Amy Nicholson

The Austad Auditorium will light up this weekend with swirling costumes and high-energy movement as high school students take the stage for the Utah Dance Education Organization's 10th annual High School Dance Festival.

The event is held at a different university in the state each year. Saturday evening's performance is free and open to the public.

UDEO is a nonprofit created in 2000 with the goal of promoting dance as an art form throughout Utah. The organization works with individuals and groups of all ages in the public and private sectors.

The festival helps UDEO fulfill its goals to increase networking, improve dance education and build a Utah dance community.

Chris and Nicole Carver, husband and wife co-owners of Tonyburgers, say they enjoy working together. Before deciding to go into the restaurant business, they built spec homes in Park City.

Three years ago, they decided to change career fields, but wanted to find something they could still do as a team. Since they both enjoy eating out with friends and family, they began to explore the food industry by traveling the United States in search of the best hamburgers.

When they happened upon outstanding burgers, they pried recipes and tips from other restaurant owners and cooks, then set out to improve upon what they learned.

John and Kitty Pappas, husband and wife, opened Kitty Pappas Steak House in 1947, where they worked together in the kitchen creating flavorful steaks, hamburgers, sandwiches and desserts with their own recipes.

In 1962, John Pappas passed away, and since that time, Kitty has worked as the owner and cook for the restaurant.

She arrives at work at 5:30 a.m. to start baking the cakes she has become famous for -- including chocolate, blueberry, raspberry, butterscotch, chocolate mocha and coconut ($2.50 per slice).

Repertory Dance Theatre director Linda Smith calls the performance "Movement Studies Inspired by Green Map Icons" a "wonderful celebration of community."

RDT will perform Wednesday in Weber State University's Browning Center. WSU dancers will join in for a brief segment of the performance.

WSU dancers are planning their own show related to the Green Map project at the end of March and hope to perform with Ogden students, whom they have been mentoring, at the end of the school year.

RDT's involvement with Green Map is multifaceted. The project began with one person taking an interest in her community. Soon the positive effects were felt around the globe via Green Map's electronic system, which enables people anywhere in the world to map their community using a set of internationally recognizable icons.

The Dixon family -- parents Alauna and Mike, and their sons Greg, Mark and Michael -- have a shared love of golf. In November 2010, it seemed natural for them to purchase the 18-hole professional driving range in Washington Terrace, Horizon Golf Center, and the accompanying restaurant.

One of the first items of business was to change the name of the restaurant to Sarasota's casual dining and to revamp the menu to feature the family's own specialty recipes.

The most unique thing about the dining room is its breathtaking views, capitalized upon with giant windows and patio seating. When the weather gets warm, there are several water features on the grounds, and the Dixons plan to add a wedding gazebo this spring.

Amberlynn Rasmussen can't remember an age when she didn't enjoy baking. And, she's always had a knack for art, too.

"I create. I am considered an artist by trade," she said. Whether she is baking or crafting, she mostly enjoys making things "cutesy," as she likes to say.

For years, Rasmussen would fill baskets with crafts and baked goods to give away as gifts. The recipients loved the homemade goods so much that she began getting orders. By the fall of 2008, she was taking so many orders that she started a home- and Internet-based business.

In September 2003, Bill and Janalyn Holt, inspired by an entrepreneurial spirit, opened Pepperbellys.

The Tex-Mex restaurant, with a 1960s automobile theme, is patterned after the original Pepperbellys -- opened in Richfield back in 1995 by Bill Holt's brother, Jim Holt.

Bill Holt says he worked in the food business when he was younger and decided opening his own restaurant was a new challenge that he "just wanted to try in life." Holt and his father, Herb Holt, did extensive renovation work to retrofit the vintage building, originally constructed in 1946 to be a grocery store. The decor includes an antique gas pump gumball machine and other period paraphernalia.