BYU Spectacular! Archives - BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications

Share Your Story: Tyler Persson

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 09:25:29 +0000

Performing student Tyler Persson shares how an experiential learning opportunity has enhanced his time at BYU I’m not the best dancer at BYU. Actually, I’d say that I’m fairly average amongst the incredibly talented individuals I am constantly surrounded with, both on my own International Folk Dance Ensemble, as well as among the other dance groups I associate with. Despite this, I often feel my dance classes at BYU are somewhat limited — the things we learn don’t feel entirely out of reach, and I can learn all of the material adequately in a semester or so (albeit, with a lot of hard work). It isn’t often that I encounter things I recognize as unattainably beyond my current skill level. However, while in China with BYU Spectacular, we folk dancers attended an exchange workshop at Minzu University (known for being one of the premier universities for Chinese ethnic minorities, which is expressed especially well in its large dance program); this experience shattered my feelings of relative competency in dance and performance. I saw people performing at levels far beyond my current ability — to dance like they do would require years of persistent learning, and even then, I feel like I wouldn’t do it all justice. Much of my experience in China served as a reminder that there is such a wealth of knowledge to gain, no limit to the abilities to be attained and no small amount of hard work to be exerted to gain it all. China has reinvigorated me to work harder to achieve heights previously beyond my vision. In addition, as I reflect on my time in China, it’s clear that all of my knowledge and ability means very little without people to share it with. This BYU Spectacular tour was about people, not about performances. The interactions that we had with people in lobbies, on the streets or in any other daily comings and goings were poignant reminders of this. This puts the knowledge and abilities I’ve gained (and will continue to gain) into the greater context of benefiting people. It’s easier now to ask myself, “How will what I am learning be of use to someone else?” In these two ways (among others), the people in China have left their mark on me. My renewed determination to work harder and achieve more than before, and my growing understanding of the ties between my learning and the people it benefits are treasures to me. The publication of student articles allows the College of Fine Arts and Communications to highlight the experiential learning opportunities and behind-the-scenes experiences of students and faculty and tell stories with a unique voice and point of view. Submit your story at cfac.byu.edu.

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A Bridge to China

admin — Tue, 12 Nov 2019 22:43:54 +0000

A bond forged 40 years ago was renewed this year by BYU’s largest-ever performing tour. In the most unlikely of long shots, BYU’s Young Ambassadors became the first Western performing group to enter communist China in 1979, finding sudden fame and forging an improbable bond with the Chinese people—a friendship now 40 years strong. It’s a relationship marked by academic and cultural exchanges, faculty collaborations, long-standing study-abroad programs, and 30 repeat trips by BYU performing groups. In nearly six decades of sending student performing groups abroad, BYU had taken on some pretty ambitious tours, but the 2019 tour exceeded them all with eight groups combined for 167 performers in total. Throw in the tech crew, directors, and other support staff, and the company numbered more than 200. For two years Janielle Hildebrandt Christensen, producer Michael G. Handley (BS ’83), and others worked to craft a show around various Chinese audience interests—including Broadway, Riverdance and American clog, ballroom dance, a capella, and an addition of BYU’s dunk team for basketball-crazed Chinese audiences. Wanting more than just a variety show, the creators wove together a theme of shared values—family, learning, friendship, harmony, and love. Calling it BYU Spectacular, they built a show to live up to the name, with pump-up lighting for the dunk team’s acrobatics, laser projections for a John Williams fanfare by the Chamber Orchestra, larger-than-life lion puppetry operated by Cougarettes for a Vocal Point cover of “Circle of Life,” and stilts and a Segway for a dreamlike Greatest Showman number by the Young Ambassadors. When technical director Travis L. Coyne arrived in Beijing five days before the first performance in May, he expected his 20 pallets of lights, sound equipment, scenery, staging, projectors, puppets, and trampolines to already be in country and working their way through customs. However, the shipping company told him there had been a delay, but—not to fear—it would all arrive shortly. Two days later, the equipment still not in China, the company admitted that the load had been bumped from its flight and sent instead to Newark. New Jersey. USA. There was no way it could arrive and pass customs in time for the Beijing performances. “We were praying for a miracle,” said Christensen. Read more at magazine.byu.edu

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Behind the Scenes of BYU Spectacular! An Inside Look of the 2019 Performance

Alexis Carver — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 21:39:18 +0000

A member of BYU’s Men’s Chorus shares his experiences preparing for a dynamic performance This year’s BYU Spectacular! lived up to its name with energetic performances by campus ensembles and guest artists Ben Rector and Hilary Weeks — the product of hard work behind the scenes during an expedited rehearsal process. Brian Merrill — a member of BYU’s Men’s Chorus — shared his experiences preparing for the event. “Something a lot of people don’t know about Spectacular! is how last-minute a lot of the preparations are,” Merrill said. “We started learning our songs a week before the performance and sang with Ben Rector a day or so before we performed together. It’s amazing that all of the coordination for Spectacular! can come together so fast.” Due to the collaborative efforts and diligence from each BYU performing group — Men’s Chorus, Young Ambassadors, Ballroom Dance Company, International Folk Dance Ensemble, Vocal Point, BYU Cougarettes and the Dunk Team — BYU Spectacular! showcased a refined performance that could have easily been rehearsed for months. “I love all of the collaboration between the performing groups,” said Merrill. “It’s really cool that we have this community of performers and we can come together at events like this. It makes it better than just one or the other performing.” This year’s Spectacular! performance was also an emotional time for BYU’s Men Chorus as conductor Rosalind Hall announced her final year as director of the choir. “I wasn’t going to do Men’s Chorus until I found out that it was going to be her last year, so I rearranged my whole class schedule,” Merrill said. “It was really special that we sang a Welsh folk song medley because she’s from Wales. The fact that we got to do something native to her is pretty meaningful for most of us.”

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COLBIE CAILLAT TALKS AUTHENTICITY AND BODY IMAGE AT BRAVO! LECTURE

Mason Graham — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 16:29:05 +0000

“Forever, women have been expected to be a certain way, look a certain way. I know for me … I was never the girly-girl. When I first started touring, I didn’t even wear makeup — I wore jeans. … And then I started being told I needed to look different because I was going to be on TV. … All of that starts getting put in your head and if you don’t have a strong enough sense of what you believe or who you are, you can easily get worried by it — I was for a certain amount of time.” That was just one of many topics Caillat addressed during the hourlong conversation at BYU’s Harris Fine Arts Center. The singer touched on a variety of subjects ranging from working with Jason Mraz to overcoming stage fright to her surprising — and initially unwanted — rise to fame. As Caillat puts it, finding success was “accidental.” For starters, not many people can write a hit song in 20 minutes. But the words came out fast, and when her friend posted a demo recording of “Bubbly” and a few other songs to MySpace — a platform Caillat had never even heard of — popularity came almost as fast. Caillat was offered a record deal, and those demos became her debut album in 2007. Read more at Deseret News’ website. Photo Credit: Alyssa Lyman.

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