A Night of the Arts

Our stake held a cultural night where they wanted to have a night of refinement and uplifting performances. The first hour they had refreshments and a visual art display. The next hour and a half was the musical performance. There were piano and organ solos and duets doing classical pieces, a solo of In My Own Little Corner, a 4 hand piano piece by Handel, a vocal soloist, and other musical talents. They really wanted this to be a night of high class and professional talent. With that said, I felt very under qualified in participating. But I was asked to be part of a dance number. One of my friends in our ward majored in Modern dance at BYU. They asked us to choreograph and perform a modern dance as part of this program. It was so much fun to be a part of but also a little nerve racking. It has been a long time since I danced on a stage and in front of people. But I loved it. It was so much fun to be dancing again.

Josh and Megan who danced with me were so fun to work with. Josh starts dancing with the cello who is also on stage, just not shown in the video. Then Megan and I come on (they music people were suppose to wait for us to be in place before starting the music but they didn't. So that is why we are a bit rushed coming on!)

We really tried to represent the meaning and the history of the song in the dance. The following introduction was read before the dance. It is not in the video so read it before you watch the dance. (When you watch it, making the screen full size decreases the quality so you may want to keep it smaller.)

"Henry Lyte wrote the poem "Abide with Me" in 1847 and set it to music while he lay dying from tuberculosis. He survived only a further three weeks after its completion. This hymn is a prayer for God to remain present with the speaker throughout life, through trials, and through death. Following the narrative of the hymn, this dance expresses first the "deepening darkness" of trials, then second the realization that nothing of this world can comfort. Only "He who changest not" has the power to bring us peace.

The final culmination of the dance embodies the essence of the poem's last stanza:

"Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;

Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me."

Video:

The building. It was held at the Historic Stiefel Theatre in Salina, KS which is about 1 hour and 15 min from Manhattan.

The dancers backstage.

The whole group with Jocelyn, our cellist.