Utahns dazzling U.S. with dancing

Maybe there's something in the water. Or maybe — as "So You Think You Can Dance" winner Sabra Johnson jokingly suggested — "There's nothing to do (in Utah), so we all just decide to dance."

Whatever the reason, it's not a stretch to say that Utah has been somewhat overrepresented on network TV dancing competitions.

Even though one Utahn was eliminated from "Dancing with the Stars" last week, there's still a two-out-of-three chance that there will be a Utah tie when the winner on one of television's most popular shows is announced tonight. (The two-hour finale airs at 8 p.m. on ABC/Ch. 4.)

Not only is a member of Utah's first family of show business, Marie Osmond, still in contention, but Utahn Julianne Hough also is out to make it two in a row.

Hough, a 19-year-old professional dancer who trained at Center Stage Performing Arts in Orem and graduated from Alta High in Sandy, was the partner/trainer for Apolo Anton Ohno, who won the last "Dancing" competition back in May. (Ohno, of course, not only won three speedskating medals at the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, but trains here — so he's been drinking the Utah water for a while.)

Hough's 22-year-old brother, Derek, narrowly missed out on making tonight's "Dancing with the Stars" finale. He and his partner, actress Jennie Garth, made the final four but were eliminated last week.

Osmond, the Houghs and Ohno aren't the only Utah dancers to appear on the hit ABC show. Utahn Ashly DelGrosso was one of the professional dancers on the first three seasons of the show — partnering with Joey McIntyre (and finishing third), Master P (seventh) and Harry Hamlin (ninth).

DelGrosso was an instructor at Center Stage, which is owned by her mother. (She married a field producer on "Dancing with the Stars," and pregnancy kept her from returning for Season 4 of the show.)

Another Utahn who was an instructor at the Orem studio, Andrea Hale, partnered with ESPN's Kenny Mayne in Season 1 of "Dancing" (although they were the first team eliminated).

Louis van Amstel, a Dutch dancer who appeared on the first three seasons of the show, also lived in Orem for several years.

Changing channels from ABC to Fox, not only did Johnson win the second season of "So You Think You Can Dance," but a pair of Oremites — Allison Holker and Jaymz Tuaileva — were among the finalists on the previous season.

All of which adds up to a lot of Utah ties, considering the state's population.

Director/choreographer Kenny Ortega said he was "not surprised at all" to see so many Utahns doing so well on shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" because of the "incredible talent pool" in Utah.

Ortega not only directed the closing ceremonies of the Salt Lake Winter Olympics, but he also directed both "High School Musical" and "High School Musical 2." And he said those films were produced in Utah in part because, "I knew we wouldn't have any trouble at all finding dancers there."

As a matter of fact, Johnson and Holker were dancers in both "High School Musical" movies, and Tuaileva was in "HSM2."

"Maybe there really is something in the water," Ortega said with a laugh. "Whatever the reason, there's a dance community there that's as good as anyplace you can find."

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com