Belle Frahm

Art in Motion is a new show that was conceptualized by three female ballet faculty in collaboration with the animation department director here at BYU. The show beautifully merges animation, music, and ballet to tell the stories of three female artists from history. Those artists are Berthe Morisot, Sofonisba Anguissola, and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.

When I think of the word powerful, I often associate it with the really unique, rare, extraordinary moments in my life. I envision grandiose gestures or out-of-this-world ideas. However, through my research for BYU’s Art in Motion, three female artists changed my perspective of the word.

Ever since the beginning of the rehearsal process, director Kris Peterson really wanted the cast to get their hands in the dirt. Like the events of the musical, the earth has a power to connect us to each other, and she recognized that. One way that Charlotte and I thought to do this was to provide a small number of seeds to each cast member and invite them to grow their own plants over the summer. This was also a way to encourage the cast members to stay mentally connected to the show even when they were physically distant from the rehearsal space.

The power of healing and growth is a topic not unknown to students at BYU. Educators and learners alike were asked to stretch their capacity to hold both powers in one hand as they were transplanted from their on-campus home in the Harris Fine Arts Center, to the new West Campus building, formerly known as the old Provo High School. The college of fine arts and communication, which includes Theatre, Media, film, Art, and Design departments, had to establish new communities, while major construction projects prevented them from being as close to the rest of campus as they might like to be.

With a show as universal as Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Ballet, one would think that there wouldn’t be many unknowns to staging a production. However, director Ashley Parov had a vision to make this classic ballet more accessible to ballerinas of all ages. Instead of producing a typical 3-hour-long ballet, Ashley imagined an hour-long family-friendly piece. How then, do you fill in the gaps of the story?