|
Odyssey Dance Theatre of Salt Lake City will perform
Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22 and 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kirkham Auditorium
at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg.
Sponsored
by the Center Stage Performing Arts Series, tickets are $6 for the general
public and $1 for BYU-Idaho students.
The
company is named Odyssey because it “takes the audience on a journey filled
with incredible experiences,” according to founder and artistic director
Derryl Yeager. The group comprises 18 professional dancers who specialize
in every style and medium of dance from ballet to tap, jazz to modern, and
ballroom to funk/hip-hop.
“It
allows us to broaden our range and diversify the numbers,” says Andrew
Dunham, director of marketing and public relations for Odyssey. “We’re not
limited to just one dance form.”
While
on campus, they will also present workshops to dance students.
The
program for the two evenings, which runs approximately one hour and 40
minutes, comprises Dances in the Garden of Eve, a spiritual piece
taken through scenarios from the creation of man; No Strings Attached,
a jazzy piece that “lets the audience sneak peek into the lives of dancers”
and Let it Be, choreographed to the music of the Beatles that will
“run you into laughter, excitement, sorrow, joy and all different
feelings,” Dunham says.
“We
appeal to all audiences,” Dunham says. “We appeal to dance enthusiasts who
can really retain the amazing night of dance, but we also appeal to people
who are new to theatre or who don’t have a dance background. They will be
highly entertained and will also appreciate the performance at a high level
and be satisfied at the end of the night.”
Dance,
when it’s done well, communicates to everyone through a kinetic exchange
between the artist and the audience, Yeager says.
“Everyone
has a body,” he says. “With dance, you don’t have the barriers of language.
You can communicate without words.”
Yeager
formed the company, now in its eighth season, so that talented artists in
Utah didn’t have to go to New York City or Los Angeles to pursue their
dreams in dancing. After graduating with his BFA and MFA from the
University of Utah, doing three Broadway shows and working professionally
in film and television in Los Angeles, Yeager moved back to Salt Lake
City.
“I
saw a huge pool of talented dancers who didn’t necessarily want to move to
Los Angeles or New York but were nonetheless extremely talented,” Yeager says.
“When you’ve worked for 15 or so to develop that kind of talent, it’s sad
not to use that talent on stage as it was intended to be used.”
Yeager,
who had always dreamed of owning his own dance company, saw an opportunity
to use his professional background to combine all dance forms into
something “very unique and different.”
“I
think that’s what I bring to the company – an eclectic ability to move
between different styles and create very entertaining works,” he says.
“We
get to experience several different styles within a single performance,” he
explains. Moreover, “these
dancers are also very talented actors and actresses. There’s a lot of humor
in these shows. The audience can sense a feeling from these dancers. We
really try to create stuff that moves you and makes you laugh, makes you
cry, and is overall just great entertainment.”
In
addition to their local season in Salt Lake City, Odyssey has performed
throughout the United States and Europe. # # #
|