Brigham Young University's Ballroom Dance Company has dazzled Beijing with their latest showcase 'Capture the Magic'. Champions of the prestigious Blackpool Dance Festival, the team has astounded audiences worldwide with their precision, beauty and skill. During last year's Meet in Beijing arts festival, the Tsinghua University embraced Brigham Young University's Young Ambassadors and their energetic musical. Now at this very same place, another star of the BYU, the Ballroom Dance Company is ready to kick off its world champion showcase 'Capture the Magic'. Championship formation, breath-taking lifts and spins, no one does it better than the Ballroom Dance Company. The troupe has been touring and performing in China since the 1980s, but for most audiences here, the troupe's most recognizable moment came ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The troupe will continue touring in various locations, including Jinan, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. So make sure to plan ahead to capture the magic. Read more at CCTV >>>>

Having already amazed thousands of concertgoers, Rebecca Pedersen impressed judges in this weekend’s win at the Licia-Albanese Puccini Vocal Competition in New York City.

The leader in off-campus partnerships at BYU, the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration has recently united with the Utah Highway Safety (UHS) office and Megaplex Theatres to inform the public of the dangers of drunk driving.

Taking the world by storm, the Ballroom Dance Company, Young Ambassadors and BYU Singers kicked off their respective tours this week. Read on for updates on their progress:

Being one of the largest colleges on campus, the College of Fine Arts and Communications hosted three separate convocation exercises on Friday, April 25, 2014.

The Department of Dance lost a beloved member of their faculty on Monday, April 28, 2014.

Enthusiastic patron response cited by BYU Museum of Art staff as main motivator In the wake of overwhelming patron response to Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann, and Frans Schwartz, Brigham Young University Museum of Art officials and art lenders from Europe and New York negotiated an exhibition extension through May 26, two weeks later than the original May 10 closing. Along with the extension, the Museum announced an expansion of operating hours (10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday starting May 1) to accommodate more attendees during the exhibition’s busiest times. After Sacred Gifts closes, the visitation times will return to normal Museum hours. “We tend to see a significant attendance increase in the evenings and during the final weeks of an exhibition,” said Hilarie Ashton, Marketing & Public Relations Director at the Museum. “By flexing with this trend, we hope to accommodate the many patrons still wishing to see Sacred Gifts.” Free tickets for the first week of the extension (May 12-17) will become available May 4, and tickets for the second week of the extension (May 19-24, 26) will become available May 11. Tickets are required for admittance to Sacred Gifts, and can be reserved in advance online at sacredgifts.byu.edu/. Standby tickets are also available as supply and space permit and are distributed to patrons on-site for same-day redemption at designated times. More than 190,000 individuals have visited the exhibition as of mid-April, and tens of thousands of additional tickets have already been distributed to patrons who plan to attend. Ashton and other Museum staff feel that even more compelling than the high ticket counts is the enthusiasm with which patrons have responded to the Sacred Giftsinvitation to share the exhibition and their own gifts with others. Thousands of Museum visitors have already participated in a crowd-funding campaign for the conservation of the paintings as a gift to the exhibition’s nine art lending institutions. Nearly $60,000 has been raised for the effort to-date. The lenders have also graciously been inundated with more than 11,000 heartfelt, digital and physical thank you messages from patrons. Notes continue to roll in each day. “I don't have words to describe my gratitude. All superlatives fall short,” wrote visiting patron Val Nielsen. “I know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and was well worth the 800 miles traveled to get myself here to see it.” Heather Hyte of New York called the exhibition “absolutely breathtaking” and fellow Museum visitor Allen Ostergar of California dubbed the artwork “the most moving paintings of the Savior that ever seen.” With more than 1,500 shares and tweets featuring Sacred Gifts images directly from the museum’s Facebook page, enthusiastic patrons have also encouraged the online community to both virtually and physically attend the exhibition. Returning patron Rod Olsen (@bhrod) tweeted, “Breathtaking, still. If you haven’t made a trip to this show, DO IT NOW! My 2nd time!!” Tweeted fellow patron Emmeline Watts (@sweetmline), “Amazing Art by 3 amazing artists at the #BYU museum of art. It’s a must see!” Facebook posts by Richard Young, Charlene Mackay Crozier and Kim Riding Maxwell are more examples of many online patrons lauding the exhibition as “once-in-a-lifetime,” and “must-see.” Much of this sharing was made available via the Sacred Gifts iPad app, an educational, interactive resource developed specifically for the exhibition. About 50,000 individuals have already experienced the app either in the Museum or off-site. In December, the app was made available as a free download in the iTunes store and has since been downloaded in more than 24 different countries. Daily sales in the Museum’s gift shop during Sacred Gifts have been up 500% on average, record highs for the organization. The nearly 15,000 prints, calendars and other items related to the exhibition that have sold since the November 2013 opening are leaving a lasting impression in the homes and lives of patrons long after their visit. ABOUT THE MUSEUM One of the largest and best-attended art Museums in the Mountain West, the BYU Museum of Art offers a dynamic exhibition schedule that includes displays of its permanent collection, world-class traveling shows and thought-provoking exhibitions organized by Museum curators. One of the Museum’s most important roles is its contribution to the academic mission of Brigham Young University. From the research and study of the artworks in the permanent collection, to the teaching and learning that occurs in classrooms and galleries, the Museum plays an important role in the academic pursuits of many students at BYU. Concurrently, the Museum seeks to connect to broad community audiences through its exhibitions and educational programming. Source: BYU News

