Tours

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EY75r0svNc With 50 students and more than 135 pieces of luggage, Living Legends arrived in Brazil ready to make a splash. The crowds were captivated by the choreography, stunning costumes, and unique cultural appeal. Audience members thanked the students for presenting the show completely in Portuguese. While in Brazil, the group visited the Associação Fernanda Bianchini, a one-of-a-kind ballet school whose student body comprises more than 300 blind dancers. Following a dance number, the blind students led the members of Living Legends in a group activity where each student was blindfolded and taught the process for learning how to dance while being visually impaired. In Foz do Iguaçu, the local stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints partnered with the mayor’s office to collaborate on a goodwill project in conjunction with the BYU performances. They offered one show ticket in exchange for a donation of a kilogram of nonperishable food, which would be given to local families in need. This food-ticket exchange took place at nine locations throughout the city. Additionally, the group was able to present and discuss the importance of higher education with more than 30 members of Brazil’s Congress and other important opinion leaders from the area. After meeting with the large congressional group, Living Legends members divided into smaller groups with local leaders to discuss how BYU fulfills the goal to be “spiritually strengthening, intellectually enlarging, and character building, leading to lifelong learning and service” — the aims of a BYU education. Read the complete stories: “Making Waves in São Paulo,” “Making History and Giving Charity” and “Leading and Loving in the Amazon.”

Professional ballroom dancer Allie Spinder recently traveled to China to perform in the BYU Spectacular, a performing group tour. Spinder, a BYU graduate, said she felt honored to represent the university again. Spinder feels that the BYU Spectacular was an important step for BYU in finding common ground with China. “What’s amazing about this show is it’s showing how alike we are,” Spinder said. “I think right now the Chinese people sense a difference and maybe even a divide between our two countries, but yet this show is bringing this great merge.” Despite the cultural differences between the U.S. and China, BYU Spectacular performers said they found common ground through dance and music while on the tour. Read the full story at universe.byu.edu.

Living Legends, BYU’s Native American dance group, had the opportunity to share traditional Native American dances in China, where audiences included people who had no idea that Native Americans still existed. “Having this opportunity to share my culture with the people of China is something special just because in a lot of countries they don’t know that natives still exist,” said Adam Conte, one of the Living Legends performers. Besides being able to share his own culture, Conte also became immersed in the Chinese culture while on tour. Conte said blending the two cultures helped melt differences. “Being able to share that with people around the world, I think that unifies us more because I think you can always draw similarities between cultures,” said Conte. Read the full story at universe.byu.edu.

From February through April, the BYU Young Company toured their production of 'Romeo y Julieta' to more than 30 school shows and workshops. Their experience was highlighted in the Summer 2018 Issue of BYU Magazine. To view the KUTV Inside the Story video and read the article, click here.

The Living Legends' two week stay in Nauvoo came to an end much too quickly! The students fell in love with the people, the historical sites, and the spirit of this remarkable city.

Following a long day of travel, the Living Legends arrived in Nauvoo at 9 PM on Monday June 2nd and ended their day with an ice cream social at the Nauvoo mission home with President and Sister Gibbons. On Tuesday, after a morning rehearsing their show and spacing dances on both the indoor and outdoor stages, the group visited the historic Nauvoo Temple. Due to violent Midwestern thunderstorms and even threats of tornadoes, the first show moved to the indoor theater in the Visitors Center where the group received a warm reception in spite of the storms outside.

The Young Ambassadors’ three-week tour of China is now a week underway, and already they have met with great success.

Starting Monday, Aug. 20, the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University will offer a 45-minute tour of the exhibition “Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture” at 1 p.m. each day, Monday through Friday. The tours will run throughout the remainder of the free exhibition, which is scheduled to end Saturday, Sept. 29.