Hans Leo Hassler was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance. He studied in Venice with Andrea Gabrieli, and “Tanzen und Springen”, first published in his 1601 collection Lustgarten neuer teutscher Gesäng (“Pleasure Garden of New German Songs”), is a five-voice balletto in the Italian “fa-la-la” style that Hassler brought back to Germany. Like all balletti of the period, it is built on the rhythms of social dance; light, springing, and metrically clear enough to dance to.

Tanzen und springen, 
Singen und klingen, 
Lauten und Geigen 
Soll’n auch nicht schweigen, 
Zu musizieren 
Und jubilieren steht mir all mein Sinn.

Schöne Jungfrauen 
In grüner Auen, 
Mit ihn’n spazieren 
Und converzieren, 
Freundlich zu scherzen, 
Freut mich im Herzen für Silber und Gold.

Dance and leap, 
sing and play! 
Lutes and fiddles 
should not be mute: 
to make music 
and have fun is what I live for.

Cute girls 
in green meadows— 
to walk with them, 
talk with them, 
be friends with them, 
makes me happy, more than silver or gold.

Maurice Goldman was a conductor, composer, and arranger who focused on Yiddish and Hebrew folk music. “Zum Gali” is an arrangement of an Israeli folk tune associated with the traditional hora, a circle dance often performed at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and other family gatherings. The unison singing partway through the piece evokes the sound of a family joyously dancing and singing together.

Zum gali gali, dance the hora, dance!
Do the hora, it’s a delight!
Oh, dance with all your might!
Let’s dance!

Night’s descending, day is ending, 
sounds of laughter everywhere, 
Dancing, singing, voices ringing, 
songs of joy now fill the air.

Crash the cymbal, circle round,
beat the drum, let joy abound,
Sing out with voices loud and clear. 

Everyone with spirits gay,
whirl and twirl the hours away,
Dance on, let sadness disappear.

Hora  la la la, merriment is flowing,
hora, hora, dance!
Dance the hora, gladness everywhere, 
The hora, the hora, all together, do the hora! Hora, hora, dance! 
Wildly dance the hora, dance!

Shostakovich was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist. Though celebrated in his early career, he came under close scrutiny and even censure by the Soviet government. “Waltz No. 2” is from his Suite for Variety Orchestra (sometimes published as “Jazz Suite No. 2”) and has appeared in many films, stage productions, and television shows, most famously in Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut (1999). The melody is elegant and graceful, but the return of the opening minor key gives the piece its bittersweet edge.

“Dame la mano,” or “Give Me Your Hand,” comes from Three Tangos by Marlynn Rey, setting a text by the Chilean Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral.

Dame la mano y danzaremos,
Dame la mano y me amarás.
Como una sola flor seremos,
Como una flor y nada más.

El mismo verso cantaremos
Al mismo paso bailarás.
Como una espiga ondularemos,
Como una espiga y nada más.

Te llamas Rosa y yo Esperanza,
Pero tu nombre olvidarás.
Porque seremos una danza,
En la colina y nada más.

Give me your hand and we will dance; 
Give me your hand and you will love me. 
We will be like a single flower, 
Like a flower and nothing more.

We will sing the same verse, 
You will dance the same step 
We will undulate like an ear of wheat, 
Like an ear of wheat, and nothing more.

You are called Rosa and I am called Esperanza;
But you will forget your name, 
‘Cause we will be a dance, 
On the hill and nothing more.

Van Morrison’s 1970 album Moondance was both a critical and commercial success, blending soul, jazz, pop, and Irish sounds. He wrote and produced every song on the album himself. The title track was originally conceived as a saxophone melody.

Well, it’s a marvelous night for a moondance with the stars up above in your eyes. 
A fantabulous night to make romance ‘neath the cover of October skies, 
And all the leaves on the trees are falling to the sound of the breezes that blow. 
And I’m tryin’ to please to the calling of your heartstrings that play soft and low.

And all the night’s magic seems to whisper and hush. 
And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush. 
Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love? 
Can I just make some more romance with you, my love?

Well, I wanna make love to you tonight, I can’t wait ’til the mornin’ has come 
And I know now the time is just right, and straight into my arms you will run. 
And when you come, my heart will be waiting to make sure that you’re never alone.
There and then all my dreams will come true, dear, there and then I will make you my own.

And every time I touch you, you just tremble inside. 
And I know how much you want me, that you can’t hide. 
Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love? 
Can I just make some more romance with a-you, my love?

First recorded in 1960 by The Drifters, with Ben E. King on lead vocal, “Save The Last Dance for Me” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It has subsequently been covered by many popular artists, and this arrangement by Ed Lojeski is based on a recording by Michael Bublé.

You can dance every dance with the guy 
Who gives you the eye, let him hold you tight,
And you can smile every smile for the man 
Who held your hand beneath the pale moonlight,

But don’t forget who’s takin’ you home 
And in whose arms you’re gonna be, 
So darling, save the last dance for me.

Oh, I know that the music’s fine 
Like sparklin’ wine, go and have your fun,
Laugh and sing, but while we’re apart 
Don’t give your heart to anyone.

But don’t forget who’s takin’ you home 
And in whose arms you’re gonna be, 
So darling, save the last dance for me.

The cha-cha-chá was created in Havana in the early 1950s by violinist and composer Enrique Jorrín, who adapted the rhythms of the danzón-mambo to make them more accessible to social dancers struggling with its syncopations. The name is onomatopoeic, drawn from the shuffling sound of dancers’ feet on its characteristic triple step. The dance spread quickly to the United States and Europe and became one of the most popular ballroom forms of the mid-20th century. Its difficulty lies in the precision required of the syncopated triple step and in the sharp, controlled hip action that gives the dance its characteristic playfulness.

