ballet

The Ballet Showcase Company Will Perform “Robyn Hood,” Created by Faculty and Students

Students Across the College of Fine Arts and Communications Have Accepted the Invitation to Experience Learning Outside the Classroom

After teaching and performing in Utah, Bronwen Merrill is pursuing her dance career in France Bronwen Merrill knew she wanted to dance for Disney Entertainment from the time she was 14 years old. “I had the next 10 years of my life planned out before I could even drive a car,” she said. But the BYU alum’s journey to her dream job turned out a lot different than she expected. Merrill grew up in Provo, raised by parents who taught her to appreciate the arts. She briefly took dance lessons at a young age, but it wasn’t until her mother took adult ballet classes and brought a 10-year-old Merrill along that she really fell in love with the art form. “I was totally hooked,” said Merrill. “I knew I wanted to study dance. I said to myself, after graduation I'm going to move to either Anaheim or Orlando, and I'm going to audition and get into Disney Entertainment.” When she met and married her husband at BYU, however, Merrill knew she had to reevaluate her post-grad plans. After graduating in 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in dance, she moved to China with her husband, Jordan, to teach English for four months. Three days after their return, she joined BYU’s Department of Dance, teaching beginning ballet classes as adjunct faculty. “Teaching was something I never thought I would do, but it was a great way to build up my resume, stay close to the dance community and support my little family of two while Jordan finished school,” she said. Merrill also used this time to gain more experience onstage. She performed in Hale Center Theatre’s production of “An American in Paris,” as well as “Beauty and the Beast” at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre. While her time at BYU helped her strengthen her technical base as a dancer, Merrill’s post-grad experiences onstage helped her grow as a performer. “I feel that I’ve developed a better sense of being able to get into a character and tell that character’s story,” said Merrill. “There can be a disconnect — especially with ballet dancers — because there’s such a focus on perfecting the choreography and the technique, it can be hard to focus on the story you’re trying to tell with the movement. It becomes more enjoyable for both the performer and the audience when those worlds can find a way to balance and combine.” Merrill and her husband moved to Florida, expecting to settle down, when a contract offer came from Disneyland Paris — literally a dream come true. “I was so excited, and then it suddenly became so stressful,” she said. “There were so many big changes we had to make: Jordan had to reevaluate his career path, we had to let go of our goal of homeownership, and we realized we had to sell everything we owned to move to France.” Merrill was hired on at Disneyland Paris as a character performer and parade dancer, where she finished her training right before COVID-19 closed the parks for four months. Now, she is able to perform at the parks — albeit at a distance from guests. “Being here and performing in any capacity is still very fulfilling, especially at a time when so many artists have lost their jobs or are waiting for things to open back up again,” Merrill said. “I’m really looking forward to when I get to dance down Main Street, USA for the first time.” While her experiences between graduation and Disney were never part of the plan, they expanded Merrill’s abilities as a dancer and were crucial to fulfilling her life-long dream. “Learning those skills was so important for me, and helped immensely at my audition for Disneyland Paris,” she said. “I don't think that I would have gotten as far as I did in the audition without those lessons about character work that I had post-graduation.” Throughout her journey, there were times when Merrill thought about giving up, but the experience has helped her realize the importance of following your dreams. “I just wish that more people believed in themselves enough to chase the dreams that they have,” she said. “It’s not going to be easy — a lot of the time it’s going to be really, really hard — but it’s so worth it. I just want to shout that message from the rooftops.”

