Registration Opens:  July 29th

Deadline to Enter August 17th

Only HS Dance Director may submit online entries. 

Each campus can enter a maximum of 6 students in the audition.

Incomplete submissions will not be scheduled for audition.

The top ranked student from each HS will be selected as their campus representative as the All State Dancer at the 2025 Texas Dance Educators Association All State Convention

*This audition is not directly affiliated with the Texas Dance Educators Association.

Roots Dance Center 

Owner

Beth Leeser (Owner) has taught dance for over 20 years in El Paso, TX. Born and raised in El Paso, she began her dance journey under the direction of Rita Schaeffer at The Dance Factory as a child. She is extensively trained in Acrobatics, Ballet, Clogging, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Jazz, Lyrical, Musical Theater, and Tap. She continued her dance training with Andree Harper and Ingeborg Heuser at The University of Texas at El Paso where she received a BA in Early Childhood Education. She has trained extensively in New York City under Ginger Cox and Sheila Barker among others. She was the director and dance teacher at Canutillo High School for almost a decade, bringing home winning titles annually in various dance competitions. She has a love for continuing her education, and has become certified in Progressing Ballet Technique, Acrobatic Arts, CLI Studios, and Alixa Flexibility. She focuses on safe training through planned progressions to ensure success for each dancer. Integrating her educational background in her development of dance curriculum allows her to develop the entire dancer. Her goal is for each person to find an aspect of movement that they love and facilitate that love.

Adjunct Professor of Dance  

University of Texas at El Paso 

Ashley Kroft is an interdisciplinary choreographer, educator, and movement artist originally from Orlando, Florida where she began her dance career at the age of four. Ashley has trained extensively with the infamous Melissa Stokes at the Shooting Stars School of Performing Arts which is ranked Top 10 Studio in the Nation. She has studied many genres of dance and obtained her BFA at the University of Central Florida, who is lucky to have studied with Judi F. Siegfried, Earl D. Weaver, and Dr. Katherine White. Wanting to further her education, Ashley acquired her MFA in Dance Choreography at Jacksonville University in 2022. This achievement has gifted her a position as Dance Professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. 

As a dancer, Ashley has won many scholarships and awards, leading to her experience as a featured dancer in three professional Orlando-based dance companies: Red Right Return Dance Company, DRIP, and Dasa Presents. She also performed with a traveling theatre company for the steam punk show “Phantasmagoria” for three seasons. Also, she has been featured in commercials such as “Bright house”, “Tostitos”, and “Universal Studios” to name a few. Along with being in these commercials, Ashley won “Dancer of the Year” at The Expo convention in Dallas, Texas. 

In addition to her dance career, Ashley is an experienced educator and choreographer. Her works have been recognized and have won her many awards at numerous competitions, conventions, and festivals across the Nation. Ashley has been known for her “Outstanding Stage Presence” as a performance artist and she wants to use this to disseminate to dancers her passion for dance and performance to the evolving generation of dance artists. And now as a seasoned Adjudicator, Ashley will be able to share her knowledge and experience by helping dancers grow into their confidence! 

Adjunct Professor of Dance 

New Mexico State University 

Ana Suffle has been a dancer and dance educator/choreographer for over thirty years. Ana received a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary and Secondary Education with a Minor in Dance and Master of Education in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at El Paso. 

Over the past 35 years, Ana has studied Modern Dance, Jazz, Tap, and Clogging. Ana was introduced to the world of dance by Pamela Turley. Ana continued her dance studies with Bill Evans, Dr. Debra Knapp, Dr. Ama Wray and has attended many other dance intensives. 

Ana has taught dance at Ysleta Independent School District, Gadsden School District in New Mexico, El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Community College, University of Texas at El Paso, and sporadically teaches dance for the Texas Commission for the Blind. 

During her career, Ana was nominated Teacher of the Year, Top Ten Teacher of the Year by the El Paso Independent School District and has also been Nominated by National Association of Latino Artists and Culture. Ana is an Artist in Residence for the Arkansas Arts Council. Ana was recognized by San Antonio Latino La Salud National Magazine and Marketplace National Radio Station for her continued work in promoting opportunities for underprivileged youth. She has taught at ACDA and World Dance Alliance. Credit given on the Tribeca Film Festival “Home and Away” in 2018. Ans is Currently working with UTEP Visiting Assistant Professor for the College of Liberal Arts Paola Lopez Ramirez's project, Somos Agua, We are Water, Experiencing the Rio Bosque. Awareness of the elements through improvisation. Dance artistic director for Basketball in the Barrio, Desert Community Wellness instructing dance for underprivileged youth in the Las Cruces community, and Assistant to UTEP's Lisa Smith, former Professor of Dance, Empowered Steps: Dancing with Aphasia and Brain Injury. 

Ana is proud to be an adjunct Professor of Dance at New Mexico State University and Dance Faculty of the Year for 2023-2024. 

Owner/Founder  

La Capitana Dance Studio 

Jessica is from El Paso, TX where she has been dancing and performing since the age of three. Flamenco, salsa, bachata, hip hop, ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, folklorico, tap, and acrobatics are some areas of dance that she has studied extensively. She has taught in the public school system for 14 years and was the dance director and teacher at Chapin High School for over a decade, where she put on elaborate student dance performances annually, had her performing dance group participate in local dance competitions, attended TDEA with a selected dancer each year, attended The Pulse on Tour in NYC and the Choreography Pros Dance Convention with her captains. Currently, she has embarked on a new venture and is now a co-owner of a dance studio in El Paso- La Capitana Dance Studio. She is thoroughly excited to continue sharing her passion and knowledge of dance and musicality with the El Paso community and beyond in various capacities. 

Jessica is extremely versatile and knowledgeable in many areas of dance to include teaching, choreographing, performing, and still being a student herself. She has a love for continuing her dance education, attends dance festivals each year, and takes various dance classes/workshops of different styles throughout the year. She has a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in Educational Technology, is a certified teacher in Texas in Dance 8-12, English 8-12, ESOL, and is a certified Master Technology Teacher (MTT). 

She has studied with dance professionals while living in NYC, when traveling to Spain, and from other parts of the globe. Some of her dance teachers throughout her continuous dance career include Belen Lopez (flamenco), Alfonso Losa (flamenco), Rocio Molina (flamenco), Israel Galvan (flamenco), Mario Maya (flamenco), Andree Harper (ballet), Ingeborg Heuser (ballet), Joel Dominguez (salsa), Christopher Rogicki (Rueda de Casino), Desiree Godsell (bachata), Brian “Bam” Martin (hip hop), Misha Gabriel (hip hop), Ian Eastwood (hip hop), Tricia Miranda (hip hop), Brian Friedman (jazz funk), New York City Rockettes (kick line, tap), and many more.
  

She is currently a soloist in Gallegos Flamenco, has attended the Texas Dance Educators’ Association (TDEA) Convention annually for over a decade, participates in the annual Flamenco Festival in Albuquerque, was a member of the UTEP Dance Team, a member of the salsa and bachata Yambere Dance Company, was a part of UTEP Ballet, and a member of Rosa Guerrero’s folklorico group. She has performed at the Albuquerque Latin Dance Festival, Chamizal, UTEP, and the Plaza Theater in productions such as The Nutcracker, La Traviata, and Easy Winners. She has also participated in multiple national dance competitions growing up.