The Full Circle Boys danced with Derek Hough. Now they're taking the stage at 'Dancing Under the Stars'

SALT LAKE CITY — The 21st annual "Dancing Under the Stars" showcase will bring Utah performers to the SCERA stage this weekend, continuing a summer tradition that has nurtured generations of performers.

Julianne and Derek Hough performed there. So did Lindsey Stirling, Chelsie Hightower, Ezra Sosa and Hailey Bills. Mandy Moore — who choreographed Taylor Swift's Era's Tour — has also brought talent to the stage of the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre in Orem, as have other prominent choreographers.

"They've all just started here," said Kim DelGrosso, the co-owner Center Stage Performing Arts in Orem, who has produced the show with SCERA president and CEO Adam Robertson for all 21 years.

This year, DelGrosso believes she has found another act on the verge of a national breakthrough — Full Circle Boys, a five-member boy band with Utah roots that recently toured with Derek Hough.

"These boys have heart. They are so much fun," DelGrosso said. "Littler girls are at the front of that stage screaming ... it is just another generation's rite of passage. They're getting to experience what it feels like to fill their soul with music."

The five members — Sean Garrity, James Herron, Oliver Hincy, Dossan Bell and Jagger Moon — are all classically trained dancers. Three trained at Utah's Infinity Dance, and the group first connected through the dance scene before eventually coming together as a band.

DelGrosso has long encouraged her dancers to develop their vocal and acting skills, but the demands of rigorous dance training leaves little room to hone them. Successfully making that transition is rare, she added.

The Full Circle Boys have dedicated hours sharpening their vocal and songwriting abilities, leaning on the same discipline that years of demanding dance training taught them.

Derek Hough has taken an interest in the group. DelGrosso calls him the "muscle" behind the act, and he brought the Full Circle Boys along on his inaugural Ovation Tour.

"We learned a lot from that tour and that experience ... getting to watch someone of his caliber," Moon said of Hough. "He's been our biggest cheerleader all year. He's been so great to us."

The Full Circle Boys will be among several groups performing at this year's "Dancing Under the Stars," which will feature about 20 numbers, including the BYU Cougarettes, Rocky Mountain Express Cloggers, and Mahatu Ori Polynesian dancers and several Utah dance companies.

The annual showcase is part of SCERA's nonprofit programming, which brings arts and entertainment to the community. It also gives young dancers an opportunity to perform the work they have developed over the past school year before moving on to a new body of work.

DelGrosso and Robertson have co-produced the show for 21 years, bringing together dancers from studios across Utah to the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre. Over the years, the show has become a summer tradition among the Utah community.

"Dance brings us together. It's a human — it's a human thing," DelGrosso said. "Look at all these different types of dancing, and we all love it so much. And so this is what brings us together."

"The youth, the arts, singing and dancing, a nonprofit situation, this is exactly what Utah is all about," she added. "When families come and meet together and just have a wonderful time watching talent, it's so positive."

"Dancing Under the Stars" shows are on Aug. 21 and 22 at the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre in Orem, Utah.

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