The Character Dance Ensemble is a group of dedicated ballet majors from the Department of Ballet at the
University of Utah, who are also completing a specialized emphasis in the art of character dance. Character
dance is stylized folk or ethnic dance for the ballet stage. The Ensembles mandate is varied.
Our mission is to first provide dancers with academic and performance-related opportunities in different
dance styles from around the world. This is important for the development of versatile dance technique.
Another important aspect is to enrich the student experience through travel and cross cultural interaction.
The Character Dance Ensemble also fulfills the Ballet Departments mission of Community Outreach, and
has provided over 250 performances locally since its inception in 1995. CDE also meets the U's new
Internationalization initiative, with recent visits to the Beijing Dance Academy, the Royal Ballet School
of England and Pacific Arts in Vancouver, Canada. The Character Dance Ensemble has been invited by the
Vaganova Dance Society to participate in a Master class workshop at the Mussorgsky Ballet Theatre in
St Petersburg, Russia, March 19th - 26th, 2007.
