News Email - May 16, 2017
Performing Arts Management
Encore on Tour
Chile and Argentina

On Tuesday, the Ballroom Dance Company bid farewell to Chile with a performance in a sporting club in Viña del Mar. They were then off to Mendoza, Argentina, where audience members excitedly lined up around the theatre in order to get good seats for the performance.BYU group members also appeared on the television shows <em>Tardes Compartidas</em> and <em>Pura Vida, Cada Día</em>; they were interviewed and performed an excerpt from their show. <h6>On Saturday, the group toured the Zonda Department, a political division next to San Juan that’s popular in Argentina for wine production and fruit farming.</h6> On Friday, the Ballroom Dance Company traveled to San Juan, Argentina. On Saturday, the group toured the Zonda Department, a political division next to San Juan that’s popular in Argentina for wine production and fruit farming.For its last week on tour, the Ballroom Dance Company will visit Córdoba and Buenos Aires.

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BYU students Makayla Bezzant and Hannah Gasinski, along with director Curt Holman, stand with audience members in the Teatro del Bicentenario in San Juan, Argentina.

Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam

International Folk Dance Ensemble started its second week of tour with a workshop with the Srinakharinwirot University dance department in Bangkok. Following the workshop, both universities’ dancers performed for an audience of 700 people, which included young single adults from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.On Tuesday, the group performed in the beautiful Thailand Cultural Center for 1,700 people. The performance was followed by a special farewell party that included a traditional dinner and Thai cultural performances.After a short flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the group members visited the temples and the surrounding area. This was a highlight of the group’s cultural experiences this week. <h6>The dancers had the opportunity to meet others of their own age at a country-wide young single adult conference, where they taught American folk dancing to 225 attendees.</h6> On Friday, the dancers had the opportunity to meet others of their own age at a country-wide young single adult conference, where they taught American folk dancing to 225 attendees. The next day, after visiting the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda in Phnom Penh, the group promoted its evening shows by interacting with people in the Aeon Mall while in costume and by giving a short performance there.That evening, the group danced at the Koh Pich Theater in Phnom Penh in a charity performance for the Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital. More than 70 influential opinion leaders of the city attended a pre-performance reception and then joined the rest of the 2,000 audience members for a memorable show.International Folk Dance Ensemble spent its last night in Cambodia presenting a Sunday devotional program. The group members then packed up once again to head to Vietnam.

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A check for 800,000 Thai baht is presented at the conclusion of International Folk Dance Ensemble’s last Thailand performance. This check represents the money raised for the St. Joseph’s Foundation in Bangkok.

International Folk Dance Ensemble members visit Angkor Thom, an ancient site near Siem Reap, Cambodia.

International Folk Dance Ensemble poses with representatives of the Nokor Tep Women’s Hospital, which benefited from the charity performance given in the Koh Pich Theater.

U.S. Midwest

[embed]https://youtu.be/D43rIJTz0P0[/embed]<em>(Video by Philip Conte. If video is not displayed, click <a href="https://pam.byu.edu/encore_on_tour/test-run/?preview=true">here</a>.)</em>This week, Living Legends participated in a family home evening for young single adults of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Naperville, Illinois. At the family home evening, group members shared testimonies, performed several numbers from the show, and taught the haka to the men—including to the stake president—and taught a modern hula to the women. The next night Living Legends performed its entire show for an enthusiastic audience. <h6>The group also visited and performed at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a hospital in St. Paul for children with rare conditions.</h6> In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Living Legends show was sold out. Members of the Church’s area presidency, tribal leaders, and civic officials joined the cheering crowd as Living Legends members danced across the historic Pantages Theatre stage. The group also visited and performed at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a hospital in St. Paul for children with disabilities and complex medical needs.Next, it was off to Fargo, North Dakota, where the group provided a special devotional and performed a few numbers for the Church members and their guests in the Fargo stake center.The group finished the week in Sioux City, Iowa, with another great performance. For its final week on tour, Living Legends will visit Mission and Aberdeen, South Dakota; Omaha, Nebraska; and Des Moines, Iowa. 

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Living Legends performs for patients at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Director Janielle Christensen is swept off her feet by Chicago’s Benny the Bull.

Brazil

As Young Ambassadors finished its first week of tour, the group members sang at two sacrament meetings for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Later that night, the group gave a devotional to an audience that filled the chapel to capacity and extended to others who listened through the building’s open windows. The devotional was also broadcast to another building.During the second week of tour, Young Ambassadors performed to a sold-out audience of more than 2,400 people in Recife. They also had the opportunity to put on Mormon Helping Hands vests and visit a ward in IMIP Hospital in Recife that specializes in caring for premature newborns. The group visited mothers participating in the Kangaroo Mother Care project—an initiative that enables mothers to spend time with their premature babies in order for mother and child to bond. Young Ambassadors delivered kits to these mothers that included hygiene supplies and baby items, which the local Relief Societies of the Church had assembled. <h6>Young Ambassadors had the opportunity to put on Mormon Helping Hands vests and visit a ward in IMIP Hospital in Recife that specializes in caring for premature newborns.</h6> This Mormon Helping Hands project and the group’s performance in Recife was covered by the television news broadcast channel which has a reach of nearly 3 million people. The channel aired two reports on Young Ambassadors, one in the morning and one in the evening.Later in the week, Young Ambassadors traveled to Rio de Janeiro. In addition to a performance, the group participated in a community outreach with a retirement home of artists. There were former movie stars, singers, painters, poets, and even a clown. Young Ambassadors also toured Sugarloaf Mountain and the Christ the Redeemer statue, two of the most famous sites in Brazil.The group continues to be greeted at each airport by local members of the Church who drum, sing, and dance.Young Ambassadors will spend most of the remainder of its tour next week in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city. They will also make a quick trip to Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná to visit the Iguaçu Falls that is located on the border of Brazil and Argentina. 

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Globo Nordeste interviews Jordan Bromley, a member of Young Ambassadors, during the network’s morning show in Recife.

Young Ambassadors poses in front of the world-famous Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.

Emily Taylor, a member of Young Ambassadors, talks to a mother at the IMIP Hospital in Recife.