Brigham Young University’s Department of Dance will present the dancEnsemble fall concert, “You,” conceived and directed by Graham Brown, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Richard’s Building Auditorium. There will also be a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday, Nov. 16.
Tickets at $6 are available at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-2981, or at byuarts.com/tickets.
Unlike many performing groups at BYU, the modern dance-based dancEnsemble focuses on original student and faculty choreography that provides a range of moods, emotions and ideas.
Director Graham Brown commented on the origins of “You.”
“‘You’ is an evening-length performance I choreographed two years ago in the Washington, D.C. area. For this, my first concert as director of dancEnsemble, I wanted to reset the work, but in a manner befitting of the unique student choreography-focused mission of the company,” he said.
“I decided to realize the work by offering out the many scenes of the show to members of danceEnsemble to re-choreograph based on given structural, directorial or thematic parameters. We became a dynamic creative team working separately on our segments of the show under my overall direction and mentorship.”
Brown praised the contributions of the dancEnsemble cast in their preparation for the production.
“I have been surprised and delighted by the unique directions the very talented and artistically savvy dancEnsemble students have taken the work,” he said. “I have grown as an artist through the opportunity of working with them. It was a very ambitious undertaking to mount this work in such a short amount of time and it could not have happened without the incredible dedication and work ethic of the choreographers and performers.”
The evening of highly physical performance is a piercing look into the lives of a contemporary American community in which physical responses to rhythms and melodies serve as a driving unifying social force.
Manifestations of these forces are witnessed both in public and private, performance and non-performance environments, unveiling their social and personal dynamics as they seek fulfillment with each other and within themselves. Overall, the work speaks to the power of music, rhythm, and dance as a container for culture.
The technical crew for “You” includes Kori Wakamatsu, assistant director; Andrea Gunoe, dramaturg; Christina Phillips, costume designer; Sara Myers, props designer; and Logan Hayden, scenic consultant.
For more information, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348, ken_crossley@byu.edu
Writer: Brett Lee
