Madeline Jennejohn
CFAC Creative Works Contest
2024 Winners
Madeline Jennejohn | Essay
2nd Place
Dance
Madeline Jennejohn is a political science major and dancer on Theatre Ballet. After she graduates BYU, she hopes to dance professionally for a few years before going to grad school to either study law or dance.
"Two things I firmly believe in are these: that we are placed on this Earth to build connections and relationships with our fellow man, and that we are creative beings. Being a part of this process is part of fulfilling those things to me."
By Madeline Jennejohn
Last winter, I had the opportunity to perform in George Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht Ballet as part of BYU Theatre Ballet’s Masterworks series. With this opportunity, each member of the company and I had the chance to work with a répetiteur, Diana White, who danced as a member of the New York City Ballet and knew Balanchine personally. For two weeks in October and one week in January, we worked with Diana as she taught us the steps and ensured the intention behind every movement was there before our performances in January 2024.
Diana was exacting and demanded a lot from us– I remember doing the opening counts of the ballet, where groups of women sauté onstage with vigor, over and over again until we matched the energy she wanted. It was at times frustrating, and I made lots and lots of mistakes, but the process was ultimately invigorating.
One thing about Diana is that she often shared stories of her time working with Balanchine. On a day when we were not dancing with as much energy as we were supposed to, she told us an analogy that Balanchine shared, speaking of an almost empty bottle of toothpaste. We have all experienced having a bottle of toothpaste that we swear we will replace, yet we can keep squeezing more and more out of it each day. Similarly, each of us always has more to give—the steps can always be more precise, more emotion can be felt, and the ballet can always be danced bigger. “Now is all there is,” Balanchine said, so why be stingy with our gifts? As Christians, we are told to present our bodies as a living sacrifice unto God (Romans 12:1). We must give all that we have to God—our time, our talents, our resources—but the greatest gift is ourselves. To me, committing wholeheartedly to whatever it is we’re doing and whatever talent we want to share is part of this duty. When we step onstage and recognize the privilege of performing and the blessing of our bodies, and give all that we have to our performance, we are, in a way, acting as the “living sacrifices” that the scriptures speak of.
Not only did working with Diana on Walpurgisnacht improve my technique, stamina, and musicality, but I was able to become woven into the fabric of tradition that links all of us in this art form together. In the gospel, we are taught to learn of our forefathers, to understand where we came from, to keep records, and to pass on wisdom through the generations. While generally a secular pursuit, the art of dance is also built on this principle – by learning of my “forefathers” (and “foremothers”), I become part of something greater than only myself, linking myself to Diana and Balanchine and Bournonville, to the Italians and the Russians and the French. Two things I firmly believe in are these: that we are placed on this Earth to build connections and relationships with our fellow man, and that we are creative beings. Being a part of this process is part of fulfilling those things to me.
The part I looked forward to most when performing Walpurgisnacht was the finale, when all 24 women let out their hair and spin and leap across the stage with as much unrestraint as we can muster. I remember waiting from my wing, and when the time came, bursting out and trying to jump higher than I ever had before, and I remember the tingling sensation that started from the top of my head and came every time I got to this section of the ballet. For years, I have tried to understand how the Spirit speaks to me personally—for some it seems so obvious, which is a feeling I haven’t always shared. This, however, was one of the clearest witnesses of the Spirit I’ve had, confirming that God speaks to us not just in His temples or His churches, but as we go about our daily lives as well. It has also played a role in my confirmation that I would like to keep dancing, if possible, after college, which I have had trouble deciding for a long time.
I am grateful that BYU and my directors gave us this opportunity to perform a ballet by a great choreographer and learn from one of the best in the field by participating in Masterworks and performing Walpurgisnacht. I am also grateful to those who came before me in this art form and for those who created the beautiful music to which I had the privilege of dancing. Above all, I am grateful for the Spirit, for its great power that can be felt through dance and the direction it provides, and for my body and its ability to move and be soft and sharp, fast and strong. I am grateful for the beautiful and profound process of moving and creating.