Brigette Petersen Karlsven and Professor Shani Michelle Robinson, Health and Human Performance

I chose to do a creative research project to enhance my experience here at Brigham Young University and to help me to be more qualified and prepared once I live this University. I am a dance major and wanted to use the art of dance to communicate with an uneducated audience, of my testimony of the Savior, as well as my dancers.

I had a fabulous experience and would love the opportunity to do it again. The choreographic process wasn’t all fun and games. There where many times that the task was a little overwhelming, however I now feel so much more prepared to conquer such challenges in the future with confidence. I hope also, as part of my senior project choreograph a coupled piece that can intertwine with “Broken and Contrite,” the one I did for this grant, and some day have them performed one after another. In the future I hope to be able to use the skills I have gained through this project to serve in my community and stake.

Often in dance you start with the music or the theme. I had the theme before the music and thus that was the next step. Music can have a profound effect and really enhance the choreography. After listening to many songs the right pieces came and the choreography started. With music and a theme the movement came more quickly then I expected and was a really enjoyable process.

After the choreography was in place I then had to teach it to my dancers. This was the hardest part. To bring together many busy lives and find time to rehearse. I also struggled conveying to my dancers at times what I wanted with timing, counts, the initiation and feeling of the movement. I had to learn a lot of patience and some compromising skills. After hours of work in the studio with my different dancers, and encouraging and allowing them to participate in bringing my piece together, we, as a collaborative effort, ended with a beautifully work of art that touched many in the audience.

One uneducated audience member said that he left “wanting to be a better person.” Besides complements from the audience I also had wonderful support and encouragement from the dance faculty. I received at the end of the year from the Dance department and ballet division awards for outstanding choreography. Also my lead dancer said that the experience was the highlight of her dance career, and helped to strengthen and build her testimony of the Savior. She shared a little of what she called “a spiritual experience” with me as she told of bearing her soul as she performed opening night. I will never forget the impact and change this opportunity has had on my view of dance and my role in it.