Orem dancers put steps, Utah in the spotlight

OREM — Mikhail Baryshnikov, Leningrad. Isadora Duncan, London. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Hollywood.

Jaymz Tuaileva and Allison Holker, Orem.

Tuaileva, 20, and Holker, 18, have won numerous awards at dancing competitions around the country, have both survived the first week of the Fox television network's reality show "So You Think You Can Dance," the dancing equivalent to "American Idol."

They might seem like small-potato performers compared to their competition — most of whom are from places like California, New York or Florida — were it not for Orem's long-standing tradition of successful dancers.

"Have we noticed a trend? Absolutely," said Leah Brandon, managing director of the New York Dance Alliance, a prestigious dancing convention and competition. "There seems to be a disproportionate percentage of fabulous dancers coming from Orem, Utah. Our faculty travels all around the country and sees literally tens of thousands of dancers every year, and we actually joke about it. What do they put in the water out there in Utah?"

According to Brandon, the same level of excellence expected from studios in Los Angeles or New York is found all over Utah.

ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" features three Orem dancers, Ashly DelGrosso , Andrea Hale and Louis van Amstel, as professionals.

Performers from The Dance Club and Center Stage Performing Arts Studio in Orem received numerous awards at this year's New York Dance Alliance Convention, including Holker, who was named female senior National Outstanding Dancer.

"We had a woman call us heartbroken because they had been relocated to Utah and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get the same dance training for her daughter," she said. "Really and truly, I told her I couldn't pick an area in this country where she could find better training than Salt Lake City. There's just a lot of good stuff going on there."

It's been suggested that part of the reason for so many great dancers in the area might be the large universities close by that have a tradition of exceptional dance teams.

Brigham Young University's Cougarettes are four-time National Collegiate Dance Team winners, and the BYU Ballroom Dance Company is undefeated as U.S. Formation Champions. UVSC's Ballroom Dance Company has also excelled, taking first place in the Open British Formation Championship and second at the U.S. National Formation Championships.

"We would never try to take all the credit, but we can take credit for being a kind of source for lots of dancing," said Lee Wakefield, BYU department of dance chair.

As for Brandon, she believes it's a combination of factors, including faculty and work ethic.