This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The Bountiful High Mandonelles kick with precision, smiling wide.

Utah's Jazz Dancers spin and grin, waving to the crowd of hoops fans.

Jan Whittaker watches, stone-faced.

She's looking for the turn that's too slow, the foot placed wrong, the dancer who looks disinterested.

"No face! You had zero face the whole time," she scolds in one critique. "Do you want to be in this? Well, you don't look like you want to be in it."

As the longtime coach of the Mandonelles drill team, and director and choreographer for the America First Credit Union Jazz Dancers, Whittaker loves to coach and inspire dancers and get people moving. See her story in the video above, the latest in The Tribune's "I Love" video series, which features Utahns with a passion.

Whittaker was a Jazz Dancer herself, back when the team played in the Salt Palace. Now she coaches the squad — in her 21st season.

In 24 years of drill-team coaching — 15 years of work, followed by a 10-year break and her current stint that started nine years ago — she has guided the Mandonelles to 17 state championships.

She's competitive, she says,­ but she also finds competition to be a challenge.

"I have to be very intense. I have to demand a lot from the girls, or they would never reach the level of competition that they need to be at," she says.

Yoga, as a participant and as a teacher, gives her a break from that intensity.

"It has really calmed me down," she says, "so that I can focus and I can relax and I can destress. So it's been really, really good for me, and I like teaching that to other people; they seem to really need it in their lives."

Find more videos in the series at ilove.sltrib.com.