Cutri’s documentary examines the world of extreme sports including socio-economic factors and peak in participation Extreme sports continue to fascinate and entertain the public even after their long history beginning in the 1950s. It is nearly impossible to peel your eyes from the seemingly superhuman feats athletes perform as they fly, jump and twist through the air. Safety is put on the backburner as participants appear to defy human limitations. In recent years, there has been a boom in the popularity of these kinds of sports. Although School of Communications professor Chris Cutri does not participate in extreme sports himself, he is passionate about understanding the spike in participation because of his previous projects focused on the sociology of sports. “These pursuits are becoming more and more common,” Cutri said. “I wanted to find out why.” The documentary — filmed entirely in black and white — was recently picked up by First Run Features — a prominent distributor of independent films based in New York City. Cutri’s film explores the psychology of extreme sports such as wingsuit jumping, ultramarathons and highlining. Read the full article on the School of Communications website.

Dancers from the International Folk Dance Ensemble worked with artists from across the world to bring a diverse performance to BYU

Rector encouraged students to pursue musical collaboration regardless of fame or fortune

Woods emphasized key principles of faith and personal revelation in translating works of art

Students Attend and Present Research at National Dance Education Conference

11 Department of Dance students and nine faculty members attended the National Dance Education Organization’s annual conference in Miami

Adams shares career advice with student writers and recent graduates hoping to work in the industry

It was NCAA star player Grayson Allen’s first game back after his suspension that came from deliberately tripping an opposing player. Everyone in the press room was fighting their way to him, including 20-year-old Abigail Keenan. This was only the beginning of many experiences where fighting her way through unseen obstacles would lead her to achieve her dreams. Her ability to pivot and find unique opportunities led her to photographing The Bucket List Family and to interning with the Los Angeles Lakers. With everyone surrounding Allen in the locker room, Keenan had to think fast. She knew that she wanted that shot, but how could she get it? “This was my first time rushing into the locker room, and I had no idea what to do,” Keenan said. “Being the newcomer once again, I saw a three-person deep wall surrounding Allen.” Clawing her way through eager reporters, she still couldn’t fight her way through the barricade of people surrounding Allen. Keenan reached down and tilted her camera up. She took a chance and shot between the legs of the man in front of her. With her fingers crossed that the angle was right, she snapped a picture hoping to capture where Allen was sitting. She then looked at the picture on her camera, and to her surprise, the photo was not only in focus but also in perfect lighting. What occurred that day in the press room foreshadowed the rest of Keenan’s journey — nothing is off limits. Keenan, a former Daily Universe photographer and 2019 BYU School of Communications graduate, saw what felt like a far-fetched dream became reality when she scored an internship with the Lakers. However, the path that led her there was anything but conventional. Read the full article at universe.byu.edu.

Buehler will present the importance of collecting personal histories in his upcoming lecture

A bond forged 40 years ago was renewed this year by BYU’s largest-ever performing tour. In the most unlikely of long shots, BYU’s Young Ambassadors became the first Western performing group to enter communist China in 1979, finding sudden fame and forging an improbable bond with the Chinese people—a friendship now 40 years strong. It’s a relationship marked by academic and cultural exchanges, faculty collaborations, long-standing study-abroad programs, and 30 repeat trips by BYU performing groups. In nearly six decades of sending student performing groups abroad, BYU had taken on some pretty ambitious tours, but the 2019 tour exceeded them all with eight groups combined for 167 performers in total. Throw in the tech crew, directors, and other support staff, and the company numbered more than 200. For two years Janielle Hildebrandt Christensen, producer Michael G. Handley (BS ’83), and others worked to craft a show around various Chinese audience interests—including Broadway, Riverdance and American clog, ballroom dance, a capella, and an addition of BYU's dunk team for basketball-crazed Chinese audiences. Wanting more than just a variety show, the creators wove together a theme of shared values—family, learning, friendship, harmony, and love. Calling it BYU Spectacular, they built a show to live up to the name, with pump-up lighting for the dunk team’s acrobatics, laser projections for a John Williams fanfare by the Chamber Orchestra, larger-than-life lion puppetry operated by Cougarettes for a Vocal Point cover of “Circle of Life,” and stilts and a Segway for a dreamlike Greatest Showman number by the Young Ambassadors. When technical director Travis L. Coyne arrived in Beijing five days before the first performance in May, he expected his 20 pallets of lights, sound equipment, scenery, staging, projectors, puppets, and trampolines to already be in country and working their way through customs. However, the shipping company told him there had been a delay, but—not to fear—it would all arrive shortly. Two days later, the equipment still not in China, the company admitted that the load had been bumped from its flight and sent instead to Newark. New Jersey. USA. There was no way it could arrive and pass customs in time for the Beijing performances. “We were praying for a miracle,' said Christensen. Read more at magazine.byu.edu

Greg S. (BFA ’17) and Jean Mcfarland Bean (BA ’17) were BYU dropouts. After a baby and an illness derailed their studies in the 1980s, they decided to leave BYU and head to Washington state. Greg, who had been working nights in Utah with the Springville Police Department, got a job as an officer in Bellevue, Washington, and was eventually promoted to detective. One day his lieutenant ordered him to a weeklong forensic-art class. Then a self-described “art imbecile,” Greg hadn’t put pencil to paper since middle school; this class began a lifelong journey into art. The teacher began by saying that art isn’t about the pencil in your hand, but about what you can see. Those words “literally changed my life and changed the way I saw people,” says Greg. By the end of the week, he could draw “a decent-looking human head,” and by the end of his career on the force, he had become the foremost forensic artist in the Seattle area, helping apprehend scores of criminals with his composite sketches. Meanwhile, Jean developed her own native interest in art. Thirty years after leaving Provo, the Beans received a clear prompting that, even though it was early, it was time for Greg to retire from the police force, and even though it was late, they needed to return to BYU. Read more at magazine.byu.edu More About the Beans “We work on commissions in our home studio together, we go out and paint together, we go to museums together,” says Greg about spending time with his wife, Jean. Their mutual love of art has provided a way for the Beans to grow together, including getting their art degrees at BYU as older students after early retirement. They’ve traveled to galleries all over and spent countless hours discussing artists and paintings. View some of their work at magazine.byu.edu

Nearly $100,000 was granted by the endowment to more than a dozen composers