By Rachel Thomas
BYU”s award-winning performing dance groups will present a variety of selections in today”s Devotional at 11:05 a.m. in the Marriott Center.
Members of the Cougarettes, Dancer”s Company, International Folk Dance Ensemble, Theatre Ballet and the Ballroom Dance Company will perform.
The Cougarettes and Dancer”s Company will each perform lyrical pieces. The Cougarettes have won four national championships in the last six years.
The International Folk Dance Ensemble will present a Ukrainian Suite and the Theater Ballet will perform an upbeat, contemporary piece. The Ballroom Dance Company, which has won the national championship for the last 22 years, will take the audience back to the ”20s with the Lindy Hop.
Members of the dance companies began rehearsals for the Devotional and other featured concerts three weeks before school started, according to Hilary Smoot, 22, a senior from Woodland, Utah. Smoot is a member of the Ballroom Dance Company.
Natalie Wakefield, 20, a junior from Provo, is also a member of the Ballroom Dance Company. She said she feels the Devotional provides good exposure for the performance groups.
“I think it”s a good opportunity for the student body to see the dancers and to see a little of what we”re about,” Wakefield said.
It became tradition several years ago for the performing dance groups to present the second Devotional of Fall Semester, said Lee Wakefield, chair of the department of dance. Other performing arts groups, such as the Young Ambassadors, Living Legends and BYU”s performing choirs, also present Devotionals during the school year.
“I imagine one of the reasons that they do it is to kind of expose the student body to some of the different arts that are on campus,” Wakefield said.
