ST. GEORGE — There are some who say, “Dance like nobody’s watching.”

At a ballet and dance workshop at Utah Tech University the past two weeks, dancers of all ages from around the country learned how to do just that – even if everybody was watching.

“The idea is that there’s people that always wanted to do ballet that were told they couldn’t, or their bodies weren’t good enough and all this stuff,” dance instructor Allison DeBona told St. George News. “And we’re like, ‘Here you are, able to do it right now.’”

The workshop was a joint effort offered by Ballet West Academy, where DeBona and her husband Rex Tilton worked for 15 years, and artEmotion, a new company they formed.

Ballet West Academy is in Salt Lake City and is part of Ballet West, one of the top 10 ballet companies in the nation.

DeBona said they conducted a nationwide tour of 22 cities and held auditions to find the dancers, who attended one of three workshops (two in Salt Lake, one in St. George) this summer. 

“They do two weeks of 10 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. every day,” DeBona said.

Over 130 students were at the fine arts building at Utah Tech for the St. George workshop.

While the instructors teach pre-professional technique and work the dancers through the traditionally rigorous physical routine involved in ballet, the artEmotion workshop is known for helping dancers take a balanced approach to the art form.

“What we try to do here with the kids is give them a healthier aspect ratio of it all,” DeBona said. “We’re here to show them how to take care of their bodies, what they should be eating, how often they should be eating, how much water they should be drinking, the mental health aspect of it.”

Sometimes the stress and pressure to achieve professional standards takes away from the purpose of dance, DeBona said.

“It’s a serotonin boost. Dancing is supposed to make you happy,” DeBona said. “This shouldn’t be a place that gives you that much anxiety.”

“It’s not always just about technique,” she added. “We approach it as artistry first. And we feel we get a different experience out of the kids when we put it that way.”

Another big draw for the workshop is that it offers training in multiple dance styles, not just ballet, DeBona said 

Avila Edwards, a 13-year old from Curtis School of Dance in California, talked about her desire to come to the workshop.

“I’ve never seen Utah before, I thought that would be cool,” Edwards said. “I like this program because we didn’t just do ballet the whole time. Today we’ve done ballet and contemporary, we’ve done acting, there’s all sorts of stuff we haven’t done yet.”

Edwards said that her friends and peers don’t all get into dance.

“It’s all different for everyone, some people love it and some people don’t,” Edwards said. “You have to be super mentally strong to do it. You’ve got to have a lot of persistence to be able to do this for so many hours every day.”

“I love all my teachers,” she added. “I love the style that they’re teaching us. I feel like it’s just a great opportunity to come out here and do this.”

Members of the public are invited to see the workshop dancers perform selections from “Sleeping Beauty.” The performance is Friday at 7 p.m. on the Utah Tech campus at Eccles Fine Arts Center.

Adults take the dancefloor

The artEmotion workshop also featured daily sessions for adults.

Anne Buckwald came from Flagstaff, Arizona, to dance in the workshop. She told St. George News that coming from a small town with a small group of adults who dance, she was delighted to come to Utah.

“I wanted something that was more broad, with different technique,” Buckwald said, adding that the artEmotion workshop offered a refreshing attitude.

“Something that doesn’t have the normal dance culture, trying to change that,” she added. “Where adults of all different ages and levels can comfortably take class and not feel like they’re being judged or have the ballet pressure that you would normally have at other places.”

She said the artEmotion workshop has appeal for all ages and types of dancers.

“There’s something for everyone, it’s for both body and mind,” Buckwald said. “We’ve done ballet technique, ankle strengthening, point class. But then also jazz and modern and a variety of different dance styles as well.” 

The artEmotion workshop will not be a one-time thing.

“Southern Utah is a place ballet wanted to get to know,” DeBona said. “Let’s have it be kind of a destination place where maybe families can come to make it more of a vacation thing. We are already planning next year.”

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