Choristers and dancers close Madeleine Festival

Intermountain Catholic

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Dancers from the Children's Dance Theatre dance to evoke both spirituality and youthful joy to sacred music sung by the choristers of the Madeleine Choir School.

SALT LAKE CITY "It was fitting to close out this special centennial year Madeleine Festival with a performance by Children’s Dance Theatre with choristers from the Madeleine Choir School June 7 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine," said Drew W. Browning, director of the Madeleine Arts and Humanities Program.

"These groups had previously collaborated in a similar 1996 Madeleine Festival event involving liturgical dance," said Drew. "These dedicated and talented dancers and choristers – very few of whom were even born when the 1996 festival was occurring – presented a spiritually uplifting event that beautifully highlighted the hope for the future embodied in youth."

The program began with the Madeleine Choir School choristers singing as they processed into the Cathedral of the Madeleine to take their place behind the altar. Following them were dancers in colorful costumes dancing their down way down the aisles to the altar.

The Children’s Dance Theatre (CDT) collaborated with the choristers to present a program that combined the sacred space of the Cathedral with dance that evoked both spirituality and youthful joy, and sacred music and spirituals.

Melanie Malinka, a native of Stuttgart, Germany, has served as the director of music at the Madeleine Choir School since 2001. She oversees the school’s rigorous choral program of four choirs for children ages 9 to 14.

CDT is the performing arm of the University of Utah Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Program and is an auxiliary within the College of Fine Arts. The company was established in 1949, by Tanner, and celebrated its 60th anniversary with its February performance of Coming Home at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City.

Under the artistic direction of Mary Ann Lee since 1979, the company has continued to grow in size and programming, resulting in continued state, national, and international recognition. This company of young dancers, ages 8 to 18, shares its performances annually with more than 45,000 Utahns.