Stories, emotion power BYU dance
The modern dance troupe based its yearly production on the real-life experiences of the women who trekked the trail to Utah alone while their fathers, sons and husbands served in the Mormon Battalion.
"I think people often look at dance as something totally frivo- lous and commercial," said director Caroline Prohosky, who is an associate professor of dance at BYU. "Through this project we have shown that dance, like a great novel, can tell the deeper stories of the human heart."
The team is touring Texas and New Mexico this week performing "Onward, Alone," which was presented in Provo earlier this month.
Prohosky spent about five years digging up the pioneer women's tales from microfilm and genealogy records in the Church History Library and Archives before beginning choreography for the show. She built the production around journal entries and personal correspondence between families, selecting memoirs that would illustrate the diversity of LDS women who banded together to help one another through the perils of the untamed West.
"It's a chapter of history that, as of yet, most people are completely unfamiliar with," she said. "It's kind of a blank page in most people's minds."
The director tried to stay true to history as she designed the show, which utilizes a mixture of voice-overs, live acting and film as narration. Original trail hymns, which were updated so they would not sound out of tune to the modern ear, set the mood for the production. Early LDS folk art provided a backdrop for dancers. Prohosky even dressed her company members in period clothing — right down to high button-up shoes.
Translating the stories into the language of movement turned out to be a challenge, though, the director said. To represent the characters "truthfully" and "reverently," Prohosky said she had to blur the lines between acting and dancing. None of the movement is derived from the traditional repertoire of ballet or modern technique.
"It isn't the most extravagant, difficult dancing we've ever done," said Holly Petty, 22, a senior from Bountiful who dances on the company. "At first we didn't know how the audience would take it because we didn't feel like we were being challenged dance-wise, but I learned that simple can be powerful."
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The Dancers Company performed Tuesday night in El Paso Texas to a...
Robert Dinsmoor | Feb. 14, 2008 at 7:21 a.m.
