DANCE BLOSSOMS THROUGHOUT UTAH: COMPANIES SPRING UP AROUND GOOD TEACHERS

If you want to study dance in Utah, or perform in a company, or see fine programs, you must head for Salt Lake City, right?

Not so, say several women who run dance companies off the beaten track: community companies, sometimes loosely connected with local colleges; companies run with tiny budgets, but lots of sweat equity.All these women have significant training and performing experience, some of it with major national companies; and they are dedicated to extending the boundaries of excellence in dance study and performance throughout Utah.

Three of them, featured in this article - Vivian Kosan Bagnall, Sandra W. Emile and Carolyn Gwyther - came here from afar. (Watch for upcoming profiles of Utah-trained artistic directors Jacqueline Colledge of Utah Regional Ballet and Candy Fowler of Southwest Dance Theatre.)MANTI - When Lewis and Vivian Kosan Bagnall drove into Manti five years ago, seeking a home to buy, they immediately noticed workmen moving in and out of a proud old building on Main Street.

"We went inside and saw that they were ripping out walls and floors, demolishing the building's interior," said Kosan. "I could tell it was a great old building. I ran to the City Hall, and asked them how much they were spending to tear it up. They said $10,000 to $12,000. I said, give me that money and I will restore it and use it for a school."

From this serendipitous beginning developed the Turning Pointe, home of the Central Utah Ballet School. Springy hardwood floors were finished, and walls rearranged to provide studio and office space for about 120 students of all ages. The building began life 115 years ago as Manti's first city hall, and costumes and equipment are stored in the basement, where pioneer prisoners once lodged.

Kosan is a can-do person who thrives on a challenge. "If any one says to me, you can't do that, I say, Oh yeah? Watch me!" she said, her eyes flashing.

Last Christmas Kosan directed the Central Utah Ballet's third annual "Nutcracker" at North Sanpete High School in Mt. Pleasant. The project involved 200 dancers and actors not only from her own school but from all over the county, and points north and south; and not least, her own five children and her husband.

She's proud that the production is nearly all homegrown, with fabric for elaborate costumes and building materials coming from local stores. On one "Nutcracker" costume, the girl who would wear it,her mother and her married brother sewed 3,000 beads. "I like them to do that, because it makes them think," said Kosan. "She said, `I must dance well enough to match my costume.' "