Recorded by Carrie Henneman Shaw, Jennifer Rissman, Abbie Betinis, J. David Moore, and Brian Steele at Wildsound Studio in Minneapolis

Lyrics and music by Catherine Dalton. Read more and purchase the score at catherinedalton.net

Last night I had a dream. 
I saw all the people dancing in the street.
They were all holding hands and moving their feet.
They were dancin’, they were movin’ to the rhythm of     
    the beat.
They were swingin’ they were groovin’ 
to the rhythm of the beat.
  
Dance and move, 
swing and groove,
a multitude 
to the rhythm of the beat. 
  
There were mommas and daddies, sisters and brothers,
grandmas and grandpas, cousins, uncles and aunts.
They were all holding hands and moving their feet.
They were dancin’, they were movin’ to the rhythm of the beat.
They were swingin’ they were groovin’ 
to the rhythm of the beat.
  
Dance and move, 
swing and groove,
you don’t need shoes,
to the rhythm of the beat.
  
The people were dancing across the land,
from Indonesia to Kenya, from Peru to Japan.
They were all holding hands and moving their feet.
They were dancin’, they were movin’ to the rhythm of the beat.
They were swingin’ they were groovin’ 
to the rhythm of the beat.
  
I woke up this morning, stepped into the street.
There was nobody dancing, no one moving their feet.
I held out my hand, a stranger to greet.
Soon two were dancing, two were moving to the rhythm of the beat.  
Then four were dancing, four were moving to the rhythm of the beat.
Then more were dancin’, more were movin’,
People ‘cross the land were joining their hands and dancin’
to the rhythm of the beat.

Catherine Dalton 
Copyright © 2007 Catherine Dalton

Street Dance

A Celtic-style blessing which uses nature as a guide, combining timeless harmonies and melodies

Recorded by OH Anderson Elementary School Choir, P. Brett Smith, Director

Read more and purchase the score at catherinedalton.net

The Path You Walk Upon (SA and piano)

"To Live in This World" (for SATB Voices)
Composed by Catherine Dalton
Text by Naomi Shihab Nye

Sung by Lebanon Valley Concert Choir, directed by Kyle Zeuch
Recorded by Miguel Santiago

Photo by 
Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

To Live In This World - Lebanon Valley Concert Choir

"Boxes" sung by the Atlanta Women's Chorus, Melissa Arasi, Artistic Director

converto.io

Boxes by Catherine Dalton (SSAA) - Atlanta Women's Chorus, Melissa Arasi, Artistic Director

Boxes words and music by Catherine Dalton
Performed by One Voice Mixed Chorus, Jane Ramseyer-Miller, director

Boxes (SATB) - One Voice Mixed Chorus, Jane Ramseyer-Miller, director

Interweaving melodies highlight Newell’s beautiful Earth-centered text. Premiered and performed by Lumina Women's Ensemble in 2022. https://catherinedalton.net/catalog/may-the-grace-of-the-love/

May The Grace of the Love

Love is Welcome Here - music and lyrics by Catherine Dalton, spoken word by Joe Davis.

High School Choir at the North Carolina Governor's School, Daniel Monek, director

Love Is Welcome Here

"Flight"  - Music by Catherine Dalton, Poem by Marg Walker, sung by Mezzo-soprano, Clara Oswoski. 

Recorded at the Schubert Club in St. Paul

Photo by Ronan Furuta on Unsplash

Flight

"From the State of Emptiness" blends my memories of Tibetan monks chanting heard during my travels in the East, with the melodic shape and texture of Western chant. In weaving these two styles together my intention was not to emulate any one style of sacred music, but to bring my own sacred experience to the creation of new music.

 Photo by John T on Unsplash

From the State of Emptiness

"She Rises"
Words and music by Catherine Dalton
Published by Hickory Street Publishing
www.catherinedalton.net

Recorded by Bowling Green State University Mens Chorus, directed by Richard Schnipke

Photo by Robert Lukeman on unsplash

She Rises (TTBB)

Siana EDITED to 1min

"Boxes" performed by OurSong Atlanta, directed by Robert Glor

PC: Robert Katzki

"Boxes" performed by OurSong Atlanta, directed by Robert Glor

"Praise Gaia" by Catherine Dalton, performed by Bella Lumina, directed by Michelle Gehrz

Praise Gaia, Praise Gaia!
Praise her, Praise her!
Praise her, Praise her!

Praise all her creatures on land and on sea.

Praise her, praise her,
Praise her, Praise her!

Praise her creatures that fly.

Praise her, Praise her,
Praise her, Praise her!

Praise her oceans, her rivers, her streams.

Praise her, Praise her,
Praise her, Praise her!

Praise her mountains and sky.

Praise her, Praise her,
Praise her, Praise her!
Gaia, we hear you.
Gaia, we’re listening.

Bless her orb-weavers,
Bless her song-singers,
Bless her leaf-eaters in forest green.

Gaia, we hear you.
Gaia, we’re listening.

Bless her home-builders,
Bless her shape-shifters,
Bless her secrets in ocean deep.

Praise her! Praise her!
Praise her! Praise her!
Praise her name!

