Cosmic Dance In Concert

Dance brings all different types of people together and connects them for a single occasion. Some will go see dance as a form of entertainment and others to view it as an art; and it is often disputed as to whether a dance is created to suite one of these personalities specifically. As shared in the talk back for BYU Dance in Concert, an entertainment dance is viewed as “spectacular and dazzling” where as an artistic dance is expressed though an “emotional idea” and requires “deeper thinking”. This can be seen as a problem because some dances are amazing to watch, but also present a new thought or idea in a person’s mind. Dance can be seen as separate genres of entertainment and art, but also can come together to present an even stronger and

entertainment” by explaining that most choreographers try to incorporate the two factors while creating their piece rather than emphasizing on just one. By solely focusing on entertaining an audience with their work it, “comes across as a series of tricks without substance,” and will seem to have a lack of meaningfulness. Whereas with taking a specific artistic approach, some people may not be able to appreciate the dance as an art if, “there is nothing within the dance that is familiar [or] relatable,” to the audience. At the BYU Dance in Concert talk back, one of the important issues covered about this topic was that we, “recognize there are value in both [entertainment and art]”, and that “If you can combine both,” while maintaining the balance, “the result can be very

It was interesting to see how each dancer was going through their own journey in their movement, while also bringing their audience in to interpret their own meanings. The man from “Living Legends” who performed a Native American hoop dance, was not only taking his audience through a routine that was spectacular and mesmerizing, but was also expressing his deep and meaningful cultural roots. He could have just done his dance for the pure show of his talent, but by incorporating a highly significant piece of his heritage through the story of dance, he was able to create a beautiful piece to watch and ponder at the same