Various dance companies in the BYU Department of Dance presented their first performances of the school year in World of Dance on Sept. 25-27.
The 57th year of World of Dance was held in the Marriott Center and included performances from the Ballroom Dance Company, Contemporary Dance Theatre, International Folk Dance Ensemble, Living Legends, Theatre Ballet and the Young Ambassadors.
World of Dance’s audience is full of more than just BYU students — for some, it’s a family event. The Holland family brought ten members of their family to the performance this year, including Ruth Holland, her son Dan and his wife Carol. They have been attending World of Dance annually for the last six years.
“We’re just amazed by all the different groups,” Dan Holland said. “They're so talented, and it's just a fun, fun experience.”
Carol Holland said the first time the Hollands attended, Dan Holland stood outside with a sign that read “My family is at the World of Dance: Please sell me tickets to the football game,” but once he watched the show, he came back with them to see it every year.
“(The show) is colorful, it’s fast-paced,” Ruth Holland said. “The dancers seem to really enjoy it.”
Running at roughly 90 minutes, this year’s World of Dance featured 18 performances from the six individual dance groups, and one huge closing dance with all performers on the stage for their bows.
To prepare their performances, dancers met up with their teams two weeks before the beginning of the semester. The week of “boot camp,” as Contemporary Dance Theatre member and English major Ella Memmot described, was dedicated to learning choreography.
As the semester continued, so did rehearsals. According to Wyatt Taylor Jennings, history major and five-year member of BYU Ballroom, the group met every morning for a total of eight hours of rehearsal time per week.
The Saturday before World of Dance opened, dancers met for a kick-off breakfast. After breakfast, the dancers took the time to learn bits and pieces of each other’s choreography for their final combined dance number.
“We spend a lot of time with our respective companies, so to get the opportunity to rub shoulders and meet and talk with people in the other companies is really fun,” Jennings said. “That was my favorite part, learning the choreography that everybody else was doing in their respective companies, because I was so out of my element.”
Memmot said after the kick-off event, each group had a night to work on staging and lighting before they all came together for a night of tech rehearsals and finally the dress rehearsal.
“During the tech rehearsal, they let us come out and sit in the seats while other numbers are being run so we can watch the other companies,” Jennings said. “That just kind of gives me an appreciation for the diversity that we had at the dance program at BYU, and for just the sheer number of really awesome, talented dancers that we have.”
Tech rehearsal was the only time dancers were able to watch their peers perform from the audience. They spent the dress rehearsal and ticketed shows in the wings doing quick changes to prepare for their next performance. Still, the curtains didn’t stop BYU dancers from supporting each other.
“We could feel the other companies cheering us on from the wings while we were performing,” Memmot said. “It's not competitive at all, it's just so fun and uplifting backstage and on stage.”
In World of Dance, each performance differs from the next in costumes, music and style, but the passion and energy onstage remain constant throughout.