Graduating dance student Anelise Leishman reflects on her time at BYU Ballet has been a central force in my life from the beginning, and one of the greatest blessings of my BYU experience was being able to continue dancing in college. While working towards my English degree and pursuing my passion for writing, I earned a minor in ballet and performed with Theatre Ballet for four years alongside a wonderful group of people who would become my closest friends. One of my most fulfilling experiences was performing in George Balanchine’s “Walpurgisnacht Ballet.” The Balanchine Trust has high standards when choosing who performs their works, and it has always been a dream of mine to dance Balanchine’s choreography onstage. In “Walpurgisnacht,” all the women let their hair down — literally — for the final movement of the ballet. I’ll never forget the exuberance and joy I felt onstage, free for once from the restraints of hairspray and bobby pins, dancing with my best friends. I got to cross something off my bucket list that weekend. However, for any serious dancer who has devoted their life to the art form, dancing in college rather than embarking on a professional career comes with a certain stigma in the ballet world. The implication is that you’re not “good enough” to make it onto a professional company and get paid to dance without a degree. That view is, of course, extremely short-sighted, and one that I’ve found to be fundamentally untrue: after all, I’ve been fortunate enough to perform works from famed choreographers like Balanchine and to share the stage with some of the most talented dancers I know. Even so, that stigma is enough to give anyone an inferiority complex. Every now and then, those thoughts creep in — I’m not good enough, and What’s the point? And lately, as my time in the studio has come to an end, the most depressing thought of them all — Did any of that hard work even matter? Merce Cunningham, one of the forefathers of American modern dance, once said, “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that fleeting moment when you feel alive.” That rings true for me, now more than ever. It can be difficult to appreciate the value of all those years of training when the only souvenirs you’re left with are the memories of past performances, of the adrenaline you felt in those few minutes onstage. My last performance with Theatre Ballet was this February, dancing “Swan Lake” at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. When the show was over, I had taken off my costume and was packing up when one of my friends came backstage to tell me that someone in the audience had asked to see me. I was confused because no one I knew was in attendance that night. It turns out a four-year-old girl had seen me in the program and wanted to meet me because we have the same first name. I got to chat with her and take a picture. She even showed me some of her dance moves, and her mom told me how excited she was to start dance lessons. After COVID-19 hit and classes everywhere were postponed indefinitely, Annelise’s mom got in touch with me for advice on how to feed her daughter’s insatiable love of dance and continue her ballet education from home. It almost felt like I was passing the torch, from one Anelise to another. Ballet is meant to look easy, but it’s not without struggle; it takes its toll. I came to BYU still recovering from my first ankle surgery, my second surgery kept me off the stage for a year, and last summer I discovered I had been dancing on a torn ligament for the entire season. But to know that I made a little girl’s day just by being onstage made my last performance a very special one. As my time at BYU — and my dance career — draws to an unexpected close, I’ve come to realize that more than anything else, dance is an exercise in sharing joy. Everything we do as dancers is for the audience. We may cross off some bucket list items along the way, but at the end of the day, it’s all for them. That’s what makes the hard work matter. The publication of student articles allows the College of Fine Arts and Communications to highlight the experiential learning opportunities and behind-the-scenes experiences of students and faculty and tell stories with a unique voice and point of view. Submit your story at cfac.byu.edu.

Ballet Showcase Company will present a broad range of styles in their fall concert Nov. 15-16 BYU’s Ballet Showcase Company — an auditioned performing group in the Department of Dance — will present their fall semester concert Nov. 15-16. The concert will feature a diverse collection of faculty works performed by the company, ranging from classical variations to comedic satire. “It’s not boring for a moment,” said company member Cassidy Wixom. “There’s such variety in it, and each piece makes you feel a different way. At one moment it’s exciting and happy, the next it’s more soft and subtle. There’s so much diversity, I feel like everyone can find something they like in it.” More than anything, the students enjoy the camaraderie and growth that comes from working hard and creating art alongside their peers. “One of my favorite things is seeing the growth and the process,” said student Chelsie Sherwood. “You can see in just the six to seven weeks we’ve been rehearsing how much we’ve grown together, and how much we’ve grown as individuals.” Read more at dance.byu.edu

“Ballet in Concert” brings “Sleeping Beauty” and modern masterpieces by Balanchine and Arpino to audiences. The BYU Department of Dance hopes to introduce new fans to the splendor of ballet with the performance of “Sleeping Beauty” on Feb 28. “Ballet, by and large through the ages, has been removed from the general public,” said Shayla Bott, the concert’s artistic director. “You’re seeing dancers that move in a way that makes the general public think, ‘I can’t even walk like that, much less do what they’re doing.’ But, we really try to make it fun.” Read more here.

