brigham young university noteworthy amazing grace

Brigham young university noteworthy amazing grace professional#

Heaton came to BYU having taught social dance for a nationally recognized dance studio, and it seemed logical to continue that instruction at the university level. For years the university offered dance classes that included a taste of several genres, but a specific focus on social dance didn’t exist until 1953 when Alma Heaton joined the faculty as a recreation professor. Such exposure and cultural acceptance translated early on into BYU students eager to learn the two-step, waltz, and Charleston. “The pioneers danced across the plains, the Church held dance festivals for years, and until fairly recently, annual Gold and Green Balls were a highlight in many wards and stakes around the world.” “The Church has a rich history of dance,” observes Lee Wakefield, artistic director for the Ballroom Dance Company and the university’s division administrator over ballroom dance. The company used its two medleys – standard and Latin – to win two more British Formation Championships this spring, bringing its total to 14 titles.ĭance at BYU is steeped in a tradition older than the university itself. Seth Redford leads Elisabeth Larson through the sweeping steps of the Ballroom Dance Company’s standard medley. The program enjoys dedicated leadership and rich support from church, school, and community, all helping to extend the influence of ballroom at BYU from dance classes in the Wilkinson Center to stages around the world.

Brigham young university noteworthy amazing grace professional#

BYU’s ballroom program draws thousands of participants and thousands more spectators, includes on its faculty two couples who have gained world renown in professional dancing circles, and is home to a student touring team that has won 17 U.S. The dancers’ undeniable impact stems from a direct charge to represent the university and its sponsoring church as well as from a university ballroom dance program that is like no other. It has repeated itself again and again as the Ballroom Dance Company has performed before audiences in Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, and North America.

“I listened as my teammate had the wonderful opportunity to identify the Spirit for her and explain who we were and who we represent,” says Roger Wiblin, a senior history major from South Africa. After the performance, one of the dancers, an LDS returned missionary, explained it to her while another looked on. The light goes out and dancers position themselves for the next movement in a symphonic evening with BYU’s Ballroom Dance Company.Īmid the pageantry one summer evening during the team’s recent tour of the British Isles, a woman wept as she watched the students perform and wondered why she couldn’t contain her emotions. The audience responds, filling the air with thunderous approval. Now four couples move in perfect harmony with the music and each other, their dance accented by rhinestone sparkles cascading down chiffon ruffles.Īs the music fades, three of the female dancers disappear behind curtains, leaving the soloist as she began, illuminated by a single spot, floating on a blackened stage. The melodic line of Webber’s “The Music of the Night” reaches a climax, then changes moods, and three more women slip out of the wings. The men lower her to the floor, where each takes a turn leading her across a stage colored by soft lights. The spot grows, revealing four men clad in black, holding her aloft.

Strains of Andrew Lloyd Webber fill the air and a single bright spot illuminates a woman in a pale-yellow gown, floating above the stage.