©️Catherine Dalton, 2019 All Rights Reserved

"Praise Gaia" by Catherine Dalton, performed by Bella Lumina May 2023

"From The Sky I Would Come Again" moves between the the aleatoric evocative "voices" of souls flying among the clouds and a lullaby retelling of a Hmong teaching of how babies choose to answer the call to come down to earth, knowing the course of human lives. That the people they would become, and whose worlds they will share, they have always known.

Lyrics: Kao Kalia Yang
Music: Catherine Dalton
Recorded by: First Readings, J. David Moore, director

From the Sky I Would Come Again

This playful song, with text by Hmong author, Kao Kalia Yang, reminds us that mistakes can provide the opportunity for tenderness and unconditional love.

Lyrics: Kao Kalia Yang
Music: Catherine Dalton
Sung by: Osseo Senior High Chamber Singers
Photo by: Buhai Alexandru Constantin on Unsplash

I Will Mend the Fence

A jubilant celebration of energy and a reminder of the light that resides without and within all of us. 

Performance by Vox Femina Los Angeles, Iris Levine, conductor

Read more and purchase the score at catherinedalton.net

She rises up from the heather.
Her flame in hand, she crosses the sky.
When she's tired she lays down her head.
In the sweet heather, she makes her bed.

All night we tend to her flame,
her sacred light, eternal and bright.
When she wakes, she'll open her eyes.
Then up from the heather, she'll again rise.

She flames the poet's pen,
fires the forge and hearth,
lights the fire within.

Copyright © Catherine Dalton 2012

Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash

She Rises (SSAA double choir)

A Celtic-style blessing which uses nature as a guide, combining timeless harmonies and melodies

The Path You Walk Upon (SSA, piano and violin)

The poetry of Indian mystic-saint, Mirabai, flows through this piece which is part dance, part chant.

Photo by Saksham Gangwar on Unsplash

O My Friends What Can You Tell Me Of Love

Recorded by The First Readings Project Choir, J. David Moore, director 

Composed by Catherine Dalton
Poem by Hadewijch II, Translated by Jane Hirshfield

"In the Infinite" with text by 13th century lay Christian mystic, Hadewijch II, is one of the songs in my song cycle “O My Friends What Can you Tell Me of Love” for SATB choir. The song cycle features texts by female mystics from around the world and from various spiritual and religious traditions.

The poems of Hadewijch II, a name given to her because her writings were found with those of Hadewijch of Antwerp, but were in a different hand. The 13 poems by Hadewijch II, according to the translator, Jane Hirshfield, were were more  "metaphysical and intellectual." The texts were “of a different mind and temperment... and introduce a new vocabulary of words…which would be drawn upon later by male mystics such as Ruysbroeck and Eckhart.” They appeared to speak of an enlightenment experience. For example as Hadewijch notes that All things are too small to hold me and In the Infinite I reach for the Uncreated.


All things
are too small
to hold me,
I am so vast

In the Infinite
I reach
for the Uncreated

I have touched it,
it undoes me
wider than wide

verything else
is too narrow

You know this well,
you who are also there

Hadewijch II, Translated by Jane Hirshfield © 1994, Used with Permission

Read more and purchase the score at catherinedalton.net

Photo by Fey Marin on Unsplash

In the Infinite

Recorded by The Young New Yorkers' Chorus, Women's Ensemble, Michael Kerschner, director

Haunting setting of this meditative poem by 11th century Japanese poet, Izumi Shikibu, who was a part of the Golden Age in world literature that was created by women writers. (Translated by Jane Hirshfield)

Although The Wind - The Young New Yorkers' Chorus, Women's Ensemble

Sweet Radiant Mystery, words and music by Catherine Dalton

Performance by Inversion Ensemble Da Capo, Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon, director

O Sweet Radiant Mystery,
set us free from that which binds,
beckoning the soul to fly.

O Sweet Radiant Mystery,
open our eyes to see beyond
that which hides the soul from light.

O Sweet Radiant Mystery,
help us hear the endless song
of all that is and was and ever shall be.

© Catherine Dalton, 2008

Photo by Ardi Evans on Unsplash

Sweet Radiant Mystery with Handbells

"Praise Gaia" is a jubilant celebration of all life! Its exciting rhythms and grounding chants, which lead to an upbeat ending, remind Gaia that we hear her and that we're listening!  In honor of Gaia, we will have an EARTH DAY 2020 to EARTH DAY 2021 PREMIERE, with choirs around the WORLD sending love to Mother Earth. If you would like to participate, please contact Catherine at http://www.catherinedalton.net/contact

Recorded by First Readings Project, J. David Moore, director

Praise Gaia (SATB)

"She Stood for Freedom" was performed by the Cleveland Chamber Choir on March 7 and 8, 2020 as part of their "We March On!" concert in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Kent State shootings. 

"She Stood for Freedom" is a call to action with a shout out to civil right activist, Rosa Parks, and suffragist, Alice Paul. It was inspired by everyday people who have employed non-violent means to stand up for equality and the rights of others - by the everyday leaders who have the moral strength to step back from their own anger and fear to step up, sit down, rise up and hold on for freedom.

Read more and purchase the score at catherinedalton.net

Catherine Dalton

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