Tour the world from your seat with the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble
Marina Fernanda leads her fellow folk dancers in the Haitian "Papa Loko."
Folk dancer Ken Nukaya performs the "Red and Green" dance celebrating the Chinese culture.
Victoria Ringer performs the Irish soft shoe number "A Lovely Madness."
From left: Victoria Ringer, Rebecca Kiser, Emily Huckstep, Allyssa Pehrson, Breanna Daniels, Brenna Bartholomew, Mary Beth Johnson and Amanda Alley perform the Irish soft shoe number "A Lovely Madness."
From left: Brandon Carter, Wesley Valdez, Grace Dayton, Abram Allred, Jacob Madsen and Taylon Mann perform the U.S. dance number "Percussive Thunder."
From left: Carissa Moser, Rebecca Kiser, Amanda Alley, Victoria Ringer, Brenna Bartholomew, Emily Huckstep and Mary Beth Johnson perform the Spanish number "Latido del Corazón."
Hayley Shepherd, center, as the bride and BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble women in the Hungarian number "Rábaközi Lakodalmas."
Orion Howard, front, as the groom and BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble men celebrate in the Hungarian wedding number "Rábaközi Lakodalmas."
BYU folk dancers Breanna Daniels and Branson Handy perform the United States' "Charleston."
Look no further than Provo this week to get your traveling fix.
Brigham Young University’s International Folk Dance Ensemble will take audience members on a journey around the world as they perform traditional cultural dances from 10 foreign countries at the Covey Center for the Arts.
The ensemble will represent Canada, China, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine and of course the U.S. in its “Journey” show Thursday.
The concert will be especially exciting because the group members will display a few new pieces they have learned, artistic director Jeanette Geslison said.
“We have a new Serbian dance suite that we’ve been working on this year that was choreographed by a Serbian choreographer who lives in Austria,” Geslison said. “This will be the premiere for that piece, actually, and we also have a new Norwegian piece … that will display a couple dance and a men’s tap dance from Holling in Norway.”
BYU’s International Folk Dance Ensemble also will perform some new pieces premiered at last year’s “Christmas Around the World,” including a revamped version of the group’s Chinese piece.
“It’ll display American culture, and it’ll be really fun to see how we’ve sort of rethought the concepts for that piece for this time around,” Geslison said.
The group also will perform “Journey” this summer in Belgium, France and Poland, including a special invitation to do the show at the European Union in Brussels.
“That’s a real honor for not just our dancers but for the university, and we’re really excited about that experience,” Geslison said.
Stepping into the shoes of another culture through traditional dance and authentic costumes is “an incredible educational experience” for the dancers, and this year’s ensemble is made up of an exceptional group of student performers, according to Geslison.
“That has been really exciting this year to work with such a dedicated group of students who are so supportive of one another in every single way and worried about the welfare of one another and … creating a unity in the group,” Geslison said. “That definitely shows onstage, and so that’s really exciting for me.”
Ensemble member Elisabeth Frischknecht, who performs 12 pieces in the show, said it’s fun to learn a variety of traditional folk dances in the group.
“It’s kind of hard to learn how to do the specific styling so that you’re honest and true to the correct culture, but it’s one of the things that I love about being on the team is that we’re so diverse and we have such a challenging repertoire of pieces,” Frischknecht said.
Johnny Liporada, who also dances with the group, said he loves being able to connect with other cultures through the ensemble.
“There’s so many things that we get to learn by doing their styles, and it’s a neat experience being able to represent the countries that we do the dances from,” Liporada said. “It allows generations to connect in a fun way.”
Frischknecht said she loves folk dance because “it builds community and a sense of family,” which is reflected in the ensemble members’ relationships with each other.
“I love my major — I’m studying physics and astronomy, which is not dance — but I think the thing that I’m going to take away most from my BYU experience is the memories that I have on this team,” Frischknecht said. “We just bond so much together.”
The dancer said she hopes “the world becomes a little bit smaller” for those who attend the show.
“It’s a wonderful way to expose everybody to all of the different cultures and just to help people realize that we have so much more in common than we realize,” Frischknecht said.
JOURNEY
What: Brigham Young University’s International Folk Dance Ensemble performs a series of traditional cultural dances from around the world.
Where: Covey Center for the Arts Main Hall, 425 W. Center St., Provo
When: Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $12-$14
Info: (801) 422-2981, byuarts.com