Professional Mentors

Professional Mentors: Those working in the field of dance professionally (company, team, choreographer, teacher, professor, business owner, arts manager, etc) will be

1. Blogging about your professional life in dance

2. Mentoring students interested in your profession

3. Attending TFDE events that you are available for

4. Donating time, products, talents to TFDE

Follow their blog HERE!: http://tfdementors.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in becoming a professional mentor for TFDE members, please fill out form below

2018-19 Professional Mentors

Name: Juwan Alston

High School: Cedar Ridge High School, Round Rock ISD

Graduating Year:2014

Danced at: Cedar Ridge High School VPA Academy ballet and jazz, Dancer's Workshop, ABT Summer Intensive

College/University: North Carolina School of the Arts, 2014-2015

Website/Social Media: http://charlotteballet.org, Facebook, Instagram @iTheeDanseur

Current Professional Company: Charlotte Ballet

Juwan Alston began dancing at the age of 15 at Cedar Ridge High School in Round Rock, Texas. He was awarded the Sr. Hip-Hop Scholarship at the Texas Association of Teachers Dancing, Inc. convention in June of 2012. Mr. Alston began serious study of ballet at Dancers Workshop in Austin, Texas. While there, he performed in The Nutcracker and Paquita Grand Pas de Deux. In 2013, he attended the American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on scholarship. That same year, he received a number of awards for his choreography at different levels of the Parent Teacher Association’s Reflections Program. Mr. Alston attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2014, where he performed in Ethan Stiefel’s Nutcracker, Sir Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, Susan Jaffe’s Metallurgy, and George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante. Currently, he serves as a Professional Mentor for Texas Future Dance Educators. Mr. Alston joined Charlotte Ballet in 2015.

Name: Rebeca Gamborino

High school: John Marshall H.S. San Antonio TX

College: the University of North Texas and Texas State University

Degree: Bachelor's of Fine Arts, Dance Studies

Companies: The Andrea Torres Dance Company, The Dance Project, independent choreographer, dance teacher

Rebeca has 25 years of dance training and has worked and choreographed for award winning companies and studios. She was the Competitive Dance Director for Frisco Dance Force and assistant Company Director for the Dance Zone. She is a well rounded dancer and teacher and has experience teaching ages 2yrs and up. She has won multiple choreography awards as well as entertainment awards and special judges awards.

As a performer, Rebeca’s had the privilege of choreographing and performing in her own work at various Texas Dance Festivals including 10 Min Max in Austin as well as choreographing for The Dance Project. She was a member and performed with Muscle Memory Dance Theatre, a contemporary dance company based in Dallas. She is now performing with the Andrea Torres Dance Company. Rebeca holds an Associate of Arts and a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Dance from Texas State University. She brings with her charisma and energy as well as new training techniques to build stronger dancers. Her choreography is both athletic and artistic and full of energy from beginning to end.

Name: Leslie Garcia

Degree: N/A

High School: James Madison High School

College/University: Dallas Christian College

Current Company/Business/Profession: Urban Dance Empire, 2 Hype Hip Hop Company Director and Founder, Cutting Edge Dance, Profession Music Editor and DJ.

Leslie “LA” Garcia

With over 33 years of experience, Leslie has studied under many master instructors and choreographers in Jazz, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip Hop/Funk, Ballet, Tap, Breakdancing, and Cardio-Fitness.

Working with children as young as 2 ½ years old to senior adults, Leslie is widely known her unique cutting-edge dance style and award-winning choreography with amateur and professional dance/drill teams and cheer squads across the U.S. and dance competitions nationwide. She has made a huge name for herself as an instructor and choreographer in Texas for her incredible musicality and creativity in Hip Hop, Street Jazz, Jazz Funk, and Contemporary Jazz.

Leslie is the current and first ever UT Dance Team Coach. She has been working under the name Cutting Edge Dance and she recently started her own dance company called Urban Dance Empire. She is also the Creator and Director of the 3 time Grand National Award Winning team 2 Hype Hip Hop Company. Leslie also created past performance teams called Contagious Dance Force and 210 Hype, as well as a choreographer and dancer for Planet Funk Entertainment, Atomic Productions, Urban Dance Movement, Austin Dance Works and 24 Hour Fitness. She was also master instructor for American Ballet Theatre Intensive Program for many years and for the past 12 years has been working independently with school districts in the state of Texas. Leslie works at studios all over the U.S. teaching dance classes, camps, specialized choreography, and judging competitions and try-outs. On top of her dance talents, Leslie also creates specialized music for individual studios, camps, and performance groups for competitions, recitals, and industry shows and DJ’s for a national known company, Graham Brothers Entertainment.

