BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble Teams Up With BYU Rhythm N’ Soul Collective, Mountain Strings and Jazz Voices to Bring Holiday Traditions from around the World to BYU Campus
BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble’s (IFDE) “Christmas Around the World” is a longstanding, community-favorite tradition and this year the program will represent 14 different cultural dance styles and involve special dance and musical guests. The performance will feature a full cast of over 200 dancers and 18 musicians, including local guest performers Rocky Mountain Express Cloggers, the BYU Rhythm N’ Soul Collective and BYU music groups Mountain Strings and Jazz Voices.
Audiences can look forward to a myriad of traditional dances, live music, pre-show activities and concessions and a nativity with a life-sized camel to enhance their Christmas spirit and broaden their understanding of worldwide holiday traditions.
The performance will feature traditional dances from Poland, Ukraine, Brazil, Czechia, Slovakia, Yiddish, Canada, Scotland, India, Spain, Philippines, Puerto Rico, West Africa and the United States. It will highlight some of the many ways people celebrate Christmas and other seasonal religious holidays around the world. “I hope the audience will learn something new about each tradition presented, and maybe some will connect with their own heritage,” said International Folk Dance Ensemble director Jeanette Geslison.
“Christmas Around the World” provides unique experiential learning opportunities for the students. This year, they had the opportunity to work with choreographers Steven Weintraub (Yiddish), Gary Larsen (Canadian step dancing), Greg and Sally Rawlings (India) and Mateus Arruda and Priscilla Werner (Southern Brazilian Gaucho dances). Geslison and three students traveled to Madrid, Spain last summer to study Flamenco dance with Megumi Viola Petronero. Petronero choreographed a tango for the group which will premiere in “Christmas Around the World” this year.
Geslison worked directly with Mountain Strings and Jazz Voices to develop the concept for the show opener, ‘Tis the Season. The two music ensembles have created an arrangement that they will perform live during the performance. West African choreographer Ishmael Konney taught Rhythm N’ Soul Collective students how to drum and will join the students as lead drummer during this feature piece.
“I hope the audience will feel the same excitement that the students feel,” said Geslison. “The students are the heart and soul of this production. They are hardworking and dedicated as they learn more about our friends and neighbors from around the world through artistic presentations.”
Performance Details:
Date & Time: Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 7 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Location: Marriott Center
Price: $13–22
Tickets: Available online at BYU Tickets