Our Directors
Elise Padilla was born and raised in Austin, TX. She was a Trojan Belle for three years at Anderson High School. After graduating high school, Ms. Padilla attended Kilgore College where she was a Kilgore College Rangerette for two years on the 76th Line. During her time as a Rangerette, Ms. Padilla performed in The 90th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The 75th Pearl Harbor Commemoration, The Cotton Bowl, Texas State Fair, and Rangerette Revels. Ms. Padilla was also a member of Industry Dance Company, a pre-professional dance company at Kilgore College. After graduating from Kilgore with her Associates in Fine Arts, she attended Texas State University and graduated with the highest of honors in Dance Education. Ms. Padilla served as Assistant Director for the Weiss Scarlets for two years and is excited to continue working with the Weiss Dance Department and Scarlets Dance Team in her third year as the Director and fifth year of teaching. While Ms. Padilla is not teaching dance, she enjoys spending time with her son Kai, her Fiance, Rudy, and German Shepherd, Akela.
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Lindsey Surles is from Tyler, Texas, where she began dancing at age 3. Growing up Lindsey trained in many dance styles, including six years of drill team and serving as Head Dance Captain her senior year of high school. After high school, she became a Kilgore College Rangerette on the 79th line. As a Rangerette, she performed in Italy and England, two Cotton Bowls, The Texas State Fair, and The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Lindsey Received her Associate's Degree in Dance from Kilgore College. She is a recent graduate in both Dance Education and Applied Movement Science from The University of Texas at Austin, in which she received the highest honors for her studies. Recently, she has performed in three dance concerts at UT and the opening of the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade—all while completing her education and working as a studio team director! Lindsey is so excited to go into year 2 at Weiss!