BYU’s Living Legends group returns from world tour
By Derek Gurr
After spending 24 long hours on a plane, 38 members of BYU’s Living Legends dance group arrived in China last month thrilled to share their love of vibrant Latin American, Native American and Polynesian heritages.
The group returns today from the tour, where it performed a lively, 90-minute show named “Seasons.” The group visited and performed in Beijing, Qingdao, Yantai, Suzhou and Shanghai on its three-week long tour.
Stephen Freeman, a dancer who has both Native American and Chinese ancestry, spoke of the unique opportunity this trip affords BYU students.
“Being able to tour with Living Legends in China has allowed me a unique chance to share my Native American culture while simultaneously learning more about my Chinese culture,” Freeman said in an email, because of a 14-hour time difference from Utah to China.
Members of the group seek to highlight the rich cultures of their ancestors through the medium of dance. They performed a series of colorful dances that portray the cycle of civilization and the changing seasons that ancient cultures faced.
“[Chinese] audiences have . . . been very positive and interested in our performances,” Michelle Andrew, a dancer from Windsor, Calif., said in an email. “It has been reassuring to us as performers that we are connecting with our Chinese audiences.”
The group not only hopes to have shared its ancestry with China, but also hopes to have left the Chinese people with a good impression of BYU and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has not been officially organized in China.
On May 7, the group performed for the Beijing Dance Academy and members were able to interact with several academy students.
“After our short performance, the director of the school kept talking about the ‘warm feeling’ they felt as our students performed,” Shane Wright, Living Legends director, said in an email. “[They complimented] them not only in their skill, but their great sincerity and passion for their cultures.”
Students weren’t allowed to preach the gospel but found other ways to serve the people they met. One simple act of service took place in Zhuozheng Yuan, a well-known garden in Suzhou. Jacob Uda from Pleasant Grove gave gardeners a BYU pin and a postcard.
“Being unable to preach the gospel, the opportunities to exercise our faith through charity has been very spiritually uplifting,” Freeman said.
The learning certainly wasn’t one-way. Many students feel they learned at least as much if not more than they shared.
“I came thinking I needed to be an example of the gospel light,” Eva Bighorse from Santa Cruz, Calif., said in an email. “Their devotion, I feel, surpassed mine in many ways and they inspire me to be more excellent, obedient and diligent.”
The tour is the group’s first to China in 18 years.
Living Legends has performed around the world in places such as Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany and many South American countries. The group visited Argentina and Paraguay in 2009.
The group was originally organized in 1971 as the “Lamanite Generation.” All dancers have Latin American, Native American or Polynesian ancestry.
This article was published on May 17, 2010 by the Daily Universe, BYU’s student newspaper sponsored by the BYU Department of Communications.
