Seize the Beat, BYU Ballroom Dance Concert 2008

This last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in my first BYU Ballroom Dance Concert ever. It was a marvelous experience. But not only was it fun, it also caused me to re-analyze some things about dancing.

First I'll talk about my initial impressions of being a ballroom performer.

Most of what I did, during the performances was wait. I'm on an entry level team for the company, and we only dance once during the entire program--discounting the Finale where everybody dances. So, during a show that lasts about an hour and a half, I really only spent about five minutes total onstage. The rest of the time was spent in the men's dressing room playing cards or reading books. Other people did homework, but I'm nowhere near that efficient with my time.

I thought I would be nervous when I finally went onstage, I'm usually quite nervous for performances--like in the movie The Cutting Edge when the dude goes and yarks behind a curtain before they go out on the ice--so I figured I'd get nervous for this as well. It turned out that I was actually quite calm; no nerves. I think maybe the difference was that I couldn't see any of the audience--because they are in the dark and the stage lights are shining in your face--and also it's a little different being a part of a team, where no individual really stands out. What a relief that was, it is sooo much easier to perform correctly when you aren't dealing with extreme nerves.

There were probably around an average of 4000 people for the three shows, which is a pretty good crowd. Back in high school--when I did concert band, jazz band, choir, and basketball--the crowds never really got much more that maybe 200 people, so this was a huge difference. When they cheered at the end of a number it was . . . awesome. Afterwards, as I would make my way through the crowd to my family, everybody was so nice and so impressed by what they had seen. Let me tell you, Ballroom Dance is awesome, and the BYU Ballroom Dance Company puts on a great, great show.

So this caused me to re-analyze what I am doing on the dance team. I used to dance mainly because dance . . . is fun . . . but so much more than that. It's hard to find words to explain the wonder of dancing, if you can think of a way to put it into words, let me know. Anyway, in essence, I used to dance for myself, because it was good for me. But now, as a member of a dance performance team, I have realized that dancing should also be done for other people. That's the whole point of being on this company, but I didn't realize that before. I guess it's logically pretty obvious, but what can I say, I'm blind at times.

But now, it is over. After all the hours of rehearsals, and the sacrifices I've made (almost broken toes, and tons of bruises, etc . . .) I feel kind of at a loss, I wish it was still going on.