The Diavolo Dance Theatre, internationally renowned for the unique way in which it reinvents dance, reimagines theatre and redefines thrills, visits Brigham Young University with “Transit Space” and “Trajectoire,” Wednesday, March 19, in the de Jong Concert Hall. Tickets start at $20 ($10 off with BYU or student ID and $3 off for senior citizens or BYU alumni) and can be purchased at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-2981, or at byuarts.com/tickets. The Diavolo Dance Theatre is part of BYU’s BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series, and takes movement, athletics and daring to the extreme, creating abstract narratives about the human experience through surreal tableaux. The company has an extensive performance history in its home city of Los Angeles, as well as throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. In more than 14 seasons of touring, Diavolo has performed for hundreds of thousands of concertgoers worldwide, as well as millions more on television. “Architecture in motion—a unique and fascinating approach to making dance—is the perfect way to describe this unique and fascinating dance company,” said BYU professor Jeffrey Martin, presenter of The Diavolo Dance Theatre. “However, even calling Diavolo a dance company imposes unwanted limits and restrictions upon its work; as you will soon experience, it seems to reach beyond that somehow.” The cast crew consists of Jacques Heim as artistic director, Jennifer Cheng as executive director and Dusty Alvarado, Ana Brotons, Leandro Damasco Jr., Alicia Garrity, Brandon Grimm, Shauna Martinez, Ezra Masse-Mahar, Chelsea Pierce, Rick Santizo, Amy Tuley and Garrett Wolf as performers. Founded in 1992 by Jacques Heim, choreographer of Cirque du Soleil’s KA, Diavolo has developed a reputation for stunning, innovative movement on oversized surrealistic sets and everyday structures. Diavolo performs a distinct style of Architecture in Motion that uses abstract and recognized structures to explore the relationship between the danger of our environment and the fragility of the human body. The dance theatre is a fusion of many different movement vocabularies such as everyday movement, ballet, contemporary, acrobatics, gymnastics, martial arts and hip-hop. For more information contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348 or ken_crossley@byu.edu. Source: BYU News

Brigham Young University’s Living Legends will perform a celebration of Latin American, Native American and Polynesian song and dance in a concert at the de Jong Concert Hall Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22, at 7:30 p.m.

This past weekend marked the local American Advertising Awards Gala, formerly known as the Addys. BYU advertising students brought home a total of ten awards from the event.

Janielle Christensen, artistic director In a performance of extravagant dancing, culturally-inspired music and intricate costumes, Brigham Young University’s Living Legends celebrates the Latin American, Native American, and Polynesian cultures in Seasons. Each year, hundreds of BYU students audition for the opportunity to pay tribute to their ancestors through music and dancing. The audition process is competitive–accepting only the best singers and dancers–but all Living Legends members are of Native American, Latin American, or Polynesian heritage. Spectacular choreography, colorful costumes, and heart-pounding music bring to life the skill, beauty and authenticity of these traditional cultures. From the graceful Hawaiian hula and Mexican fiesta dances to the excitement and beauty of a Native American pow wow, this year’s Living Legends performance reflects the cycle of civilizations through the portrayal of changing seasons and weaves together legends of the past with the reality of today. Performance Information Feb. 21-22, 7:30 pm Age 2+ admitted to this performance with a ticket.

The Brigham Young University School of Music will present alumnus Jack Wood in “A Salute to Frank Sinatra,” featuring the BYU Synthesis Band and the Philharmonic Orchestra, guest directed by Vincent Falcone, the former music director for Frank Sinatra, Saturday, Mar. 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall.

Brigham Young University’s School of Music will present its Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christian Smith, in concert Wednesday, Feb. 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall. Tickets are $6 and are available through the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-4322, or online at byuarts.com/tickets. The Symphony Orchestra will present a concerto concert featuring seven winners of the BYU Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. The concert will include soloists Logan Anderson on trumpet, Hillary Dalton on violin, Trevor Giles on alto saxophone, Hannah Cope on harp, Alissa Freeman on piano and Katherine Armantrout as soprano. The Symphony Orchestra is a preparatory orchestra in the School of Music. The symphony shares the responsibilities of collaborating with the ensemble concerts presented in the school, as well as performing regularly with musical theatre productions. For more information about the performance, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348. Source: BYU News

Students, faculty and the local community are invited to attend free lectures this week about a famous 1940’s musical composition and its accompanying choreography.