Her extreme passion for music and dance, comedic teaching style, and dance knowledge makes her one of the most sought out dance instructors and choreographers in the U.S.. Leslie was nicknamed the “First Lady of Hip Hop and Street Jazz” in Austin, TX where she resides. You can catch her teaching at a regular basis through out the Austin/San Antonio area. To get in contact with her for choreography, classes, or specialized music you can reach her at cuttingedgedance@hotmail.com.

Name: Heather Hardesty

Current Company/Business/Profession: Owner/Teacher of Kinderdance Austin; teacher Cedar Park Dance Company; Director of Standing Ovations

Website/Social Media: https://www.austindanceandgym.com, http://cedarparkdance.com

Heather Hardesty is the current Owner and CEO of Kinderdance Austin. Kinderdance Austin is a mobile dance and gymnastics program for children ages 2-12 years old. Ms. Hardesty is an area developer in the Austin area and has ran a successful franchise for 12 years and has been dancing for over 30 years. Ms. Hardesty is one of the top performing franchisees in the Kinderdance network. Ms. Feather (as some of her students call her) began dancing at the age of 3 with Jeannie Strain of Calico Kids in Garland, TX. There she excelled in her dance training and eventually as a pre-teen she was able to help assist classes and co-direct her first competitive team. Ms. Heather also had the honor to dance under Ms. Tracey Foster at Struts and Co in McKinney, TX. She furthered her skill in class and as a member of the competition team during her years there. At 16, she was given her first class to teach and hasn't looked back since. Ms. Heather attended and still attends yearly dance conventions in order to be on top of the growing trends in dance. Ms. Heather is starting her 13th year on staff with Cedar Park Dance Company where she directs Standing Ovations (the studios performance company), and teaches hip hop, tap and jazz. She is super blessed to serve as a professional mentor this year for TFDE to students wanting to pursue career in teaching. Starting with the 2015/2016 season, Ms. Heather will also serve as the director of the Jr. Spurs dancers for the Austin Spurs.

On the professional side, Ms. Heather is a yearly presenter at the annual Kinderdance conference and throughout the year contributes new ideas to the franchise system so that other franchisees may grow their businesses as well. In the past few years, she has been a requested speaker for organizations across the state. With a degree in public relations and dance from Texas Tech University, Ms. Hardesty has been successful over the years in bringing awareness to the early childhood community of the importance of dance and movement to the growth and development of the young child.

Ms. Heather is married to Dennis who is the principal of the Goals school in Round Rock and they have a 9 year old daughter (Hallie) who shares mom's love of dance. In her free time, Ms. Heather signs with the Round Rock Community Choir and volunteers at the Baca Senior Center in Round Rock.

Name: Angela Hayes

Angela Hayes is a dance education consultant and clinician. She presents workshops and writes a blog as Danceable Thoughts. Danceable Thoughts chronicles adventures in teaching, offers insights into lesson design, and advises on issues related to dance team directing. Angela is a TCU graduate. She directed the award-winning Dulles Dolls Dance Team for 28 years. A former board member and committee member for TDEA, Angela has been recognized as a Director of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. She is an adjudicator for several different dance team companies and for DEAL Assessments.

Name: Latisha Coffey

Latisha Coffey is an Austin Area Choreographer and Dance Teacher who currently is the Artistic/Executive Director for The Dance Project. She began her dance career in

Houston Texas with Houston Metropolitan Dance Center and received extensive training

from the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. After completing her BA in Dance from Texas State University she moved to Austin and worked for Footworks Dance, Metamorphosis Dance Academy and Round Rock Repertory. She started The Dance Project with Diana Wang in 2013 to allow new choreographers freedom to create and work in conjunction in a positive environment with professional level dancers. Latisha Coffey loves to create new works that challenge the dancers to perform on a deeper level. She believes her job is to open the door for dancers but they must have the strength to walk through it. Latisha Coffey works at Applied Materials as a Program Manager and enjoys having dance as an outlet to perform and choreograph.

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