The conga line is a novelty dance derived from the Cuban carnival dance. Popular in the United States in the 1930s–1950s, participants form a single line, and while holding the waist of the dancer in front of them, move to a “one-two-three-kick” pattern.

Foxtrot emerged from East Coast dance halls in the 1910s, set to ragtime and early jazz. Modern foxtrot shares the alternating three-step pattern and driving first beat of the waltz (LRL, RLR), but uses a slow-quick-quick rhythm to work in 4/4 time. A close hold with body contact between mid-thigh and ribcage allows advanced dancers to glide forward and execute tight heel turns while keeping a serene, consistent shape in the upper body.

The galliard is a vigorous Renaissance court dance of Italian origin, popular across 16th-century Europe. Queen Elizabeth I was famously said to have danced ”six or seven galliards in a morning” as exercise. Its choreographed step pattern occupies six beats and consists of five jumped changes of weight (the cinque pas) ending in a large leap and landing, together called the cadence. Musicians today still use the word ‘cadence’ to refer to the rhythmic and harmonic conclusion of a musical phrase.

The hora is a traditional circle dance, widespread across Jewish, Israeli, Romanian, and Balkan traditions, performed at celebrations including weddings and bar and bat mitzvahs. The guests of honor are often lifted into the air in chairs.

Irish dance encompasses several traditions, from the older, grounded, improvisational sean-nós style to the precise step dance more familiar to modern audiences. Step dance pairs intricate, rhythmic footwork with a characteristically held upper body. Soft-shoe dances (slip jigs, light jigs, reels) emphasize elevation and graceful lift; hard-shoe dances (hornpipes, treble jigs) are percussive, the shoes themselves becoming part of the music. The competition form danced today was largely standardized in the early 20th century by An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha, though the underlying tradition is far older and continues to be the guiding light for those that study the artform.

Triple Swing, also known as East Coast Swing, was developed in the 1940s by American ballroom studios as a simplified form of the Lindy Hop, which originated in the dance halls of Harlem in the late 1920s. Jive is its competitive ballroom cousin, codified in the mid-20th century as one of the five International Latin dances.

Jive caffeinates the Triple Swing: higher knees, sharper kicks, a more elevated posture, and a faster, flashier performance. The challenge for dancers across both variants lies in sustaining a relaxed, buoyant quality while executing precise rhythmic footwork, and in the give-and-take of lead and follow that allows for spontaneous variation without losing connection.

Ballroom-style Rumba, like the cha-cha-chá, arose from the Afro-Cubano rhythms of Havana. It developed in East Coast ballrooms in the 1930’s alongside the Lindy Hop. Slow and expressive, dancers allow the hip to settle while the upper body stays isolated. Dancers snap with speed and control into figures, then settle and sway their hips to create tension and romance.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, eastern Cuba produced one of the most influential musical traditions of the modern era, a fusion of complex Bantu rhythmic structures with Spanish guitar and song forms, giving rise to son, rumba, danzón, mambo, and their many cousins. These forms reshaped jazz, traveled the hemi-sphere, and seeded a family of closely related social dances learned at family parties across Latin America and the Caribbean. Salsa is a beginner-friendly dance built on a quick-quick-slow, quick-quick-slow rhythm over eight counts, with partners moving through turns, cross-body leads, and intricate arm work.

Samba originated in Brazil in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, emerging from the Afro-Brazilian communities of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro as a fusion of West African rhythms, drumming traditions, and Portuguese melodic influences. The street and carnival samba danced in Rio is loose, grounded, and improvisational, with a characteristic bounce. Ballroom samba structures it into a traveling partner dance with defined figures and pronounced hip action. Samba is joyous and playful, contrasting with the sultry Rumba and the dramatic Tango.

Tango emerged in late 19th century Argentina and Uruguay along the Río de la Plata, in the working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo where African, European, and Creole traditions converged. English and American ballroom studios adapted and standardized the style you see here. Physically demanding, with dramatic intensity and sharp movements, its technique is almost entirely distinct from the subtle and improvised social dance still danced in Argentine milongas.

Originating in late 18th-century Austria, the Viennese Waltz was once condemned as scandalous for bringing partners into a closed embrace. Its rapid tempo, roughly twice that of the standard waltz, demands extraordinary stamina and precise balance, as dancers must keep spinning without sacrificing poise or musicality.

https://bellevuechamberchorus.org/about/

Ben Luedcke, Artistic Director

Debra Defotis, Development Director

Cori Belle, Accompanist

Imran Goychayev, Assistant Conductor

May 2026 Chorus Personnel:

Soprano: Maria Bayer, Debra Defotis, Shannon Glenn, Megumi Hayashi, Emily Lapin, Melissa Malouf, Kathy McMillan, Meg Oshima, Audrey Wang Gosselin*, Jane Wasell

Alto: Toma Aliyeva*, Kristine Bryan*, Elena Camerini, Wei Chen, Kristine Gilreath, Christine Goetzinger, Monica Harris, Anita Lenges, Michelle Lin, Karin Swenson-Moore, Kristen Wright*

Tenor: Imran Goychayev, Melanie Grube, Michael Grube, Jim Leininger*, Kennedy Stewart, Albert Tsai, David Varner

Bass: Orion Bloomfield, Allan Chartrand, Dennis Defotis, Jan De Wulf, Jason Holt, Mark Liebendorfer,
James McTernan*, Fabien Mousseau, Eric Mullen, Stephen Thornsberry, Lawrence Yang

* board member