Dance Magic: Utah's Competitive Dance Scene

Dance Magic: Utah’s Competitive Dance Scene

The mountain air and golden sunshine combined with the alpine elevation along with a bit of history puts Utah on the map as a source of astounding dancers. From ballroom and TV stars like Derek and Julianne Hough from Orem to Norwegian Principal Ballerina, Whitney Jensen, from Sandy; Utah simply has a little bit of…

Nicole Anderson

May 26, 2020

Utah's Competitive Dance Scene — Photos Courtesy of Rhythm Works

It’s not all magic of course. It’s a lot of hard work. You’ve seen the photos of ballet dancers’ feet bandaged and wrapped. That’s part of what comes from hours of practicing the art of dance. Yet, perhaps part of Utah’s dance magic came into the world on the day William Christensen arrived. Born and raised in Brigham City, Utah, trained as an American Ballet dancer and choreographer moved away to perform his first ballet in Portland, Oregon. Not long after he returned to Utah in the early 1950s due to his wife, Mignon’s illness. It didn’t take him long to establish the first school of ballet at an at the University of Utah. Christensen eventually went on to become Ballet West’s first artistic director, and eventually founded the San Francisco Ballet and Ballet West in Salt Lake City.

Dance has a long-running history that has paved the way for dancers like Bradi Hill, owner of Rhythm Works Dance Studio in Clearfield, Utah. Hill began dancing at Rhythm Works Dance the age of four under the direction of Diane Allred. Allred trained her sisters as well, making dance a family affair. She has always loved dancing, but it wasn’t until high school that she realized it was her passion. Dance, as well as the studio, became such a huge part of her life – working there throughout her high school and college years — that when Allred retired, she looked to Hill to buy the studio. That’s exactly what she did, and it has paid off.

At Rhythm Works Hill prides herself and her team with teaching proper technique and vocabulary to her dancers, some who began at the early age of two. It isn’t just jumping around that we teach, Hill said, we believe that all students should feel important when dancing, especially the little ones. We want their experience to be positive and self-esteem building and hope that every student finds a passion for dancing to free from their daily stresses.

Utah dancers Rhythm Works

Despite her youth, she embraced the challenge and her passion for dance led the way. Allred trained her for a year on not only how to run the business but to make it successful. The reward came only three years after Hill purchased the business when she was awarded Utah Business Magazine’s 20 in their 20s award in 2017. In those few short years, she increased enrollment in the 25-year-old business by 25 percent despite competition from other studios and continues to create new and fun classes bringing in new students as well as keeping the former students. Currently, Rhythm Works is home to 11 performance teams and 10 recreation classes and offers classes for ages 2-18 in Jazz, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, Ballet, Toddler Time, and beginning tumbling. Their competition teams have performed in Disneyland in 2005, 2008, and 2015 and New York City in 2012.

She talks about some of the challenges “in the dance world, it has become common for dancers to become sexualized at a very young age. Rhythm Works is known to be a more conservative studio with modest costumes, clean moves, and age-appropriate music,” says Hill.

When asked her thoughts on why Utah produces so many amazing dancers she believes that it may be in part numbers. “There are more kids in Utah,” Hill said, “you can find a high-quality dance studio without having to search far away. We have a local team base here and that’s important.”

So, whether it is the history, the alpine air, hard work, or golden sunshine, Utah is the place to dance. It always has been and always will be.

Go Local, Online Exclusives, Utah Artists

Nicole Anderson

Nicole Anderson is a communication professional and freelance writer. She holds a master’s degree in Strategic Communications from Westminster College and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Utah. She is a certified Utah Master Naturalist in Wetlands, and has spent many years researching the Great Salt Lake. Anderson co-founded the blog, Summer of Salt, where she spent three summers exploring the shorelines of Great Salt Lake. In 2010, Anderson was commissioned to write, “Patterns of Change” which documented bird and human usage in Bear River Bay, and she later had a role in the 2012 documentary, “Evaporating Shorelines.” Anderson teaches intercultural and interpersonal communication at Salt Lake Community College. She has written as a freelance author for ten plus years. Her stories and articles have appeared in Airboating Magazine, Gateway Magazine, Utah Stories, and Utah Life Magazine, among several other print and online publications. Anderson has a passion to protect landscapes and places that cannot speak for themselves.

Go Local

Utah Craft Whiskey: How Barrels and Utah’s Climate Shape Flavor

Utah’s craft whiskey scene is shaped by more than grain, yeast, and time. The state’s dry climate plays an unusually powerful role in how spirits age, intensifying the relationship between whiskey and the barrels that hold it.

Low humidity accelerates evaporation during aging, often claiming 14–18 percent of a barrel’s contents as the “angel’s share.” Unlike more humid regions where alcohol evaporates faster, Utah barrels tend to lose more water, concentrating flavor and driving proof upward over time. That accelerated interaction pulls sugars, tannins, and spice from the wood more quickly, creating whiskeys that often taste older and more structured than their age statements suggest.

To understand how Utah distillers are deliberately harnessing climate, char, and finishing barrels to shape flavor, two producers at the forefront of that experimentation — Sugar House Distillery and Spirits of the Wasatch — shared how barrel choices influence everything from sweetness and spice to texture and proof.

*The remainder of this article is available to Utah Stories subscribers and includes in-depth reporting from Utah distillers on barrel selection, aging techniques, and experimental finishes.

To access this post, you must purchase Utah Stories (Digital + Print) or 3 month free trial (Digital).
Go Local

Sugar House Businesses Recover After Prolonged Road Construction

For nearly two years, construction along 2100 South reshaped daily life in Sugar House, testing the patience and resilience of local businesses. With roads and sidewalks finally reopened, owners are beginning to take stock of what was lost, what changed, and what recovery might actually look like.
Go Local

Why Price, Utah, Needed a Rock and Fossil Shop

After years in Salt Lake City and an interlude in Oregon, Kathie Chadbourne settled on Price as the location for her new rock shop. The town appealed to her because of its strong ties to geology and archeology, and its place within the Dinosaur Diamond. At first, she wondered whether a shop like hers might already exist there.
Go Local

An Argentine Food Tradition Finds a Home in Sugar House

In Sugar House, Maria Florencia Farr makes empanadas that carry more than filling. They carry memory. Each one recalls suburban Buenos Aires, where families gathered late at night and meals were unhurried, familiar, and shared.

“In Argentina, dinner doesn’t happen at five,” she says. Empanadas were a constant in her childhood, as ordinary and dependable as cookies in an American home. Learning to seal them, shaping the distinctive repulgue by hand, marked a small but meaningful rite of passage.

When Florencia moved to the United States 18 years ago, food became one of the clearest reminders of what she had left behind. She missed the everyday tastes of home and kept searching for them. Over time, that longing evolved into something larger, shaping the decision to build a place rooted in tradition, meant to be shared.

The remainder of this story is available to subscribers.

To access this post, you must purchase Utah Stories (Digital + Print) or 3 month free trial (Digital).