For more than a decade now, you could say that the BYU Center for Animation has “owned” the animation category at the College Television Awards, commonly called the “student Emmys.”

padding: 0.8em 2.3em;

Jerry L. Jaccard, associate professor of Music Education in the BYU School of Music, is determined to tell the story of one of music education’s most influential women.

A YouTube series created by a BYU Theatre and Media Arts professor and alumnus is receiving recognition in festivals in Utah and throughout the country. “Pretty Darn Funny,” created by Jeff Parkin and Jared Cardon, is a web series sponsored by Deseret Book. The comedy has led the charge as the first Church-sponsored entry into scripted entertainment that has since yielded shows like “Studio C” and “Granite Flats.” It recently was nominated for 10 awards at the 3rd Annual Filmed in Utah Awards, where it won three: Best YouTube Channel, Best Ensemble Cast and Best Director. Parkin, the series’ director, said that he and many other colleagues wanted to create a show that anyone could watch and enjoy. “We hear from a lot of people that they watch it as a family, which is something that makes us really happy–families watching entertainment together,” Parkin said. The show recently finished its second season. The first season centers on Gracie Moore, played by Lisa Clark, a mother who forms a comedy troupe with local women to provide a clean venue for families to be entertained. The second season focuses more on Moore’s relationship with her family–ups and downs, and typical confrontations as well as successes. “I think we and Deseret Book are interested in telling stories about normal people and the fact that we makes mistakes–that it’s normal and it can be funny–instead of getting caught up in perfectionism,” Cardon said. “Laughing at your mistakes is good, and it’s healthy,” Parkin added. For the first season, BYU offered students an opportunity to work the series in exchange for university credit, and around 75 TMA students participated. For season two, about 95 percent of the current cast and crew are either BYU alumni or BYU students. The series has also produced three parody music videos. “Downton Abbey Rap,” “The Hunger Games: Moms vs. Kids!” and “Mom Footloose” have over 341,000 YouTube views combined. Though the series is targeted at an audience of LDS moms, the series gets exceptional engagement with nearly 700,000 views on its channel. Parkin and Cardon both agree that comedy can be family friendly and still be hilarious. “Even though the show is made in Utah and is sponsored by an LDS company, we continue to get lots of positive feedback from fans of divers backgrounds and faiths,” Cardon said. “It’s a great representation of who we are at BYU and as members of the Church.” Watch Pretty Darn Funny for free at www.youtube.com/user/prettydrnfunny Awards & Nominations (Wins are in Bold) Filmed in Utah Awards: 10 Nominations, 3 Wins

After a successful show and master class fall 2013, Frank Wildhorn has chosen BYU to be the venue for the upcoming 'Count of Monte Cristo' musical, for the first time on American soil. The show will be performed by BYU students in January 2015. Read complete article in the Deseret News.