(Pictured Above: Marc-André Hamelin)BYU is now home to an incredible and rare musical instrument–a Fazioli grand piano.Scott Holden, department chair of keyboard performance, fell in love with the Fazioli piano when he first played it. He knew instantly that he had found the perfect partner for the School of Music.

David Ladd won Golden Globe for his performance as Alan Ladd's son

Enjoy the highlights of the exceptional results of hard work and dedication from our students in the College of Fine Arts and Communications. The year’s synopsis of the pride and glory of the arts at BYU is now available in an online format. Within this online magazine are bonus interviews, articles, videos, and more to display the vast success our students have had in every department in the CFAC throughout 2013.

The last day for patrons to see Danish artist Carl Bloch’s 'Sermon on the Mount,' 'The Shepherds and the Angel,' 'Let the Little Children Come Unto Me' and 'Healing of the Blind Man' at the BYU Museum of Art is Saturday, Feb. 22. Free tickets to see the exhibition are available online at sacredgifts.byu.edu/tickets. Because of the high demand for tickets, patrons are encouraged to reserve them as early as possible. On view now as part of the museum’s popular exhibition, “Sacred Gifts: The Religious Art of Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Frans Schwartz,” the paintings will be switched out for four other Bloch works also from the King’s Oratory at the Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark. The exhibition will be closed during daytime hours on Monday, Feb. 24, to install the second set of paintings, and will open again that evening. The new paintings to be installed are Bloch’s 'Cleansing of the Temple,' 'The Denial of Peter,' Christ on the Cross' and 'The Burial.' These masterworks will remain on display until the close of the exhibition May 10. Due to the extraordinary nature of the loan from Frederiksborg, only four of the eight paintings can be displayed at a time. Having never before left the castle, these Carl Bloch works are on loan to the museum under special circumstances and will never leave Frederiksborg again, according to Mette Skougaard, director of the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg. For more information on the exhibition, visit sacredgifts.byu.edu.

The famous saying about the grass being greener on the other side also applies to food. A Taco Bell commercial written by a BYU advertising student captures how easy and tempting it is to steal somebody else’s tasty-looking food. The Taco Bell commercial, written by BYU advertising student Camille Trent, followed her script titled “Girlfriend.” The commercial focuses on a selfish, food-loving girlfriend who steals delicious food from her boyfriend. Taco Bell’s goal with the commercial is to convince customers that its menu item called “loaded grillers” is cheap enough for people to buy their own. At the end of the commercial the angry boyfriend hands his girlfriend her own loaded griller, achieving his goal of not having to share and making her happy. So how does a student get an opportunity to make scripts for big advertising companies? One way is by joining BYU’s Ad Lab. The ad lab provides students such as Trent valuable hands-on experience working closely with advertising agencies. “The ad lab is a great program at BYU,” said Trent. “We have a lot of alumni who have gone on to big advertising agencies.” Trent, like many who have gone before her, wrote scripts and created ad ideas that companies used in upcoming commercials. The BYU Ad Lab, which works closely with an adverting agency called DRAFTFCB, provided Trent with the opportunity of a lifetime. DRAFTFCB, which does advertising for Taco Bell, asked BYU Ad Lab students to create an ad that specifically fit what Taco Bell was looking for in its commercial theme, survivor of the selfish. It took many hours of brainstorming and writing 4—5 scripts for Trent to finally receive inspiration. “I brainstormed ideas with my husband, Brandon, and he gave me the idea that I needed to think of the perfect scenario,” Trent said. “He told me that I always steal food from him rather than getting my own, and that’s where the idea came from.” DRAFTFCB loved Trent’s idea and decided to use her script in Taco Bell’s commercial. Since the commercial aired this week, Trent has received a lot of positive feedback from peers, friends and family. “I put in up on Facebook a couple days ago, and there (are) now as many likes on the video as there (were) when I got engaged and married,” Trent said. “I got a ton of comments on the video, and it’s been a cool experience hearing feedback from people who aren’t at BYU.” Source: The Digital Universe