Composed for the Los Angeles based contemporary new music ensemble, the California EAR Unit, Fanatical Dances is an eleven-minute work scored for seven players. Written to take advantage of the dynamic and flexible performing skills of the EAR Unit ensemble, the work explores the relationship between composed music and improvisation, as well as the abilities of the performers to double on multiple instruments (including passages where all seven players double on percussion instruments). Shifting between strictly composed music and free improvisation, Fanatical Dances also explores quickly shifting textures, tempos, and dance-like gestures (including allusions to dance music from Bach through Schoenberg), all culminating in a sudden explosive conclusion. Fanatical Dances was premiered by the California EAR Unit at Harvard University in 1992.