The desire to dance came early for Stephenie Lawton. She was 2 when her mom told her that enrolling in ballet class was just a year away.

"I thought, ‘Good. I really need to start training," Lawton recalled.

That training has never stopped for Lawton, whether it was learning from dance masters such as Tommy Tune and Juliet Prowse during international tours of Broadway shows or teaching at her namesake Newhall studio, opened a year ago.

After many decades on the road, the Canyon Country resident is enjoying a break from the grueling life of a touring dancer and showing her enthusiastic students all the right moves.

"I really love seeing people empowered by ballet and how it brings out their inner talents and gifts," Lawton said. "The way it elongates the spine and holds you up, the attention to detail, the music, the dress. It's completely different than being on a machine at the gym. It's an art."

Originally from San Mateo, Lawton moved to Los Angeles at 17, where she tried out with the Rockettes. Three days of auditions ended with the acceptance of Lawton into the coveted dance troupe, but the coup quickly turned sour. The management had over-counted how many dancers they needed and cut Lawton from the ranks.

Undeterred, Lawton set out to Las Vegas and landed a role in "Hello, Hollywood, Hello" with Carol Channing. She was 19 and at age 21, she headed to San Francisco for a role in the Broadway touring company of "42nd Street." She was given a principal part and got a taste of the international life when the show went to Europe.

There, she visited cities such as Vienna, Paris, Frankfurt and Rome, appearing on television specials in many of the stops.
"It was absolutely amazing. I had never been overseas before and everything was first class. We stayed in the most beautiful hotels and I received a good salary. It was heaven. I just loved it," Lawton said.

So much so that Lawton stayed on for a year in Berlin as part of the show, "Anything Goes," which was performed entirely in German. Lawton oversaw the production, with 200 members of cast and crew, but eventually grew tired of communicating in her non-native language.

"It was so different working with a German company. Musicals are American. I began to miss American ways. I felt like it was time for me to come home," she said.

Lawton moved to Sante Fe, N.M., and was hired as Juliet Prowse's understudy in "Sugar Babies" with Andy Rooney. Prowse introduced Lawton to yoga, which Lawton continued to study in New York under Yogi Vhajan while she taught dance at Steps on Broadway. She continued to practice yoga and now teaches Kundalini yoga at her studio along with ballet.

Lawton has also made a cinematic mark. In 1984, she appeared in the Lee Majors television movie "The Cowboy and the Ballerina" and in 1989 starred as one of the principal dancers in the big-screen movie "Tap" with Gregory Hines.

"I grew up watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. For me, there's just real joy in dancing, the expression of it. I love the work, the discipline and what it does for the body," Lawton said. "My teacher is 90 and she looks great, still like a dancer. It's a great way of keeping yourself up."

At 30, Lawton's Rockettes opportunity resurfaced when she tried out for the Branson, Mo., branch of the outfit. She was accepted and began the required schedule of driving to Springfield for eight hours of practice six days a week and one show per night.
"They also wanted us to do parades and publicity on our days off. I'm not the kind of person to overwork," Lawton said.

She moved back to Las Vegas to work at MGM and visited a friend in the Santa Clarita Valley shortly thereafter, prompting relocation to Canyon Country 13 years ago.

"I'd been on tour for 15 years. I wanted to have a home life. I just didn't expect to be here this long," Lawton said with a smile. "I realized, gosh, I've been here longer than anywhere. I would like to go back to Europe and teach once a year, too. I like it there."

Today, Lawton shares her quaint cottage with Oliver, a 15-year-old black Labrador retriever, and Lana, a shepherd/Jack Russell terrier mix, both rescued. She enjoys gardening on her 7,400-square foot lot, complete with an orchard, growing her own organic produce and producing farm-fresh eggs from a flock of chickens.

Her studio offers classes four days a week, including floor barre/stretch, Kundalini yoga, beginning ballet, and advanced beginning ballet. Classes are offered at $15 for a single, $50 for a four-class series, and $90 for a nine-week session.

"Most of my students are adults that always wanted to dance. I've been blown away. After a year, they're really starting to look like dancers. They've really taken off," Lawton said proudly. "My hopes for the studio are to attract more people that love and have a passion for dance and bring more performance art to the community."

Ideally, Lawton would also like to start teaching children's ballet, combining the classic Russian Vaganova method with the old-fashioned discipline that yielded the incredible results she experienced.

"I'd like to train young girls who have the kind of dreams I had and help them reach those dreams," she said.

Stephenie Lawton Ballet and Yoga, 23560 Lyons Ave., Suite 201, Newhall. For more information, call (661) 251-9500 or email balletstef@att.net.