Tanner Dance At Home

Tanner Dance is providing resources to families staying home during this time. New content will be added on an ongoing basis. Please click here for our Online Education and Outreach page. 

COVID-19 update:

Tanner Dance has decided to cancel all onsite classes and in person programming until May 1st. We have online resources for our patrons during this time. Read our full statement here.

Tanner Dance at the University of Utah

Virginia Tanner created the Tanner Dance Program in 1949, and today the program continues to nurture an appreciation of dance, music, literature, theater and visual arts in a beautiful home, the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts and Education Complex. The program reaches over 40,000 children and adults throughout Utah each year.

Registration for Fall 2020-Spring 2021 classes will open on April 20, 2020.

In Motion Dance Company (7th and 8th Grades):

Audition Tuesday, May 19th 4:00-5:30 pm

In Motion Dance Company is a performing group at Tanner Dance for dancers entering 7th and 8th grade. The focus of this company is to provide dancers with strong and versatile technique, in-depth creative processing skills, and more opportunities on stage. Curriculum focuses on contemporary and ballet technique, as well as improvisation and composition. Company members learn and perform choreography by guest choreographers, Tanner Dance staff, and students in the program. Click here for more information about In Motion and the audition.

Momentum Dance Company and Tipping Point Company  (9th through 12th Grades):

Audition Tuesday, May 19th 6:00-8:00 pm

Momentum Dance Company and Tipping Point Dance Company are performing groups for dancers entering 9th-12th grade. These programs are designed for students who are committed to their own growth as dancers within a disciplined work environment. The goals of the program are to train dancers to become technically strong and versatile movers; engaging, confident performers; inquisitive choreographers; and artistic community leaders.

The program connects dancers to professional dance artists and university programs through master classes and choreographic projects. Curriculum focuses on contemporary and ballet technique, as well as improvisation and composition. Company members learn and perform choreography by guest choreographers, Tanner Dance staff, and students in the program. Click here for more information about Momentum and Tipping Point Companies and the audition.

This performance has been postponed to September 18 & 19

"INVENTION"

The University of Utah Children's Dance Theatre presents: INVENTION

If you could travel to any moment in history, where would you go?

A young inventor named Emma has created the world's only fully functional time-travel wristwatch. She seizes the opportunity to visit the workshops and labs of her childhood heroes: Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell... But time travel can be dangerous. Despite her care to avoid disturbing the past, Emma soon discovers that dozens of inventions are somehow disappearing from history. Now it's up to her to find out where the past went wrong.

Come join the Children's Dance Theatre at the Janet Quinney Lawson Capitol Theatre for a lighthearted celebration of the spirit of ingenuity, brought to the stage through inventive dance, costumes and music.

If you purchased tickets for the April 3 & 4 dates, ArtTix will exchange them for the new dates, free of charge.

University of Utah Tanner Dance Program

Virginia Tanner Studio Program Presents

I WONDER

Kingsbury Hall

May 8 & 9

This performance has been postponed. Please check back for updated performance dates.

I Wonder…

Here at Tanner Dance, we encourage the wonderment, curiosity, and imagination of every child and dancer that steps through our doors. A child’s imagination is endless, and through our philosophy we try to nurture that spirit of wonder, regardless of the question. Can I reach the stars? Why are some sunsets more colorful than others? Who am I? We invite you to join us for our annual Studio Show, “I Wonder,” which encapsulates this method of teaching and learning passed down from our founder Virginia Tanner. We hope it will inspire you to look beyond what you see, and to find beauty and wonderment in all things.

Registration for summer camps and classes is now open!

Welcome to Tanner Dance!

Virginia Tanner began teaching children’s dance classes in the early 1940s,  but it was in 1949 when the Children’s Dance Theatre gave its first official performance at Kingsbury Hall on the University of Utah campus. We mark the beginning of this incredible program of dance for children from that time when Doris Humphrey, a leader in American modern dance first saw Virginia’s small company perform and wrote to Virginia, “Your children have left an indelible impression with me of true creative dance.  Your children offer a wonderful proof of the power of the young artist, guided wisely, untarnished by dogma or routine, un-stereotyped and lovely.  This source of fresh ideas in dance-art is a treasure house to which you have found the key.  Only to one who believes in children and understands them could this treasure have been unlocked. Congratulations for bringing Children’s Dance Theatre to reality, and for being its faithful guardian and creator. Their performance I saw in Salt Lake gave me a lift in spirit which I shall always remember.  I think beautiful children dancing have more to teach us than we have to teach them.”

Please refer to your Tanner Dance eNews emails, or click below for important studio dates. Bookmarking our calendar on your computer and phone is a great way to stay up-to-date!