Over 100 dancers impress at year-end concert

Utah Valley University’s Ballroom Dance Company performed their semester-end concert before the Thanksgiving break at the Ragan Theater. This concert was a way to show off and celebrate the efforts made by the company.

“I couldn’t be happier with the concert,” said ballroom coach Christopher Witt. “The dancers in the Company performed with a high level of skill and finesse, and the choreography from our directors was both innovative and beautiful. Their hours of rehearsal and preparation were key in presenting what I feel is one of our best concerts ever.”

The dancers, broken up into four teams, performed a variety of styles including the waltz, tango and cha cha. The company performed 22 separate dances, all with different costumes and production.

“One of my favorite parts of the year is concert week,” said ballroom coach Tara Boyd. “I love watching each number and dancer individually progress throughout the week. There is nothing like the deadline of dress rehearsal and opening night to help the dancers and directors work out any last minute details with choreography, artistry and performance. It’s also fun to have the whole company together and see them work hard and develop a deeper respect and understanding with each other and their artistic abilities.”

The coaches choreograph many of the dances the company performs. Witt and Boyd said they are inspired by various things as they are coming up with dances for the teams, one of which is movies.

The very first number at the concert was set to “The Greatest Show” and had images from the movie “The Greatest Showman” playing behind the dancers. The company made use of the projection screen at the back of the stage to enhance each number. This, in addition to skillful lighting changes, increased the excitement shown by the dancers.

The Tour Team also performed a number set to a medley from the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” soundtrack. The tour team took this piece and their latin medley set to “Cirque de Soleil” to compete at the Open British Championships held in Blackpool, England last May. Their “Fantastic Beasts” piece took second place and their “Cirque de Soleil” number took third place.

The performance closed with “The Last Dance”, a disco routine that featured the entire company flooding the stage.

“My favorite piece to work on was the Disco Finale that ended the show,” Witt said. “I loved seeing over 100 dancers on the stage having fun and celebrating dance. The upbeat music and exciting choreography were inspiring.”

UVU’s Ballroom Dance Company is very excited to perform in the new Noorda Performing Art Center for their next concert in April 2019.