Dancers can struggle with eating disorders and perfectionism, but dancing environments can play a major role in helping dancers be mentally healthy. BYU dance professors are striving to make dance environments positive and healthy for dance students. While the need to be thin and “perfect” is a common mindset in the majority of the dance world, things are much different at BYU, according to BYU ballet administrator and BYU ballet artistic director Shayla Bott. Click here to read more.

By making the world his campus, Benja Cuque is using his training to bless the lives of others through dance

Theatre Ballet dancers receive experiential learning through hands-on rehearsals with an Arpino masterwork

Five of the Brigham Young University’s Department of Dance premier dance groups will perform during an assembly in the Marriott Center on Nov. 8 at 11:05 a.m. The Ballroom Dance Company, Living Legends, Theatre Ballet, the International Folk Dance Ensemble and Contemporary Dance Theatre will all perform. Each dance group will present choreography demonstrating how dance can be used to inspire, imagine, reflect, celebrate, remember or express with the theme of “Together, let’s dance—just for the joy of it.” “The assembly celebrates one of the cheerful ways we express our faith and hope through a variety of expressions of joy through dance,” said Marilyn Berrett, Department of Dance chair. Berrett also referenced the words of President Russell M. Nelson who recently spoke about joy in the October General Conference. “That’s it! Saints can be happy under every circumstance,” said Nelson. “We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives. The BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications is home to the largest and most versatile dance department in the United States. For more than 50 years, BYU students have shared a spirit of joy with people worldwide through the creative expression of dance. Performances strive to benefit and support members of the Church in distant lands, and can be seen on campus throughout the year. The BYU Department of Dance is also pleased to present the BYU DanceSport Championships on Nov. 11-12, BYU’s dancEnsemble concert on Nov. 11-12 and the Senior Dance Projects Showcase on Nov. 19. Performance Date: Nov. 8 Time: 11:05 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Location: Marriott Center, BYU Price: Free

The BYU Department of Dance presents the Ballet Showcase Friday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 5, at 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., in the Dance Studio Theatre of the Richards Building. The showcase features eleven BYU ballet dancers performing beautiful, engaging choreography by faculty and students in both classical and contemporary ballet. BYU’s touring company, Theatre Ballet, as the guest artists, will be presenting two ballets on the program also, one classical and one contemporary. 'The dancers face an extreme contrast in styles which is challenging their technique and artistry to the limit,” said Suzi Wood, artistic director. “They are definitely rising to that challenge, and by reaching inside themselves I think they are finding great personal growth emotionally, intellectually and spiritually as they have been using the talents they have been blessed with.' The showcase includes dance majors as well as a variety of other majors in the university and range from freshmen to seniors. There will be a wide range of styles from a couple of classical ballets from 1832 and 1845, and Petipa, through examples of the style of Balanchine neoclassicism to today's extreme contemporary ballet choreography. Performance Date: Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. 5 Time: 7:30 p.m. Location: Dance Studio Theatre, Stephen L. Richards Building, BYU Price: $6 Tickets

