Eliza Summerhays

Ed Austin
Dance 459
18 April 2015
Brigham Young Universitys Dance Department
Brigham Young University is well known for the integration of
gospel principles into the classes around campus. One place that is a
little more difficult to integrate the gospel into is in the dance
department. The classes are more participation based and there isnt
enough time to get through everything, so a lot of times the teachers
just jump into the content and go full speed until the last minute of
class. It is understandable because we as students want to get as
much out of the dance classes as we can to prepare us for our future
careers, but I think overlooking these gospel principles creates a gap
between every day life and careers and the gospel life. The gospel of
Jesus Christ should be present in every aspect of our lives, despite the
setting, because it is why we are here on Earth in the first place. There
are a few teachers in the dance department who have devoted time to
implemented gospel principles in their classes, and it makes a huge
difference in the spirit of the classes.
One of the most spiritual classes I had within the dance
department was the 393 pointe class taught by Janalyn Memmott. We
always started the class with a prayer and throughout the class, she

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would compare hard concepts to understand to things we have to do in
life. At first I thought it was a little cheesy, but as she continued to do
it, it opened my eyes to the importance of keeping an eternal
perspective in all things and in all aspects of life.
I have always had a good spiritual experience with the
companies at BYU. We have prayers and devotionals every day and
during tours we have the opportunity to present small firesides to the
local wards and branches.
Another professor I really appreciated was last semester I took
Music for Dancers (dance 264), dance 391, and dance 440 from Shayla
Bott. She started a thing in each of those classes where we would pray
at the beginning of every class, and the person who prayed every day
would ask if anyone wanted anything specific to be prayed for. It only
took a few minutes at the very beginning of class every day, and not
only did it bring the spirit, but it also unified our class and helped us to
be more aware of the needs of other people. It took a little bit of time
for everyone to get comfortable to pray for specific things, because we
werent necessarily used to that in the dance setting, but I love that
she wanted to make a difference in the class in that way, and it
definitely worked. It didnt take long for everyone to open up and share
specific things they needed to be prayed for.
My favorite of all the spiritual lessons I have learned from the
dance department is an object lesson given in Dance 331 by Lisa

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Stoddard. She would start out with a crisp twenty dollar bill. She would
ask who wanted it. Then she crumpled it, spit on it, stomped on it, etc.
After she asked who wanted the twenty dollars. She would then talk
about the worth of each person in the dance world and each person
here at the university. It was really powerful and meant a lot to me.
Overall, I really appreciate the efforts these teachers have made
in their classes because it bridges the gap between the dance world
and the gospel. I grew up dancing in an outside studio, owned by nonmembers, so it was new but great to have a more spiritual influence in
that aspect of my life.