Behind the Scenes Archives - BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications

Arts & Comms: Behind the Cameras

Alyssa Anderson — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 22:29:38 +0000

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Preparing Exhibitions is a Multi-Faceted Process at BYU’s Museum of Art

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 15:32:10 +0000

Museums can be filled with anything from ancient statues to modern sculptures. Some even display historical documents, colorful paintings and illuminated texts. The BYU Museum of Art displays art through its semi-permanent and traveling exhibitions. Behind the art displays and interactive elements of exhibits are the museum staff — each member fulfilling unique responsibilities to aid in the acquisition and installation of art. Acquiring art Before art can be displayed at the MOA, it must first be acquired by the museum’s curators. Ashlee Whitaker, the Roy and Carol Christensen curator for religious art, has been in charge of curating a number of art pieces displayed at the museum. Whitaker’s curatorial responsibilities include searching for art to be added to the museum’s collection. “We’re always looking for acquisitions and pieces of art that will enhance our collection and mission as a university art museum,” Whitaker said. She explained that art can be acquired by the museum in many ways, from art auctions to open galleries. Read the full story written by Rebecca Nissen at universe.byu.edu.

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Behind Camera and Curtain: Students and Faculty Work Behind the Scenes at BYU Dance LIVE

Noelle Barrus — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 15:41:46 +0000

Arts production and dance departments join forces to produce weekly virtual performances For BYU’s fall 2020 semester — a semester unlike any other due to COVID-19 restrictions — dancers and stage crews have come together to produce weekly virtual dance performances. Each week, a new BYU dance company has the chance to perform. At 5 p.m. MDT every Friday, a livestream-video broadcasts the performance to audiences near and far. “I love that I can be in the theatre again, even if it does look a little bit different now than it did before COVID-19,” said theatre arts studies student Kirsten Busse. “It still is a performance; we’re making art and we’re sharing it with people all around the world.” Busse works as a stagehand backstage at the BYU Dance LIVE streamed performances. Busse helps ensure that everything — from the curtains to the microphones — operates smoothly for the dancers. “It’s cool that this livestream can reach family members that wouldn’t normally be able to make it,” said stage manager Crysta Powell. “We’ve had international students whose families have been able to get online and watch them.” Powell graduated from BYU in theatre art studies in 2015. Once she graduated, Powell worked in New York for a couple of years before returning to BYU to work in the dance department. She’s now been working at BYU for more than two years. “We’ve done a lot of performances, and we’ve all worked in theatre for many years,” said Powell. “But livestreaming is new for all of us. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever done before. It’s fun to have a new challenge and opportunity.” The livestreamed performances come with a plethora of safety precautions. All dancers, choreographers, production managers and crews must fill out the Healthy Together app questionnaire, wear a mask and have their temperature checked before rehearsals and performances. Benjamin Sanders, the production manager for BYU dance, is the one who originally pitched the idea to start doing livestreamed performances for the different dance ensembles each week. Sanders earned his MFA at BYU in 1996 in theatre design technology. He has worked at BYU for 21 years. “Most of these groups usually do a lot of touring, and we travel around the world with them. So, we thought the livestream would be a way for our hosts out there to see what we’re doing without having live performances,” said Sanders. “BYU Dance Professor Adam Dyer suggested we do it like a television show with a host and interview some of the dancers during the show to see what it’s like to dance during COVID-19. Overall, a lot of teamwork and collaboration went into making BYU Dance LIVE. The best stuff comes out of teamwork.” Each week, the students and staff work together in production meetings to plan out the show, but by the time rehearsals come they have to be able to adapt based on what they see behind the cameras. With a tight schedule and only a few run-throughs before the live show, Sanders is grateful his students have jumped right in and worked through the challenges. “One of my concerns with sending these performances through a camera was that we would lose some of the live-theatre energy,” said Sanders. “But the good thing is that we’re finding a new way to share the arts. Last week we had 700 different streams going out to 14 different countries. These students have performed in different countries before, but never all at the same time.” BYU student Jacob Payne is the video director and video technical director for BYU Dance LIVE. Payne is a junior studying technology and engineering studies with an emphasis in multimedia education. Although Payne is not a theatre major — a similarity among several behind the scenes crew members — he enjoys the work he has done with the dance and theatre departments. “COVID-19 has forced us to learn to do things remotely or from a distance,” said Payne. “There may not be a large audience at these dance performances, and most people are watching from home, but we are still sharing the beauty in the dance and the message that comes with it.” To view the livestream performances, visit dance.byu.edu. Fall 2020 ~ Performing Group Schedule (5 – 5:30 p.m. MDT) September 4: Ballroom Dance Company September 11: International Folk Dance Ensemble September 18: Contemporary Dance Theatre September 25: Living Legends October 2: Theatre Ballet October 9: Young Ambassadors October 16: Ballroom Dance Company October 23: International Folk Dance Ensemble October 30: Contemporary Dance Theatre November 6: Living Legends November 13: Theatre Ballet November 20: Young Ambassadors

