By ALLISON POND
allison@newsroom.byu.edu
Authentic music, costumes, and dances from 17 different cultures are not the only traditions being celebrated at 'Christmas Around the World' Friday and Saturday. This year, the BYU Folk Dance Ensemble will commemorate a legacy of their own: 40 years of performing 'Christmas Around the World.'
Many alumni events will be hosted in conjunction with the anniversary. The celebration will also honor Mary Bee Jensen, the founder and first director of the Folk Dance Organization at BYU from 1956 to 1985, said Delynne Peay, associate director of the Folk Dance Ensemble.
'She was our queen bee,' Peay said.
As part of the celebration, there will be cameo appearances in the concert by past choreographers and dancers, Peay said.
One number, a Hungarian dance, features an all male cast that not only dances, but creates all of the music by slapping their hands and feet.
'The dance is usually made up of seven men. We have an all-star cast this year of fifteen guys. We invited every fellow who has ever done the front position in this dance,' Peay said.
'It's a real crowd pleaser. It's very manly. In folk dance, the men are men. If other dances don't prove that, this one does,' she said.
Other numbers will feature their original choreographers as guest dancers, including a Chinese dance choreographed by Jiamin Huang, a Turkish dance by Ahmet Luleci, and a French-Canadian number with Rene Frenchette.
Peay also said the student dancers have been working for the last month on the technical aspects of the show, doing everything from building the set and the floor, to getting twinkle lights on the trees.
Whitney Debenham, president of the folk dance club, said all of the dancers are asked to be on a committee, and that they are a little more pressed for time than usual.
'This year the set-up was more difficult because of President Hinckley's devotional. Usually we start late Monday night, but this year we weren't able to move into the Marriott Center until after the devotional,' she said.
Melody Clinger, 24, a senior from Sacramento, Ca., majoring in recreation management youth leadership, will dance in 'Christmas Around the World' for the first time this year.
'I had the opportunity to be on the history committee. I helped put together the scrapbooks that will be on tables for the alumni and other people to look at,' she said.
'I was looking through pictures and things from past years, and I saw a familiar face. It was my aunt. She was on the folk dance team in 1964. Now I feel more of a connection to folk dance. I get to carry on the legacy in my family,' she said.
Along the same lines, Peay said that 'Christmas Around the World' has a symbolic meaning for many people, and that folk dance is meant to be a celebration of all kinds of traditions.
'Folklore is tradition. One of the few things we have as Americans anymore are family traditions that are celebrated for the most part at Christmastime. That's what we celebrate with folk dance,' she said.