Orem » From television sound stages and Las Vegas showrooms to the country's movie screens, America's new love of dance can be traced back to an arts studio inside an Orem mini-strip mall.

Center Stage Performing Arts Studio, which sits just west of Interstate 15 in this Utah County town, helped spark a dance revolution that has taken the entertainment industry by storm with hits such as "High School Musical," "Dancing With the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance."

This week, nearly two dozen of the studio's -- and this country's -- biggest and best-known dancers gathered in Center Stage's Studio 1 for a reunion and a photo shoot for an upcoming cover story in DanceSport Magazine , a national publication on ballroom dancing.

The shoot included breakout dancers like Ashly DelGrosso ("Dancing With the Stars"), Zack Wilson (winner of ABC's "Dance Wars"), Chelsie Hightower ("Dancing With the Stars") and Ryan and Ashleigh Di Lello ("So You Think You Can Dance").

The studio also launched the careers of other well-known dancers and choreographers who will be on magazine covers, including country singer and "DWTS" dancer Julianne Hough and her brother Derek, and local dance instructor and choreographer Louis van Amstel ("DWTS").

"I have dancers on Broadway and television and in movies and in touring companies," said the studio's creative director and co-owner, Kim DelGrosso, whose daughters appeared on ABC's "DWTS." "We have students in Juilliard. It exploded, and we're on top of the wave."

For years before the current television dance craze, Wasatch Front performers were winning national ballroom competitions.

But Hollywood's interest in the art form ignited about eight years ago when the talent show "Star Search" was looking for performers for a dance-off and turned to Center Stage, which opened in 1991.

"That is when I knew when the market was going to open up," DelGrosso said about America's hunger for dancing entertainment.

And so it did. Then came the idea for ABC's dance competition, "Dancing With the Stars," which turned to van Amstel for help recruiting dancers.

Shortly afterward, Disney's "High School Musical" premiered to blockbuster cable ratings, leading to a three-movie hit franchise that has employed dozens of young Utah dancers. The movie's director, Kenny Ortega, also hired Bonnie Story of Utah's Odyssey Dance Theatre to help choreograph the films.

"In my profession, I do feel like I was the first," said Ashly DelGrosso, 27, who along with van Amstel was one of the first two Utah dancers to appear on "DWTS," The ratings powerhouse will launch its 10th season next year. "I'm not surprised because the talent here is so huge. We're so diverse. Every dancer here can do every kind of dance -- jazz, ballroom, hip-hop, ballet and tap."

Today, Center Stage employs 32 dancing and singing instructors, with some 700 students enrolled in its classes. Kim DelGrosso estimates more than two dozen of its students have gone on to national fame in dance and music.

In addition to "DWTS" and the "High School Musical" franchise, Utah dancers have been regulars on Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance"; Oxygen's "Dance Your Ass Off," a combination of "DWTS" and "The Biggest Loser"; "La Reve" at the Wynn Las Vegas casino; Disney Channel's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody"; the upcoming film remake of "Footloose"; and the new Cirque Du Soleil production, "Viva Elvis," now in previews at City Center in Las Vegas.

Local dancers are used to hearing questions about the state's talent pool from Hollywood casting agents and producers. "I hear it a lot," said dancer Italo Elgueta, 21, one of the professional dancers on the first season of "Dance Your Ass Off." "People ask, 'What's in Utah? Is it the religion? Is it the culture? Is it the instructors?'"

It's all of the above, says Ashleigh Di Lello, who along with her husband made the finals of last season's "So You Think You Can Dance."

"There's definitely a lot of natural talent here. And there's a real push for the arts in [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]," said Di Lello, who is Mormon. "A lot of kids are looking for productive things to do."

Consequently, studio owner Alex Murillo says, "I get people from Hollywood calling me to set up auditions here." He added: "They come here because the talent is here."

vince@sltrib.com