Every semester the BYU-Idaho Dance Department holds a special performance, called Extravadance, where dancers of many genres get to perform and showcase their skills. This semester Extravadance is being put on by the Collegiate Dancers group, which is completely student run. The choreography, lighting, sound, directing, and everything that goes into the production will be done by students.
“I think it’s fun for the student directors who have done Extravadance as dancers to switch roles, so the directing side, to really see and get the whole entire picture of what it takes to put on the show,” says Ashley Reed.
Ashley Reed is a dance teacher at BYU-Idaho and is one of the faculty overseeing Extravadance this semester.
Reed says dance is a great way to express yourself without using words.
“I think any dancer loves the opportunity to perform. Being on stage, there’s nothing like that, and expressing and communicating in that way, especially if you’re really not great with words. You know, using your body to communicate and express how you feel is really the best feeling in the world,” Reed says.
Reed says the dance performances range from ballet, ballroom and contemporary, to even tap and hip hop.
Reed encourages students to see Extravadance, which is a high-quality performance for $5.
“It also exposes you to the arts, especially if you haven’t been around dance a whole lot in your life. It gives you a little bit of exposure, what we’re about, what we offer as a dance department. And maybe it encourages you to take a 100 level dance class. Social Dance is a great introduction to dance, or we also have jazz or ballet, and modern,” Reed says.
Reed was a BYU-Idaho student who also was a Collegiate dancer and directed as a student director during her time as a student. Now as a faculty member, she loves seeing everything come together.
“Honestly, just seeing everybody’s hard work pay off. It’s really hard to feel like in the moment that this is going to be amazing, or this is going to feel amazing, but once they get in costume, once they get on stage, once the lights are on them, and the energy of the crowd is there, there’s this shift in energy that happens and everybody is so united and dances just full out,” Reed says.
The theme for Extravadance this semester, chosen by the student directors, is “United As We Are.”
“Just with how the current climate of things in our world are right now, everything is very divided, and so this is kind of both an invitation and a challenge for everybody to recognize that there is beauty in our differences and we can resist the division and we can really build something that is beautiful together,” Reed says.
Extravadance is November 11-15th at 7:30 p.m. in the Eliza R. Snow Building Drama Theatre. Tickets are $5 for students and $8 for the general public.