Brigham Young University’s Theatre Ballet premieres Alice in Wonderland, an original, full-length ballet that brings Lewis Carroll’s beloved fantasy novel to life with Tchaikovsky’s enduring music in the de Jong Concert Hall on Jan. 28-30, at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee on Saturday, Jan. 30, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15, with discounts available for alumni, students, employees, senior citizens and groups. Tickets can be purchased in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com. This premiere of the ballet takes audience members on an exciting journey through Wonderland. A visual feast, the production features beautiful new sets, stunning costumes, expressive makeup and playful choreography designed and created by students as mentored by faculty and staff Priscilla Hao, Michael Handley, Shani Robison, Benjamin Sanders and Rory Scanlon. When Robison, Theatre Ballet’s artistic director, began preparation three years ago, she felt it necessary that the ballet be a collaborative experience for students as to involve them on a deeper, creative level. “We felt that a shift in the production paradigm, wherein the students were actually the designers, choreographers and creators could offer a real-life experience to catapult them from their BYU experience into the real world,” Robison said. “I felt that Alice in Wonderland would be a unique and perfect opportunity for this experiment as it offers so many interesting characters, places and an endless palate of creative possibilities.” To this end, Theatre Ballet received substantial grants from the Laycock Center for Student Collaboration and the Mary Lou Fulton Endowment, and partnered with guest performers from the Ballet Showcase Company, BYU Children Creative Dance Program and dancers from around campus who auditioned specifically for this production. In addition, student choreographers, make-up designers, set designers, prop designers, costume designers, lighting designers, graphic and illustrative designers, a sound designer and a stage manager went to work with mentors to engage in a creative process unlike what they have ever done before. “This is the first time anything like this has been done at BYU on this scale,” said Robison said. “It’s not just Theatre Ballet, it’s a campus-wide production.” Prior to the performances, the annual tradition of the annual Prince and Princess Party continues as princes and princesses of all ages can dress in their royal best and meet Alice, the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the March Hare and the Queen of Hearts. Tickets and Show Details Performance Dates and Times: Jan. 28-30 at 7:30 p.m. Matinee on Jan. 30 at 2 p.m. Location: de Jong Concert Hall, Harris Fine Arts Center, BYU Price: $15 (discounts for senior citizens, BYU students, groups and alumni) Tickets: Available in person at the BYU Ticket Office in the Harris Fine Arts Center or Marriott Center, by phone at 801-422-2981 or online at byuarts.com PHOTO: Riley Duck as Alice. Photo by Jaren Wilkey, BYU Photo, All Rights Reserved.

by Marissa Ballantyne Brigham Young University’s Theatre Ballet will perform two works to honor master choreographer Antony Tudor in a diverse program that celebrates love on all its levels Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 21-23. The nightly performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Pardoe Theatre, and a matinee performance will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday. All tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the BYU Fine Arts Ticket Office or by calling (801) 422-4322. The performance will begin with the Spanish flair of the classical “Paquita,” featuring principal dancers Jenny Macdonald and Roman Avramenko, then continue with classical and contemporary works that reflect the types of love as described by C.S. Lewis in his book, “The Four Loves.” Antony Tudor’s “Little Improvisations” represents “affection”; his “Continuo” and guest choreographer Wilson Domingues’ “Solsticio” reflect “romantic love”; Theatre Ballet Company director Shani Robison’s “Adagio” illuminates the love found in “friendship”; and the premiere performance of Robison’s “Dances to Life,” choreographed to music by Mack Wilberg, defines “charity.” This year, Theatre Ballet will perform two works by Antony Tudor, one of the master ballet choreographers of the past century, said promotion director Lynne Thompson. The company is one of a few select groups performing Tudor’s works in honor of the centennial year of his birth. “The company received a BYU Fulton Grant to host Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner, former principal dancers with American Ballet Theatre, to mentor the students in this rare opportunity to celebrate Tudor’s life and choreographic genius,” said Thompson. “Having danced Tudor’s works under his personal direction, they now represent the Tudor Trust and take his works to professional companies throughout the world.” “The reason why you do this is to enhance the good spirit of the world, and you really feel it here, a lot,” Gardner said of working with BYU Theatre Ballet.“Their work is solid and great, but more than that, it’s the spirit here and that’s rare.” For more information, contact Lynne Thompson at (801) 225-1775. Source: BYU News

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