I actually never thought I would become a ballet class pianist. 

I’m a jazz pianist by heart, and I’ve been obsessed with improvising and jazz music since I was 12, when I stumbled on an album in my father’s record collection by the late great Oscar Peterson.

I attended the local conservatory when I was 20, and for seven wonderful years I immersed myself completely in the world of jazz, improvisation and a lot of practicing at the piano. After graduation and some amazing traveling and studying in the US and Canada, I moved to Copenhagen to continue my journey down the jazz alley.

To support myself I applied for different accompanying jobs, and one day I found myself in a dance studio improvising my way through a ballet class. There were 25 young students and, luckily for me, a very open-hearted and open-minded ballet teacher who didn’t come down on me for not knowing anything about La Bayadere or Swan Lake. 😄

But she really liked my jazzy version of Summertime for the centre tendu and, whenever she hummed some famous ballet theme for a special exercise, I was usually able to improvise something on the spot that had the same vibe. And when she didn’t give any clues, I quickly found that the movement of the dancers was a very strong source of inspiration too.

I was sold after the first class, and luckily I got the job. 

I started studying ballet accompaniment and got an amazing mentor in Kim Helweg who plays at the Royal Danish Ballet School (where I later would do some playing myself). I even dug out my grandmother’s old book of Strauss Waltzes and also managed to learn a few of the most common ballet themes.

I soon started composing my own music for the classes and, in 2013, I released my first ballet class album supervised by my good friend and ballet teacher Allan Nielsen. (Remember to join my newsletter below or HERE to get some free mp3’s and sheet music downloads from this album)

Nowadays I compose every day, and I still find tremendous inspiration in watching dance and dancers. I have the greatest respect for this art form, and helping and supporting dancers, students and teachers through my music is something I cherish deeply. In fact, it’s become a really big part of my life – although I still very much enjoy touring with my jazz trio and performing, whether it’s solo or as a sideman with one of the bands I regularly gig with here in Denmark.

As of today, I have released more than 15 albums with music for dance including a few tap dance albums and a ton of sheet music.

You can see some of them below or by clicking HERE!

Best wishes from Denmark,
Søren