Composer, pianist, and author William Bolcom has these comments to make regarding his new Dance Portraits: "These three dance-pieces are portraits of friends who are each wonderful pianists but are perhaps better known for something else in music. Dennis Russell Davies is a renowned conductor; Curtis Curtis-Smith is an extremely talented composer; Abba Bogin is a highly successful conductor and commercial musician. Such vernacular styles as soft-shoe and Argentine and Brazilian tango are found in these works. The Dead Moth Tango got its title from a moth I killed inadvertently; Knock-Stuck features, as well as knocking sounds, a particular type of syncopation found often in Curtis-Smith's compositions; Abbacadabra celebrates the volubility all of Abba Bogin's friends will recognize."