An Orem dance studio that produced the "National Outstanding Teen Dancer" last year is the recipient of the 2009 Best of State award for "best dance studio" in the sports and recreation category.

Sheryl Dowling and Allison Thornton are co-owners of The Dance Club, a competitive dance studio based in Orem. They will be recognized at the Best of State awards gala on Saturday at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City.

"We're so honored to receive this Best of State award," said Dowling, who founded the studio 30 years ago. "Our primary goal at The Dance Club is to provide our students with not only the technical dance skills to pursue a professional dance career, if they're interested, but more importantly, arm them with essential life skills that lead to success in whatever they pursue."

The Best of State awards are given by an organization that is a public forum for awards and recognition in business, education, government and the arts, according to www.bestofstate.org.

Nicole Knudson, 16, is a North Ogden dancer and The Dance Club student who won the "National Outstanding Teen Dancer" title in a New York City Dance Alliance competition last summer. She was also named the best individual dancer in Utah in this year's Best of State awards. Alexia Meyer, of Orem, also a student at the studio, was first runner-up in the junior category of the competition.

Thornton, who lives in Orem, grew up in The Dance Club studio, she said, where she began teaching at the age of 15. She later worked in the office, and learned all aspects of the business, finally becoming a partner with Dowling in 2005. Thornton danced for a number of years with the Odyssey Dance Theater, a professional dance company in Salt Lake City.

Knudson, Thornton said, makes the 80-minute trek each way from Ogden four times a week to take classes at The Dance Club.

She said "quite a few" dancers at the studio come from as far away as Salt Lake, Draper and Sandy.

Kelly Wanlass, of Lehi, is the mother of two students, ages 9 and 7, at The Dance Club.

"This is the studio most dancers want to come to if they're serious about a career," she said.

The studio's "Wall of Fame" lists the accomplishments of many dancers from the studio, who have credits in professional companies, Broadway productions, television shows and movies. A number have been members of Brigham Young University's Cougarettes or the Utah Jazz dancers, and two former students became a Radio City Rockette.

About 350-400 students are enrolled at The Dance Club, depending on the time of year, Thornton said.

The studio tries to teach more than just dancing to its students, Thornton said.

"We want to teach [a student] to be a good person in life. Responsibility, punctuality, hard work, sacrifice -- those are the things that transfer over to school and friendship and home life," she said.

Wanlass said the studio also teaches its students to give back to the community. An annual production is held in conjunction with two other dance studios -- an event that is a fundraiser for the Shriners Hospitals, she said, and has raised an estimated $180,000 over six years. This November will be the seventh year of the production.

"There's something you get from kids that you can't get anywhere else," Thornton said. "You develop a bond with them, and become part of their life. If they are breaking up with their boyfriend, or having a fight with their sister, you hear about it. It gives you a chance to talk to them and make sure they are on the right path, and making good choices."