Watch extracts from the Scottish Ensemble and Andersson Dance’s Goldberg Variations

Goldberg Variations – tenary patterns for insomnia is a collaboration between Glasgow-based string orchestra Scottish Ensemble and Swedish-based contemporary dance company Andersson Dance.

11 musicians and five dancers have created a new interpretation of Bach’s keyboard work in which both musicians and dancers are choreographed together as a single entity.

The Ensemble musicians not only play for the dancers, they dance with them. The resulting piece finds the playfulness of Bach’s original music and creates a classical show the like of which most audiences will not have seen before. “Dancing… is a whole different thing,” says Scottish Ensemble’s artistic director Jonathan Morton “It’s about embracing our human fragility – not a place people tend to go to in classical music.”

Goldberg Variations – ternary patterns for insomnia is at Glasgow Tramway on 13 and 14 November, Caird Hall Dundee 15 November, Eden Court Inverness 17 November, The Music Hall Aberdeen 19 November and Dance City Newcastle on 20 and 21 November.