The BYU Ballroom Dance Company will honor its longtime directors as dancers perform in their annual concert, Bravo!, on April 10 and 11.
The Ballroom Dance Company has won the U.S. National Formation Dance Champion Team title consecutively since 1982 and, since 1971, has received 23 first-place awards at the British Open Ballroom Dance Competition, according to Betsy Denney, a BYU ballroom faculty member.
“Our concert will be a show you won’t want to miss,” she said.
The concert will include dances ranging from the Latin American cha cha to the elegant waltz. A few pieces will be returning from last year’s concert, such as “Fire and Ice” and “Disney Upon a Star,” but new numbers will be performed as well. “Dancin’ and Romancin’,” set to World War II music, is one of the pieces that will be performed for the first time.
The concert this year will be the last concert under the direction of Lee and Linda Wakefield. The Wakefields were members of the ballroom company when they attended BYU. They returned to BYU in 1980 to be instructors and have been here ever since.
There will be a tribute during the show to honor all the time and talent the Wakefields have given to the ballroom company. The ballroom teams are excited to perform and invite everyone to come enjoy the show.
“The tour team cabaret Viennese waltz is bound to be good,” said McKinley Griffin, a member of the ballroom team.
Jacob Chapman, another member of the ballroom team, also encourages students and members of the community to come to the concert. “It’s really fun to watch, and the finale is always amazing to see 80 couples dancing on the floor in formation,” he said.
There will be a show each evening at 7:30 p.m., along with a matinee on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tickets are available in the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Center, the Marriott Center ticket booth and online at byutickets.com.
