"I want to give back to young students the joy dance has given me — not competition, the love of creating and finding yourself."
— Amy Markgraf, Founder & Director · UVU Professor of Dance
Finding Skill. · Body. Mind. Spirit.
Mapleton Dance Center exists to develop the whole child — through dance. Not just the body that moves, but the mind that creates and the spirit that believes. Finding Skill. Body. Mind. Spirit. — all through the disciplined, joyful practice of dance. This is not about trophies or Instagram moments. It is about giving every child the experience of dance taught the way it should be — with real technique, genuine curiosity, and a deep love of movement.
MDC is rooted in the Virginia Tanner tradition, grounded in the National Core Arts Standards in Dance, the NDEO Standards for Dance in Early Childhood, and the principles of daCi — Dance and the Child International. Amy and Angela Banchero-Kelleher have both presented their research at NDEO national conferences and the daCi International Congress in Copenhagen. Amy served on the daCi USA board for nine years. She co-authored Utah's K–12 Dance Core Curriculum, holds Anne Green Gilbert's Brain-Compatible Dance Education teaching certification, and is co-creator of Body and Brain (B2), a dance-specific conditioning program with Kate Monson, Associate Professor at BYU (b2conditioning.com).
How we teach is as intentional as what we teach.
At MDC, every class is built on a strong technical foundation in classical modern and ballet — taught through the lens of Brain-Compatible Dance Education and the Virginia Tanner tradition. Our structured approach uses the five-part BCDE lesson plan to create an environment where the brain is ready, willing, and able to learn — developing skilled dancers, critical thinkers, and confident creators. Students explore technique alongside improvisation and choreography, finding their own creative voice while building the physical and intellectual tools that last a lifetime.
Brain-Compatible Dance Education was developed by Anne Green Gilbert — one of the most influential voices in children's dance education — and is used by MDC instructors Amy Markgraf and Holly Markgraf-Mayne, both certified through Anne's program. This holistic methodology supports joyful, transformative learning and genuine self-expression for every type of learner and mover.
Every class begins here.
The BrainDance — developed by Anne Green Gilbert — is a sequential, holistic warm-up based on the developmental movement patterns every healthy human moves through in the first year of life. At MDC, the BrainDance is done in varied forms at the start of every class, for every age. It integrates mind and body, prepares the nervous system for learning, and may be adapted for all ages and abilities.
BrainDance developed by Anne Green Gilbert · Creative Dance Center, Seattle · creativedance.org
The Virginia Tanner Tradition
Virginia Tanner founded her Creative Dance Program in Salt Lake City in 1937 and spent her life perfecting a philosophy of teaching dance to children that remains unmatched anywhere in the world. As the celebrated choreographer José Limón declared in 1978: "Salt Lake City is the most blessed city in the world to have the world's master children's dance teacher. There isn't any place — and I include New York, London, Paris, Moscow — that has anyone who can touch her genius for teaching children the exciting purity of the dancing arts."
Virginia once said: "The motivating force behind my work is not only developing excellent dancers, but more importantly, developing young people who are useful, imaginative, worthwhile human beings." This is the philosophy that lives in every MDC class.
Amy began her dance journey in BYU's Young DanceMakers — a program directly rooted in the Tanner tradition — and has carried that philosophy through 30 years of teaching at every level.
Learn more at Tanner Dance → tannerdance.utah.edu"From the first, there was beauty. The children were wonderfully disciplined, yet gloriously free… They danced as if they had faith in themselves, had a love of those of us who were seeing them, actively believed in their God, and rejoiced in all of these."
— Walter Terry, Dean of American Dance Critics
on Virginia Tanner's Children's Dance Theatre, 1953
What the Tanner tradition means at MDC
The teachers behind the teacher.
Amy has not simply read about the Virginia Tanner philosophy — she has lived it, danced it, and taught it alongside the women who built it. The lineage that runs through MDC is direct, personal, and lifelong.
The Origin
Virginia Tanner
The founder. The pioneer. The woman José Limón called the world's master children's dance teacher. Virginia created her Creative Dance Program in 1937 and spent her life developing young people who are "useful, imaginative, worthwhile human beings." Everything at MDC traces back to her.
Mentor & Friend
Chris Ollerton
Chris studied and lived with Virginia Tanner — one of the closest carriers of her philosophy. She founded the Children's Dance program at BYU, where Amy first trained as a young dancer. Amy later returned as a colleague and co-teacher. Mentor, colleague, and friend.
Mentor & Colleague
Mary Ann Lee
Mary Ann assumed artistic directorship of Tanner Dance after Virginia's passing in 1979. Amy was Mary Ann's teaching assistant in graduate school at the University of Utah, taught alongside her at Tanner Dance, and spent her sabbatical working with her.
Colleague & Friend
Kathie Debenham
Amy first studied with Kathie at BYU Children's Dance and later became her colleague at UVU, where they worked together for many years — including a period co-directing Synergy Dance Company. Teacher becomes peer, peer becomes lifelong creative partner.
Mentor & Friend · International Collaborator
Anne Green Gilbert
Creator of Brain-Compatible Dance Education and one of the most influential voices in children's dance education worldwide. Amy and her sister Holly Markgraf-Mayne are both certified through Anne's Brain-Compatible Dance Education teacher certification program. Amy has also served alongside Anne on the daCi board. The methodology Anne developed underlies Holly Markgraf-Mayne's certification as well.
Teacher Mentor & Colleague
Donna Gordon
Donna Gordon was Amy's teacher mentor — a guiding presence in her formation as an educator — and later her colleague at Utah State University. The kind of mentor who shapes not just what you teach, but how you think about teaching itself.
"I have danced side by side with these women my whole life. They are mentors, colleagues, and friends — people who have guided my dance journey as a performer, educator, and choreographer. When you bring your child to MDC, you are bringing them into a tradition built by some of the greatest teachers dance has ever known."
— Amy Markgraf · Founder & Director, Mapleton Dance Center
Amy Markgraf
Founder, Director & Lead Instructor
Amy Markgraf is a tenured Professor of Dance and Dance Education Program Coordinator at Utah Valley University — where she has taught for 26 years — and has served as faculty at BYU Children's Dance, Tanner Dance, USU, and BYU. She began dancing with BYU Young DanceMakers and holds a B.S. from Utah State University, an M.A. from BYU, and an MFA from the University of Utah.
A prolific choreographer and performer, Amy has toured and performed with the USU, BYU, and University of Utah dance companies, and appeared as a guest artist with local professional companies. Her choreography has reached international audiences in Denmark, England, Scotland, Ireland, the Philippines, and South America — including multiple ACDA Gala Concerts, Breaking Ground, and Metropolitan Ballet's Choreography Design Project.
At UVU she also teaches Anatomy and Kinesiology for Dancers — bringing a precise technical understanding of the body to every class. MDC students are trained not just artistically but anatomically, building real strength in a way that protects and develops growing bodies for the long term.
She has presented research at NDEO, IADMS, UDEO, and daCi conferences alongside colleague Angela Banchero-Kelleher, served nine years on the daCi USA board, holds a Harvard Project Zero Pedagogy of Play certification, and received both UVU's Faculty Teaching Excellence Award and the Dean's Recognition Award for Scholarly and Creative Work. She remains an active member of NDEO, IADMS, and daCi.
More than 60 former students are performing, teaching, and creating worldwide — and her teaching is recognized at the local and national level. Now she's teaching in Mapleton — in a studio she designed and built.
Where technique meets joy.
Come see the studio.
Schedule a free trial class. No pressure, no commitment — just dance.