BYU Dance companies Theatre Ballet and Contemporary Dance Theatre to perform in
Center for Latter-day Saint Arts Concert: VISION
VISION: An Evening of Dance explores the moving body as a source of creation, revelation and imagination through a broad range of choreographic works brought to life on the stage.
Originally slated for the 2020 Center for Latter-day Saint Arts Bicentennial Celebration of the First Vision in New York City, the VISION concert has been moved to a local venue: Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts is a non-profit organization based in New York that promotes understanding of Latter-day Saint art in the context of the broader art world.
The concert will feature 11 works by LDS choreographers, each chosen from a national selection process. Four of said selected artists are from within the BYU Dance family: Rachel Barker, Shayla Bott, Adam Dyer and Keely Song Glenn.
Two dance companies under Bott and Song, respectively, are set to perform in the concert.
Song, director over Contemporary Dance Threatre, said that the dance department’s mission statement is to integrate body, mind and spirit. “As a company, we strive for this endeavor. It’s a great honor that we have the chance to be able to perform and converge this identity into our dances and be able to witness this in others,” she said.
Theatre Ballet will be performing a work titled “Weaker.” Weaker is a contemporary ballet and although the ballet is abstract, there's a thread running through the ballet concerning women's work.
“The piece is not about how women interface with society in our culture as they learn to wear many different hats, the abstract movement vocabulary was created with this purpose in mind and it, therefore, has a deeper meaning than just shapes and positions to those dancing the work,” said Bott.
Marin Roper, the faculty member overseeing the concert, believes that this is a historic moment. “This is the first time a concert of choreographers identifying as has been produced at a professional level. This group of dynamic and accomplished dance artists are excited to present their work together for the first time on the same stage,” she said.
Roper added, “We are thrilled that the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts is taking this figurative 'leap' to amplify voices and visions of Latter-day Saint choreographers. ‘VISION: An Evening of Dance,’ will showcase the myriad of ways dance artists move through the intersection of art and belief.”
Altogether, the concert includes a cast of 70, with companies traveling from four different states to participate.
The show will be on September 24 at 7:30 p.m at the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $10 for students and seniors. Patrons can purchase tickets online here.