Moccasin Dances was written for a small township located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island called

Esquimalt. The piece was written as a merging of the traditional French dance suite and the Métis sense of 

musical freedom. The Fast-Slow-Fast keeps with the traditional dance suite form that is taught in every 

music history class. The opening gigue features the alto and tenor saxophones in a light-hearted melody. The 

B section of the gigue's AB form has less of the playful quality of the A section. The Slow dance section, Air, 

begins with a flowing melody from the flutes (and possibly Northern Spirit Flutes) with the counterpoint 

becoming more important as the section moves on. There is the free movement between 3/4 and 4/4 in the 

secondary theme. The final section, a Bourée, gives the low winds a brass a chance to really show off. 

The Norther Spirit Flute parts are completely optional with all melodic content being doubled elsewhere in 

the ensemble. The piece is written for a spirit flute in the key of A minor pentatonic. For more information

about the Northern Spirit Flutes see Richard Dubé's website, www.northernspiritflutes.net.