Yes, the phases are HP based. The track is designed to loop easily if the fight is longer than the music. If you play the game yourself you'll notice it :)

7:32 man discovers perspective for the first time

As for why hornet fights the dancers, they are Automatons, wound up constructs made to wow a long passed audience with an awe inspiring, deadly dance of blades.

Hornet stumbles onto their "dance floor" and thus becomes an unwitting part in the pre programmed performance.

Phase 4 as described by the earlier comment happens after 1 of the Robots is destroyed but the other one still activates and follows its assigned path, maybe not even realizing that its partner is missing. Its attacks now lack all danger for the Partner is no more.

There is a move from the previous phases where the Dancers meet in the air in the middle of the arena, spinning around and embracing each other in an whirlwind of blades.

In Phase 4 the lone Dancer still attempts to perform this move, but, missing its partner to spin aroud, it just hangs in the air in an attempted enbrace, before slowly sinking to the ground, stopping for a moment only to try to resume the dance again.

(Lore/sadness dump continued in comments)

I'd love to see you react to the full soundtrack! Not many people have done full reactions to it yet.

my favourite bosses of the game, so glad to see more people appreciating it

6:56 not all instruments are live, I believe, most of the background instruments especially are probably not live

The shift is p obvious because they have a combined large attack that has them cover most of the screen and then hug on the way down.

When its just one person they do preform that attack,but the hug turns into a slow shitty descent and then they functionally give up.  Its one of the longest pauses between boss attacks in the game

It really goes to show how video games can capture every aspect of Theatre while still maintaining the core experience of gaming. I've been gaming since the 90's and this bossfight is up there as stuff that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

The playfulness of Phase 2, the curveball of Phase 3, and the fakeout of Phase 4. There's not a lot of video game bosses where you felt like you were enveloped in a story whilst fighting for your life. And also funny how despite how easy the boss seems, you still end up making mistakes. But you come back for more without an ounce of frustration.

That is why Hollow Knight & Silksong was an instant classic for me. Standing next to the likes of Castlevania, Final Fantasy, and Bloodborne.

I love watching full vods of listening to the osts of Silksong and its precursor Hollow Knight

W reaction love your realisms

Those comments are extremely spoilerish. Just play the game indeed.
Also would love a whole 2 hour video on YT with the whole ost. I would probably watch it all on my own time though.
Hopefully people don't spoil the whole game for you when you do it on live stream.

I would definitely watch either the livestream or the VOD, even if it's over 2 hours.
I've watched like 4 people react to the full OST one sitting, and YouTube needs more full soundtrack reaction videos

My interpretation of the third phase: the fast bit is the less damaged dancer and the slower part of the music represents the dancer that’s breaking down

i think the best way to appreciate a lot of the music is to play the game or watch recordings of the fights, because a lot of the tracks are very dynamic in how they relate interact with the game itself and the lore/context

If you livestteam the whole soundtrack (PLEASE), I may not be able to attend live, but I would 100% watch the entire VOD (at my own pace of course) if you make it available to the public afterwards :)

I may or may not be there live, but I would still watch the stream if you did one!

Hornet fights the dancers largely because she is trying to figure out who kidnapped her and to challenge them. While exploring and trying to get to that final boss she runs into the dancers. They're a tragic story unto themselves, and Hornet destroys them unknowingly. She also can't avoid doing so, as it turns out, they were protecting the mechanism that will allow her to go to the final boss.

the score is a hybrid score between real and vst instruments (christopher larken, bandcamp daily)

Crotales?

also its a music box is the main instrument