contrast to the precise, exquisite chords of the second part. Walker was inspired by the religious stillness of Buddhist temple music and the rhythmic liberation of the Hindu dance Bharatanatyam, both of which he encountered during visits to India.