Theatre Ballet students share gratitude for BYU as they prepare for and return from serving missions.
At BYU, students may defer their enrollment for 18 months to two years in order to serve a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a private university owned by the Church, experiences such as these are not just allowed — they are encouraged. Ballerinas in the Theatre Ballet Studio Company felt a unique level of understanding from peers and teachers as they worked to get back into shape after they returned from their missions.
Elizabeth Monson, who flew home from her mission the day that the semester started, was grateful for the teachers who helped her retrain after 18 months of “setting (ballet) aside.”
“It was definitely an act of faith,” Monson said. “That’s why I love being at BYU — they work with missionaries."
Monson said she doesn't think any other college or ballet company would allow her to leave for 18 months and still welcome her back to the company and help her get back into shape.
Monson was able to send in an audition tape during a P-day on her mission. Almost immediately after returning home, she was back in the studio practicing.
Monson said the first few days were humbling. Her teachers Hilary Wolfley and Brooke Storheim helped her make the transition.
“Hilary and Brooke are really awesome," Monson said. "They were like, ‘We’re not gonna correct you, or give you any feedback, just get your feet under you, just be here. That’s enough.’”
Taya Sanches, who served in Costa Rica, felt similar support from her ballet peers when she returned from her mission.
“I feel like it’s a big group of sisters who all take care of each other,” Sanches said.
She said it was helpful to be around fellow returned missionaries in the company, who could relate to the adjustment period after returning home from a mission.
“It felt very vulnerable yet helpful at the same time to be like, 'oh, I’m not the only one that can’t get my arms in the right spot or my feet feel weak,'” Sanches said. “We all can just bounce off each other and be like, 'ok, I’m not alone in this.'”
Ella Brucker, a member of the ballet company, is preparing to serve a mission. The spiritual nature of the classes at BYU combined with the experiences of her teammates has been helpful.
“I’ve been able to connect with them and talk to them about their mission and how they best prepared and then seeing their example of coming back helps inspire me too,” Brucker said.
Grace Baker, who served in the California, San Diego mission, felt she couldn’t do what she has been able to do at BYU at any other school. She said she is grateful that she can defer schooling for a mission, pursue ballet and still meet professional goals as an exercise science major.
“BYU is really cool. I’ve been able to do everything I want to do with my major and my professional goals and continue dancing, and that was a big factor for me too,” Baker said.
Many of the ballet students described their passion for this form of dancing.
“I’m not always so great with words in the moment, but I can really be myself on stage,” Isabelle Walker said. “I feel like who I am on the inside shines out in the most pure way.”
Sanches shared how this has helped her fulfill an invitation from her mission president.
“My mission president always said ‘When you get home, find the spaces where you always connect with God' and I feel like ballet, and especially performing, is one aspect that I can tune into and connect with God,” Sanches said.
Monson reflected on her experience of leaving ballet behind to serve a mission and the daunting nature of returning to an art she hadn’t practiced in a long time.
“It was overcoming a lot of self-doubt and fear,” Monson said, “but ultimately it was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I knew that God was gonna consecrate the effort that I put in because I was walking away from a lot of things, but He magnified that and I feel like He still is now that I’m back.”