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Meet the Students Behind the Piano in BYU’s Ballet Studios

Anelise Leishman — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 19:27:09 +0000

BYU provides pianists a rare opportunity to train in ballet accompaniment Matt Arnett, a staff pianist for ballet classes in the Department of Dance, had never heard of ballet accompaniment as a profession before he came to BYU. In fact, he had never even seen a ballet performance. “I didn’t know what to expect,” said Arnett, a senior majoring in music education. “But from the time I started, I loved doing it. Being a dance accompanist is different from any other musical experience I’ve ever had.” Unlike most accompanist jobs, there is no set music for a ballet class. The teacher demonstrates the exercise for the dancers, and the pianist must choose — or sometimes even improvise — a piece of music that matches the steps and movement quality. “A good ballet accompanist has to be quick with their eyes and ears, recognize what is happening in the dancer’s movements and translate it into how you interpret the music,” said Arnett. “You need to be flexible and intuitive, making quick decisions and improvisations.” Brayden Walters, accounting major and head accompanist and coordinator of dance musicians for the ballet area, played accompaniment for musical theatre classes but felt drawn to the creative possibilities of dance. “I like being able to express myself, and ballet is so expressive,” he said. “You can’t come into a class and just play in the background. With ballet, you feel like you’re giving a solo concert one hundred percent of the time.” According to dance major Sasha Chopelas, dancing to live music rather than pre-recorded songs makes a significant difference in ballet training. “Dancers do the same combinations and steps every day — thousands upon thousands of tendus and pliés throughout their career,” she said. “Having a pianist there to give us a little more inspiration helps us feel like we’re not just going through the motions or doing exercises, but that it’s an artistic pursuit in everyday class.” In many ways, the dancers and musicians collaborate in the ballet studio to bring the music to life over the course of the class. “When you play the right piece of music for the right exercise, you can see advanced dancers responding to your playing in very subtle ways, and there’s an energy created there that is inspiring for both art forms,” said Arnett. “The way they move changes the way I play, and vice-versa.” For Arnett, being a ballet accompanist has enriched his experiences as a musician and a music major. “It provides a safe space for me to explore and experiment as a musician, and it has given me a broader understanding of the relationship between music and other art forms,” he said. “I have a greater appreciation for the ballet musical masterworks I’ve studied as a music major because of the greater connection I can see to the visual element.” As a little-known, but highly specialized profession, dance accompaniment can have a steep learning curve, but BYU is one of very few places where pianists can be trained to play for ballet. As a result of their training, both Walters and Arnett have had opportunities to play for classes in Salt Lake City at Ballet West, the largest ballet company in Utah. “You cannot take a brilliant pianist, throw them into a ballet class and expect them to be fantastic, which is what you can expect in almost every other situation,” said Walters. “When you’re specialized in ballet, that sets you apart, and having that skillset is so marketable because ballet pianists are so few and far between.” Even when in-person classes were suspended in March due to COVID-19, BYU ballet dancers were still able to benefit from live accompaniment in classes over Zoom. “I had to play around with it, but I figured out a good setup,” said Walters, who played remotely for classes from his home in Las Vegas. “I’ve been surprised at how well it goes once we get into the rhythm of it, and it’s not as different as you’d expect.” The live music provided a sense of much-needed normalcy to the dancers’ daily classes. “Even though we couldn’t be in the same room,” said Chopelas, “at least we were all dancing to the same music.”

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BYU Magazine: BYU, Still

admin — Tue, 12 May 2020 22:31:54 +0000

How campus went quiet, yet BYU continued on, during the coronavirus pandemic Day by day—and sometimes hour by hour—elements of the BYU experience were suddenly shifting, disrupting everything from budding relationships to Sunday meetings to major university events, including BYU Women’s Conference and April graduation ceremonies—both canceled. All NCAA competition was suspended. Meanwhile professors and campus IT personnel scrambled to take BYU entirely online by Wednesday, March 18. Many faculty turned to the video program Zoom to stream or record instruction, innovating new ways to teach hands-on subjects like dance, music, and nursing or to simulate lab research remotely. Read the full article by Michael R. Walker at magazine.byu.edu.

