Yule performers stay flexible

When performers take the stage tonight at the Conference Center for their final Christmas Concert dress rehearsal, it will be only the second chance the program's young dancers have had to match their routines to the live music of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square.

That might intimidate some who will take part in the state's largest public Christmas celebration, set to play to audiences of 21,000 each night through Saturday. But choreographer Carol Iwasaki isn't worried. She worked and watched the concert come together behind the scenes last year, and she has every confidence that it will succeed once again.

A professor of ballet at the University of Utah, Iwasaki said the esprit de corps of those who put on the concert — the vast majority of them volunteers — and the faith in God that permeates the venue makes the event unique in her experience. "I think it's that spiritual element for me. I know there's someone there pulling for me, and I just know it's going to work.

"Last year it was just totally amazing. I couldn't believe it pulled together like it did."

In any other professional situation, with performers as young as 12 and so few rehearsals with the entire ensemble, "I would be pulling my hair out," Iwasaki said. The last-minute nature of the final rehearsals, a recent change in the music the dancers will perform to and pulling so many different elements together in such a short time "would be totally unacceptable for me here at the university," but she believes "the Lord will help us. He's not going to let this fail."

Iwasaki was contacted by choir conductor Craig Jessop last year about the 2005 concert after Ballet West referred him to her. He needed ballerinas for a scene called "Winter Wonderland" and was looking for a professional-quality performance.

That production involved 40 to 45 dancers. This year's dancing cast has grown to about 70, she said. Auditions began in October, and a few are returning from last year, but she had never met the bulk of her dancers until they were selected to perform.

Rehearsals have also had to work around the changing sets and scenery within the Conference Center, which hosts several events during the Christmas season. And Iwasaki's full-time schedule at the U. — teaching classes, hosting visiting Korean dancers, holding workshops — means she's had to squeeze more than 50 hours of volunteer time into her personal schedule the past couple of months.