The Lancaster Performing Arts Center will host the Brigham Young University (BYU) Ballroom Dance Company on Oct. 15. For tickets, visit lpac.org or call (661) 723-5950.
Twenty-seven years of dominating United States formation dancing has given the Brigham Young University Ballroom Dance Company of Provo, Utah a reputation for excellence throughout the world. Audiences of a BYU Ballroom Dance Company performance are treated to a spectacular variety of dances, including gliding waltzes reminiscent of a royal ball, playful swing dances hearkening back to a 1950s sock hop and dramatic high-energy dances of the Latin style.
The company has toured throughout Europe, the Middle East, the South Pacific, eastern Asia, and the United States. The dancers have also performed as special guest artists at ballroom dance competitions in China, Ukraine and Hungary. And always, no matter where they perform, the Brigham Young University Ballroom Dance Company dazzles and delights with fresh choreography, breathtaking lifts and spins, stunning costumes and energetic melodies in a professional show which delights and entertains audiences of all ages.
In the competitive arena, the BYU Ballroom Dance Company has an extensive and successful history. In September 2008 the dancers competed in the Embassy Ball, an annual ballroom dance competition in Irvine, California, where the team once again won the United States National Formation Championships—a title it has held since 1982. The group will defend its title for the twenty-eighth consecutive year in 2009. No one does it better than the BYU-BDC.
Lee and Linda Wakefield have directed the BYU Ballroom Dance Company since 1980 and have gained the university an international reputation of having the largest collegiate ballroom dance program in the world. Lee Wakefield is the current Chair of the Department of Dance at BYU. In June 2008, the Wakefields took their award-wining company to entertain thousands as they participated in the opening of the Cultural Olympic Festival in Beijing, China, prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics.
