CHEYENNE -- For Leslie Connaghan, the opening of her new dance and yoga studio, Act Two Studios, was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

"This has been my dream for my life," she said. "Teaching dance is what I've wanted to do since high school... it's what I love. I'm very fortunate. I'm the luckiest person I know."

Inside her spacious new building on Bluegrass Circle are two mirrored studios with black floors already scuffed from use in less than two months of use.

The beige walls are still noticeably bare, but the bars are coming, she notes, and artwork too.

One 7-year-old girl came to her during a class recently and said, "Miss Leslie, you need some pictures on the wall." The next week, she brought one, chalk on black paper, already framed, which remains the studio's sole art, though Connaghan says there is art waiting to be hung and more on the way.

Connaghan has taught dance in Cheyenne for more than 30 years, she said, and she felt there was a need for a spacious, state-of-the-art dance studio.

Connaghan had looked for buildings to buy and remodel, but couldn't find anything she liked, so she bought a piece of land and hired an architect and a builder.

Inside the building are two studios, one of which can be divided in two by partition to create three studio spaces. The floors are specially constructed in layers to cushion the blows of dancers' feet.

She and three other instructors teach ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical dance and an early childhood program to teach creative movement. Her classes differ from many studios in that they run year-round with only a few weeks' break in August.

A squad of six yoga instructors teaches six different styles and cheerleading, acrobatics and pilates also are offered, all of which are natural fits for her studio, Connaghan said.

"Many, many dancers take yoga and pilates as cross-training," she said. "They just fit so well." It also fit well with the schedule, since yoga can be offered during the daytime when children are in school.

And until now, the only yoga classes in Cheyenne were available through gyms, schools or community centers, Connaghan said.

The studio's instructors include many who teach or have taught elsewhere in Cheyenne, including Diane Twine, who has taught yoga for 10 years and is a friend of Connaghan.

"It's really nice just to have such a big space," she said. "It's well lit, and it just has a nice feel about it. It's not like doing yoga in a gym."

On Friday, Pat Noel, 64, and Tess Rideout, 81, gathered for a yogalates class at the studio and agreed with that sentiment.

"It's so quiet," Rideout said.

"So when it's time for relaxation, you can actually relax," Noel said.