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Share Your Story: #CFACGrad Cameron Cox

admin — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 19:32:45 +0000

Graduating theatre student Cameron Cox reflects on his time at BYU What I appreciate most about having a major centered in the arts is that I can point to specific projects and performances that have shaped who I am as a theatre maker and what each performance taught me. I am disappointed to have the last year of my undergraduate cut short, but am happy to comply with responsible social distancing measures advised. Given my lack of a formal graduation and the opportunity provided by the College of Fine Arts and Communications #CFACGrad campaign, I would like to pay tribute to the academic opportunities my BYU experience has given me. My first BYU production was stage managing a student Mask Club production of Sarah Ruhl’s “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.” I was young and eager, and definitely had a learning curve realizing all of the different responsibilities that I would have to adopt as a part of this job. But the text was beautiful and introduced me to a subspecies of less mainstream theatre to discover. Working on this also provided me with the contacts to become a resident stage manager of the Nelke Experimental Theatre. That job has been the catalyst for my volunteer work on so many different Mask Club projects including stage managing a production of “The Little Prince,” which to this day may be the most successful concept execution of a student performance I have ever seen. This also allowed me to jump into the world of lighting design by working on a production of “Finding Nemo: The Musical” and “Lord of the Flies,” most recently. I was then somewhat thrown into the world of new play development, becoming the third stage manager in as many months of an original work entitled “happysadness.” This script tackled the difficult subjects of anxiety, depression and suicide with the stark juxtaposition of bright colors and puppetry. It may be the most powerful text I have been able to help bring to life. Anyone who worked on the project will agree that on several levels there were organizational shortcomings along with misunderstandings on every level. But I was taught the important lesson that shows that have the most obstacles put in front of them often have the messages that need to be heard the most. I was also later able to take my experiences working with a new work on tour as stage manager of “Romeo y Julieta.” My junior year I began to expand my interests. I continued to stage manage, starting with work on the production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.” But my close work with directors and dramaturgs on my previous productions led me to explore directing and dramaturgy as well. I found myself in the position of taking directing classes during the day and watching those principles at work in the evening. This process also helped me develop one of the skills I most treasure: the ability to make myself enjoy whatever I am working on. I will be the first to admit that absurdism is not my favorite genre, and I really struggled with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern” at first. But prolonged exposure offered me the choice to either be miserable or expand my horizons. I chose the latter and developed a love of the text and the show we were creating, even if I still won’t be going out of my way to watch another absurdist piece. Concurrent to my work on “Rosencrantz” was my introduction to dramaturgy through Mask Clubs “The Twilight Zone’s The Monsters are Due on Maple Street” and “Weirder Things.” I am captivated by the flexibility of its scope and its potential to reach out so directly to audiences as well as to the rest of the production team. I packed my senior year with projects, and while at times I certainly felt overwhelmed, I could not be prouder of the work that I produced in this period. I stage managed the opera “The Magic Flute,” was assistant director on “Much Ado About Nothing,” lead dramaturg on BYU’s “Little Shop of Horrors” and directed a 35-minute Mask Club adaptation of the film “What’s Up Doc?” This year was a culmination of all of my experiences up to this point. Assistant directing “Much Ado About Nothing” was probably the most fun I have had in a rehearsal room ever. Watching my professor and peers put together this show was so informative. The love and sense of community that this cast was able to foster with one another epitomizes what I love about what live performance can do. The final product was also so good. This was the first time where the show I worked on did not require my physical presence for every performance, but I couldn’t stay away because I just wanted to see how the audience was going to react every night. “Little Shop of Horrors” is the most ironic project I worked on in my college career. As lead dramaturg, I was able to dive into a research hole about the history of the story and its various adaptations. I also had a really fun time exploring the history of science fiction as a genre and creating articles about it for the BYU dramaturgy website and an engaging study guide. I also created fun lobby displays that highlighted everything I love about dramaturgy. The irony is that despite all the work I put in, I never actually got to watch the show with an audience due to social distancing. I am very happy with the work I have done at BYU but the most rewarding project I did in my time here was the directing capstone Mask Club production of “What’s Up Doc?” that I staged in February. The idea of adapting that text for the stage came to me when I was in high school. Through my years working on projects at BYU, I compiled a list of what I think makes the most successful work. From that, I cast, rehearsed and mounted the show. I am so proud of what my cast was able to create and the final product that came together. This idea — five years in the making — was only possible because of the forum provided to me by the department and the experiences, also provided by the [...]

