‘Dance Around the World’ performance this Friday to feature exciting multicultural dance showcase
Published at | Updated at
REXBURG — For Efrain Becerra, dance has always been about community. The Brigham Young University-Idaho student has been dancing for decades, beginning as a child in North Hollywood, California. He was 12 years old when he was invited to join the Latino Club at his middle school by the club’s founder, Luisa Molina, a well-known singer from Bolivia.
Becerra joined the group and stayed with it through his high school years, forming close friendships with people he is still close with today. Molina became an important mentor to Becerra, teaching him and others performance arts originating from South America.
Sadly, Molina died from COVID-19 in May 2021, but not before helping Becerra name the dance group he founded at BYU-Idaho — “Amelat.” Becerra says the name represents “the whole western continent of the Americas.” Amelat was officially formed in the spring of 2022.
“It’s going really well for us. It’s attracting a lot of students,” Becerra says. “Most of them are not dance majors, but they connect through dancing.”
The dancers of Amelat will be joined by two other student groups, Hijos del Sol and Pacific Roots, in a ‘Dance Around the World’ showcase this Friday, June 9 at 7 p.m. at the Romance Theater at 2 East Main Street in Rexburg. The show will feature dances from around the world, representing the U.S., India, Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Bolivia, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean. In extravagant and colorful costumes, the performers plan to wow the audience with a high-energy, family-friendly, multicultural dance showcase. Becerra is especially excited for the closing number, which represents “the battle of good and evil.”
Becerra says Molina’s daughter helped the group obtain costumes that were once used by the National Ballet in Bolivia, while others were purchased or rented for the show. He says that while some are colorful and ornate with embroidery, others are more subtle, like the traditional feathered attire used to perform indigenous dances.
Between the three dance ensembles and some other special guests, Becerra says there will be about 100 performers total.
Becerra cherishes the friendships he has made through Amelat and through connecting with Hijos Del Sol and Pacific Roots, and his goal is for the groups to continue as current students graduate and new students join.
“We’re gonna have lots of good memories,” he says. “This is meant to be here for a long time.”
Tickets to “Dance Around the World” are $7 apiece and can be purchased here.