Linda Thomas Spencer can still remember traveling between dance studios with her mother while toting a portable record player. When the weather was hot and muggy, as it is so often in Pittsburgh, they had to remove their collection of vinyl albums from the trunk of the car.

That was back in the early days of The Thomas Studio of Performing Arts. Today Ms. Spencer has a staff of 12 in her Bethel Park studio, plus a newly opened satellite studio in Robinson, and Stayin' Alive Dancewear in Oakdale.

And, she can proudly point to a third generation in the business. Daughter Jessica, armed with an arts management degree from Point Park University is a choreographer. Son Bradley, a Baldwin-Wallace graduate in business and voice, manages Stayin' Alive, a large dance specialty store.

Dance studios don't follow the Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney concept anymore. The classic cinema couple was famous for movies where would-be stars would seemingly overnight convert a barn into a fabulously successful theater.

Today's studios are big business, particularly in the South Hills where studios line up like so many Radio City Rockettes.

It takes extra effort to stay ahead of the dance business and Ms. Spencer has worked hard to do just that for more than 50 years.

In her studio, she walks along her Hall of Fame, a hall lined with high piles of boxes packed with dance gear. The hall is also lined with photos, memorabilia and arts advocacy materials emblazoned with catchy phrases, such as "Be Smart ... Include the Arts."

Among the photos are vintage images of her mother, Ruth Stevens Thomas, a Dormont native and member of a popular local group called the Five Hollywood Blondes during the 1930s.

The group used to perform at Pittsburgh movie houses, such as the Fulton Theater, the predecessor of today's Byham. One photo shows the Fulton's marquee, which advertises "The Outlaw," starring Jane Russell.

"Oh, the stories she would tell," Ms. Spencer says of her mother, who related how The Blondes would have to get up on the marquee and dance and wave to the crowds.

Noted for her high kicks, her mother loved traveling and performing, and gave it up only after the birth of her two children.

She started her studio in 1950 and died in 1985 at a party while doing, her daughter said, the Shim Sham, a legendary tap step.

That same passion for dance is apparent in Ms. Spencer, whose Bethel Park location sports two studios, which include desks for young dancers to do their homework, an assortment of mats for tumbling and even some play gear for the tiny tots.

Trophies from students' wins in dance competitions are everywhere.

"I just had to give up the ones from the 1980s,'' she said. "We re-gifted them at our Christmas party with gag titles, such as 'best smile,' 'best hairdo,' 'most rhinestones.' ''

Competition "pushes all of us in a good way," Ms. Spencer said.

She said she operates with "the children in mind; it's not about the business."

Nor is it, she said, about the number of rhinestones on the costumes.

"Dance is what makes it," she said.

The studio's teachers, many of whom graduated from Point Park University, or other dance programs, keep up with trends through competitions and workshops.

While the older students perform the latest trends, she keeps the classics, such as tap and ballet, going for the younger students, noting that, in the end, "our kids have to be able to do everything."

That philosophy was apparent at the last of four recitals at Bethel Park High School this past Sunday. To the Thomas School's credit, the staff moved things along briskly, with 55 routines performed in a little over three hours.

There was the newfangled hip hop, a tricky street technique that has rightfully taken its place on the concert stage. It was juxtaposed with old-fashioned acrobatics, punctuated with back flexibility poses; rhythm tap with hands mostly on the hips a la "Riverdance" style and lyrical jazz, which is a blend of ballet and jazz. And there was lots of ballet.

All eyes were on the advanced group, dancers who were featured in more than a dozen routines. Only a handful worked en pointe. One of them, the gifted Emily Kitka, daughter of ballet teacher Patti Kitka, has received a full scholarship to the prestigious School of American Ballet, the educational arm of New York City Ballet.

The Thomas Studio's philosophy produces, for the most part, a well-rounded contemporary dancer. Much of this was filtered through expert competitive routines. Short and punchy, they had the latest moves on display -- twizzling turns ending in a variety of poses and the most fashionable of layout kicks, all executed with good control. The Point Park influence was apparent here in the performers' high energy attack.

For the "Evolve" finale, everyone was on stage to celebrate, some dancers even spilling out into the auditorium, where a mirror ball spun overhead. Balloons and confetti drop signaled the end, except for the requisite squeals to be heard after the curtain came down.

After all, to these young dancers the next step was just around the corner.