Ballet
Ballet
Students entering the ballet program at BYU will be instructed with a unique knowledge base that combines artistry, critical thinking, technical achievement and spirituality. Our goal is to guide students in their roles as artists, educators, choreographers, and scholars with an awareness and sensitivity to their gifted abilities and the impact those abilities will have as they contribute to their community and to society. Central to the ballet program, BYU Theatre Ballet exists to foster love and appreciation for ballet, recognizing it as an artistic means of expression and communication. Striving for unequivocal excellence, Theatre Ballet seeks to be a gospel-oriented catalyst for students to achieve their highest potential. We aspire to serve, educate, and edify audiences through uplifting performances, outreach programs, and teaching opportunities. Performing opportunities also exist with the BYU Ballet Showcase Company, the second-tier and preparatory company for BYU Theatre Ballet. Through exceptional training at all technique levels, ballet at BYU represents an environment where high academic and artistic standards nurture students as fine artists and promote lasting personal and artistic achievement.
New students who are interested in auditioning for either ballet company should complete a virtual pre-screening. We will contact those who will be invited to a callback live audition. Information about both are found below.
Photo (above): Serenade, Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust
| New BYU students entering Fall 2024 are invited to apply for the Dance Talent Award by registering here: https://byudance.slideroom.com/#/login/program/69238. Applications will open on Sept. 15, 2023. Once registered, you will receive an email containing exercises that we request you learn and record yourself executing. You will submit the video and a photo of yourself in 1st arabesque (en pointe for women) directly to Slideroom by the December 1, 2023, deadline, for students entering Fall 2024. All who submit a video will be given information concerning their placement in ballet technique classes at BYU. Applications for Dance Talent Awards for new students entering Fall 2023 are now closed. |
Current BYU students do not need to complete the pre-screening. New BYU students are invited to apply for pre-screening by clicking on the link below. Once registered, you will receive an email containing exercises that we request you learn and record yourself executing. You will submit the video and a photo of yourself in 1st arabesque (en pointe for women) directly to Slideroom by the June 15, 2023, deadline. You will be notified of results by July 15, 2023, which could include an invitation to attend the live audition (information below). All who submit a pre-screening video will be given information concerning their placement in ballet technique classes at BYU.
Monday, August 21, 2023
9:00 - 11:00 a.m. MDT
283 RB
Pre-register for live auditions here:
https://forms.gle/tD4hXNyKGfWbH1Dz8
Students will audition for both Ballet Showcase Company and BYU Theatre Ballet in August. Current BYU students and new students who have already completed the pre-screening are requested to attend this audition. Pre-professional standards are expected. The audition consists of an advanced ballet technique class on pointe for women. Men will demonstrate specific male technique skills throughout the audition. Students do not need to be dance majors to perform with the company or receive scholarships, but are expected to enroll in the following:
BYU Theatre Ballet: Dance 490, 495, 498 for credit (not auditing), and 500R Pilates.
Ballet Showcase Company/Workshop: Dance 391, 495, 398 for credit (not auditing), and 500R Pilates.
Dancers who are selected to dance on either company will need to be available for all-day rehearsals on weekdays between the audition and the first day of Fall semester. Students who join either company are responsible for securing their own housing for the two weeks before school starts.
Performing Companies
Theatre Ballet
BYU Theatre Ballet is Brigham Young University’s top ballet touring company. Students in BYU Theatre Ballet perform regularly on and off campus in both traditional full-length classical ballets and innovative contemporary choreographic works. Theatre Ballet has performed the well-known ballet productions of Romeo and Juliet/Westside Story, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake on campus to sold-out audiences. The company also performs original full-length ballets such as The Snow Queen and Alice in Wonderland. Contemporary performances, full-length ballet productions, and additional performing in operas and musicals, offer students exciting opportunities to grow technically and artistically as they participate in BYU Theatre Ballet.
Theatre Ballet has also performed at the American College Dance Festival, Northwest Region. The company has participated in this festival four times, and all four times their choreography, technique, and artistry were praised and commended. Theatre Ballet was honored to be selected to perform faculty works in the festival gala performances each year, and in 2012 the company was also selected as an alternate for the national American College Dance Festival, a high honor which speaks well of the program. In 2013, both the faculty and student choreographic works were chosen to be performed at the gala performance—a unique and distinct honor.
In addition to the full-length productions and contemporary pieces performed on campus, BYU Theatre Ballet tours regionally and throughout the western United States with their tour program. The company has performed to sold-out audiences as they entertain and enrich families with a wholesome and uplifting classical ballet repertoire. The company has toured to Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and California in recent years.
For BYU Theatre Ballet tour schedules and booking information please visit pam.byu.edu.
Ballet Showcase Company
BYU Ballet Showcase Company provides performing opportunities in a company setting for those who are working at developing and broadening their performance skills, in possible preparation to perform with Brigham Young University’s Theatre Ballet.
Each semester, Ballet Showcase Company holds an audition and a culminating performance. Dancers rehearse and perform a variety of classical and contemporary ballet styles, including traditional repertoire, faculty works, and mentored student choreography.