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Media Arts Professors and Students Create Sci-Fi Comedy Podcast ‘Escape From Planet Death!’

Martha Duzett — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 18:24:14 +0000

The podcast was directed by Jerusha Hess and features the voice acting talents of comedy stars such as Louie Anderson and Kyle Mooney BYU’s media arts program has a long and rich history of both fiction and documentary filmmaking, but students and professors in recent years have also explored emerging storytelling mediums such as web series, video games, virtual reality and — as with the recently released sci-fi comedy adventure “Escape From Planet Death!” — podcasts. “The thing that is most interesting to me about working on podcasts is that it’s a uniquely modern medium, even more so than film — which is still very new in the history of the world,” said media arts major Sam Matheson. “We’re a multitasking generation, so the ability to listen to a podcast while you’re working or in your car is huge. It’s something that you can experience no matter what you’re doing.” Matheson was one of six student producers who worked to bring a scripted series developed by media arts professors Tom Russell and Courtney Russell to vivid, aural reality. The earliest version of the story — which follows a crew of bureaucrats as they leave an apocalyptic Earth for a distant planet — was developed by student screenwriters in Tom Russell’s Writers’ Room course. “We created the class because we had students get into writers’ rooms and other professional writing positions and feel discouraged when their ideas would be overlooked or revised or rewritten — which is all part of the collaborative writing process,” said Russell. “We wanted to increase collaboration between students while they’re in the program to help them get used to rewriting somebody else’s material and having their material rewritten. At the end of a project like this, they can say ‘this doesn’t feel like the thing we wrote,’ but it’s absolutely the thing.” In addition to working as creative colleagues with their professors and peers, the student producers had the invaluable experience of collaborating with prominent industry professionals — including comedians Louie Anderson of “Baskets,” Kyle Mooney of “Saturday Night Live,” Whitney Call of “Studio C” and actor Joe Estevez, all of whom performed the audio for their respective characters at June Audio Recording Studios in Provo. Read the full story at the Department of Theatre and Media Arts website.

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Scott Cook: Meet the Videographer Behind Department of Dance Films

Sarah Duffin — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 00:25:51 +0000

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Behind the Photo: A Look at BYU Dance Photoshoot

admin — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 22:13:42 +0000

Creativity, hard work and a couple of miracles result in a unique dance poster BYU photographer Nate Edwards had a problem. At the last minute, he was asked to take another photographer’s place and head the publicity photoshoot for the International Folk Dance Ensemble’s annual concert Christmas Around the World. The concert’s 2019 theme —- A Light in the Window — was meant to reference the warm and welcoming lights that beckon a weary traveler at the end of their journey. But the photoshoot was scheduled for mid-day. “That made me a little nervous,” said Edwards. “How would I get what they were wanting and expecting?” “Part of me was not extremely excited to walk into a situation I had not been involved in,” continued Edwards. “I am the type of person that likes to go into a situation well prepared — having been involved in the planning process so I know what to expect. I like to have time to pre-visualize the end product to figure out how I will approach the situation.” Read the full story by Edwards at byuphoto.exposure.co

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Christmas Around the World Showcases International Choreographers

Sarah Duffin — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 00:03:56 +0000

Dancers from the International Folk Dance Ensemble worked with artists from across the world to bring a diverse performance to BYU Christmas Around the World is almost synonymous with the Christmas season in Utah Valley. The International Folk Dance Ensemble (IFDE)’s annual concert has been bringing people together across distances and generations for 60 years. This year’s theme — “A Light in the Window” — celebrates the courage and hope of migrants as they travel and adapt. Featuring the talents of over 175 dancers and musicians, Christmas Around the World is a celebration of unity, diversity and Christmas joy. This year’s performance includes dances from all over the globe, including Ukraine, Wales, Indonesia, Haiti, Germany and Scotland. The world dance program highly values accuracy and authenticity, and brings in international choreographers whenever possible. Recently, artists from India, Mexico, China, Canada and more have visited campus — teaching, choreographing and coaching dancers on genre-specific styling. “Almost all of our dances are not choreographed by the teachers or directors, but by specialists or people from that country,” said IFDE member Ashley Jex. Go to dance.byu.edu for a sneak peek at some of the guest artists featured in this year’s concert. Tickets and Show Details Performance Dates and Times: Dec. 6-7 | 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 | 2:00 p.m. Location: Marriott Center Price: $9-22 Tickets: Available in person at the BYU HFAC or Marriott Center Ticket Office, by phone at (801) 422-2981 or online at byuarts.com

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