Sandpaper Ballet Leroy Anderson

The Sandpaper Ballet is not a ballet score: Leroy Anderson intended it to be an orchestral work designed as a tribute to the soft-shoe style of dancing associated with vaudeville. Dancers from that beloved entertainment genre of yesteryear often rubbed sheets of sandpaper together to create what they believed was the right rhythmic accompaniment to their soft-shoe routines. As one might expect, Anderson's piece has been choreographed and performed by ballet companies, including the San Francisco Ballet, which regularly stages the piece. The work opens with the strange, rhythmic sound of what vaguely sounds like a snare drum played with brush strokes. But Anderson used sections of wood rubbed against sheets of sandpaper to achieve the quite unique sonic effect here. The main theme is jaunty and carefree, played by subdued, mellow strings. The music gradually takes on a slightly brighter, more colorful manner. The sandpaper rhythms continue throughout and are even heard in what one might describe as brief cadenzas. In the end, once must assess this delightful gem as another humorous, colorful piece by that master of the light classics genre.