The Dance of Eternity

"The Dance of Eternity" (also known as "Scene Seven: I. The Dance of Eternity" in context of the album) is the ninth track from progressive rock band Dream Theater's fifth studio album, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. It is the second instrumental track off the album. Containing 130 time-signature changes in just over six minutes, it remains one of the most rhythmically complex works in the history of rock music.

Plot

Though the track is an instrumental, the listener can understand the ideas of what the song represents. In "Metropolis—Part I: "The Miracle and the Sleeper"", the final line is "Love is the dance of eternity." This hints that this may be when Victoria and Edward are making love, or out by themselves somewhere. For the complete story, see Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory.

Musical Structures

The song is considered one of the group's most progressive and complex works. Numerous time signatures are used, including 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 3/8, 5/8, 7/8, 9/8, 11/8, 12/8, 15/8, 5/16, 6/16, 7/16, 13/16, 15/16, and 17/16. According to drummer Mike Portnoy, the band wanted to make a complex instrumental in the middle of the album, just as they had done in the middle of Metropolis Part 1. This song was also an integral part in attempting to create an extremely progressive record, as their previous album Falling into Infinity was criticized for being too mainstream and not progressive like the Dream Theater of old. The song features what is commonly considered to be one of Jordan Rudess's best keyboard solos, played in ragtime style.

In addition, the backwards music in the beginning of the song, when played backwards itself, is a sample from the instrumental section of "Metropolis—Part I" from Dream Theater's second studio album Images and Words.

Live Performances

Until 2009, the song was almost never played live in its entirety, not only because it was extremely difficult to perform, but because Dream Theater decided that the song does not seem to fit when played by itself, and is preferred to be played within the context of the storyline of the album. It started to be performed regularly as part of each concert of their 2014 Along for the Ride Tour, in which the band played four songs from the album to celebrate the album's 15th anniversary. The other three songs were "Overture 1928", "Strange Deja Vu", and "Finally Free". Live recorded performances are on the live albums Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York film, the Live Scenes From New York album, the Breaking the Fourth Wall, and, though portions, including the keyboard solo, were played on "Instrumedley" on Live at Budokan. The song has been played on the 2009 Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour in some venues, along with "One Last Time".

Trivia

Clips of "The Dance of Eternity" were used in multiple parts of the American soundtrack of the movie, Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, released in 2000.

Personnel

• John Myung – bass guitar
• John Petrucci – guitar
• Mike Portnoy – drums
• Jordan Rudess – keyboards