The Living Legends of Brigham Young University (BYU) were welcomed to a literal exchange of music and dance by performing arts and music students at Universal College of Learning (UCOL) in Palmerston North.
The Living Legends are student performers of Polynesian, American Indian and Central and South American decent that celebrate their heritage through music and dance and who are touring in New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa.
The exchange held in the campus rehearsal hall began with UCOL students performing a rousing song with Greek origins, followed by the Living Legends singing in Maori, then performing a Bolivian dance which they then taught to their UCOL peers.
“It was really entertaining and really quite special. I loved it,” said Aidan Voice a UCOL student.
Following an American Indian Hoop Dance by Living Legend dancers and other songs that were performed as planned, the event blossomed into a 70-person, full-volume, spontaneous sing-a-long of one popular tune after another sang around a piano played by a UCOL music student.
Said Voice, “It was very inspiring today. There were so many different cultures.
“I was involved with the Latter-day Saints back in my home town. I always find myself motivated by how multi-cultural and how invested in the community they are.”
In addition to the event at UCOL, the BYU Living Legends – between their five performances in New Zealand over the past two weeks – shared their art and enthusiasm in small and large gatherings with children, teenagers, university students, dignitaries and diplomats from Auckland to Wellington.
Living Legends is one of 19 performance groups at Brigham Young University, according to Rex Barrington the assistant director of performing arts at BYU who manages the group and is leading its South Pacific tour.
BYU has over 30,000 students at its campus in Provo, Utah USA and is part of the Education System of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.