Finding the Music

Music is what motivates me....I love hearing a piece of music and instantly seeing beautful steps that I can't wait to set on dancers.  For Littleton Youth Ballet's Wizard of Oz, we realized that the music will set the whole tone of the ballet.  But what to use?  We could use the original score from the Broadway musical or MGM movie but it's hard to make sure we have the right to use this music with licensing laws.  Plus, we didn't really envision ballet steps to songs with words.  I recently had ordered a few new dance CD's and I found a piece of music that was wistful and really lovely.  I looked it up and discovered it was a piece composed by Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian composer possibly most famous for The Hall of the Mountain King in Peer Gynt.  I started listening to some more music by Grieg and realized that the whole ballet was here!  Dorothy's solo with the rainbow, the Wicked Witch's theme, even the music as they were heading off down the Yellow Brick Road.  We also liked having the whole ballet come from one composer.  It seems more complete somehow.  So, with the music picked out (although I keep making weekly changes), we have a start!