The Ballroom Dance Company will perform their “Ode to Joy” and “Ritmo del Corazon” medleys for the last time.
On April 12 and 13, 160 students will come together to present “BYU’s Ballroom Dance in Concert.” The performance promises to showcase equal measures of quality dancing and theatrical spectacle.
In the world of ballroom, most performances are based in competitions for duos, making the concert a unique opportunity to see a more cohesive show.
“Typically in the discipline of ballroom dance, you see couples dancing,” said Curt Holman, artistic director of BYU’s Ballroom Dance Company. “It’s really rare to take a group of people and create an ensemble piece that has eight couples. In some of our beginning teams, we have 16 couples on the floor. When you’re able to do that, it becomes very entertaining for the audience.”
This ensemble-style concert also gives the company the chance to dance simply for dance’s sake.
“What’s nice about this concert is that we’re able to come together as a group and present together instead of competing against each other,” Holman said. “Competition breeds excellence, but it’s nice to be able to take the excellence that you achieved through training for competition and then use it to present the art itself. You’re able to access all that skill and talent that you developed during your competitions and use it to present something beautiful.”
BYU’s Ballroom Dance in Concert will also be the company’s chance to say good-bye to the competitive medleys they’ve been dancing at ballroom dance competitions for the last three years.
“We will be retiring our competitive medleys,” said Holman. “We will be dancing a farewell performance of our old medleys.”
Both “Ode to Joy,” the company’s competitive ballroom medley set to music from Beethoven, and “Ritmo del Corazón,” the company’s Latin American medley of dances, will be discontinued to prepare for new pieces that will debut in a concert on May 17.
Tickets and Show Details
Performance Dates and Times: April 12-13 | 7:30 p.m. and April 13 | 2:00 p.m.
Location: Marriott Center, BYU
Price: $10-20
Tickets: Available in person at the BYU HFAC or Marriott Center Ticket Office, by phone at (801) 422-2981 or online at byuarts.com