Students and alumni share their memories of
BYU’s nationally acclaimed Ballroom Dance Company
Founded in 1960 by professor Benjamin F. de Hoyos and his wife Joesphine, BYU’s Ballroom Dance Company has been dazzling audiences across the globe for 60 years. In that time, the company has performed for audiences throughout Asia, Europe, South America and Oceania, earning numerous championship titles and awards. Despite humble beginnings, BYU now has one of the largest and most influential ballroom dance programs in the country and hosts the U.S. amateur championships annually. Company alumni have gone on to become master teachers, national and world champions and participants on the popular TV shows “Dancing With the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” But the company does more than produce champion dancers. It instills lessons of hard work, generosity and lifelong learning in its members, leaving them with values that last a lifetime. “My experience with the Ballroom Dance Company has taught me the most important lessons that I could have acquired in my time at BYU,” said Autumn Hawkes, a member of the company since 2017. “I have learned how to more effectively communicate with others, even those I just met, and how to take criticism in a healthy way. I've learned to be adaptive and open to trying new things, and how to collaborate in creating something beautiful.” Read more at dance.byu.edu