Get to know your goddess guides
Tashina Beckmann-King
Tashina began dancing at the age of 2.5 years old, although her mom would say she was born dancing. She trained in Jazz, Ballet, Pointe, Hip-Hop, Contemporary, Tap, Country and for the last 8 years in West Coast Swing.
Tashina was selected to perform with The Young Americans in 2007 and during her 2 ½ years with the company, she discovered her joy and passion for teaching and traveling. With the YA’s she trained, toured and performed throughout Europe in schools, youth prisons, rehab centers, and youth homeless shelters. In May of 2011 Tashina competed in her first ever West Coast Swing event: SwingDiego. She started at the bottom, Novice Prelims. Even though she didn’t even make Semi-finals that year, everything in her gut told her she had to move to San Diego and pursue West Coast Swing. She held fast to her dreams of being a top WCS Professional one day, letting nothing stand in her way. During this time (in 2012), she also trained in and became a PSYCH-K Facilitator. PSYCH-K is a safe, simple, and effective way to change outdated or limiting beliefs (at the subconscious level) to life-enhancing beliefs. It’s easy to create the behaviors and reality you want when your beliefs are aligned with your goals. It was through her use of PSYCH-K, she updated some of her own limiting beliefs that were making it hard to “break through the glass ceiling” of her dance career. After some reflection and PSYCH-K, Tashina’s reality started to change quickly. (The biggest testimony to working with her beliefs was competing in her first Champions division at Swing Diego in 2014, only 3 years after not making Novice Semi’s. It was that year Tashina made Champions finals and placed 4th. Talk about full circle!) Since her start in WCS, Tashina’s love and passion for the dance has only grown and will continue to grow. She currently still trains and competes in the Champions division; teaching and coaching this amazing dance, both domestically and internationally. Her life passion is assisting individuals discover and actualize their true potential, both as a dancer and as an individual. By utilizing her PSYCH-K training and 26 years of dance education, she is able to support the individual to empower their life & dance experience from a holistic perspective, pairing quality dance instruction with transformative mindset coaching. Courtney Adair
Courtney Adair found West Coast Swing by way of a country dance hall when she was 14. Immediately attracted to the improvisational freedom of the style, she danced at local venues and events in Northern California while finishing her BA of Psychology at UC Davis.
Courtney's love of movement had her explore and train in several different dance styles; gaining experience as part of the Afinkao Salsa Performance team and Allan Frias' Mind Over Matter hip hop company in San Francisco. Always a fan of cross training, Courtney came to Yoga in search of flexibility and discovered so much more. In December 2018, she traveled to Peru to complete her 200 hour YTT with the Sacred Yoga Institute. Experienced and accredited to teach both Hatha and Vinyasa Flow, she enjoys crafting accessible content for her classes and exposing WCS students to the power and peace of Yoga. Currently traveling over 40 weekends a year, teaching, performing, judging, and competing with her life partner, Sean McKeever, Courtney is known worldwide for her precise instruction, rhythm forward movement, and contagious smile. |
Sonya Dessureault
Sonya began her career when she went to school for modern dance in her hometown of Montreal, Quebec. Afterwards, she worked professionally as a salsa and latin street dance teacher. Sonya discovered west coast swing through a crossover performance at a salsa congress.
Sonya loved the freedom of expression in West Coast Swing and knew she had found her dance. With her trademark intensity, she trained and quickly moved up the ranks. She took a risk and left everything she had in Montreal and went to Europe. She began by teaching at a west coast swing event and from there was invited to teach all her the continent. Sonya began a partnership with Stephen White at that time, together producing several notable and iconic showcase and classic routines. Sonya believes all great dancing comes from learning to understand and then having fun with what you know. She’s technically precise and thorough in her teaching methods and structures. She’s know for her fierce commitment to personal growth in herself and others, both on and off the floor. Now, Sonya works full-time to empower women in partner dancing to dance free. Katie Moore-Naugle
Katie is a proud mother, athlete, dancer and businesswoman. She only started her dance journey a few short years ago and has since never stopped. Katie studied mostly art and theater in high school but went straight to corporate retail management after graduation. While in management she would always create “health and wellness contests” and after having her son at the age of 23 she found herself 45lbs overweight. Putting together a group of coworkers she helped for the first time someone lose over 50lbs in 2001. It brought her so much joy to see this accomplishment for someone else. She always stayed motivational to others and loved helping. After over 20 years of watching her dreams fly past she decided to make life changes. At 36 years old she took control of her future finally. No more roller coaster dieting and excuses. She went from over eating, heavily drinking and 42% body fat to a whole life transformation in less than 8 months.
She now trains all ages, men and women. She has competed in crossfit and bodybuilding. Katie trained for 6 months solid to step on stage. She lost a total of 58 lbs and stepped out at 9% body fat. She also began her journey sober from alcohol and learning to cope in healthy ways. In 2018 Katie founded Fit4thefloor. She wanted all of her passions in one strong company. She saw a need in the west coast swing community and put these 4 elements together: Physical Fitness, Nutrition, Dance, and Mental Fitness. Katie now travels the nation to WCS events teaching her signature class Triple Stretch and helps dancers create obtainable life goals. She studies nutrition, personal training and life coaching. Katie is a driven, motivational strong woman who continues to educate and be aware of the ever changing fitness/health industry. |
Alyssa Glanville
Alyssa Glanville has been dancing since she was 8 years old. She started in Lindyhop and Folk Dancing. While she loved dance, she spent a lot of her youth playing soccer and showing horses competitively. It wasn't until she started ballroom when she was 15 that she was first exposed to West Coast Swing. She immediately fell in love with the dance, especially the creative aspect drawn from other dances.
Since then, Alyssa has trained in Hip Hop, Contemporary, Jazz, Zouk, and a small amount of Ballet. She uses her knowledge from those dances to enhance her WCS. Now Alyssa trains daily to stay physically fit and loves to practice creative freestyle movement every day. She travels all around the World teaching, performing, and judging on her own and with occasional partners. She also competes at the Champion level and is known for her joyful and playful personality on and off the floor. She graduated May 2017 with a degree in Communications and Business and uses her knowledge for effective communications between herself, her students, and her peers. Cameo Cross
From a very young age, Cameo has been exposed to dance. Her parents, Michael and Amber Cross, are US Open Swing Champions and West Coast Swing Hall of Famers. They are still teaching and choreographing today in California. As a child, Cameo traveled the swing circuit with them and soon won her own title of US Open Junior Swing Champion in 1996. Along with training in West Coast Swing, Cameo has trained for many years in ballet, pointe, jazz, modern and tap. She spent 10 years studying under the direction of Sharon Meko, Artistic Director of Ballet Etudes in Mesa, AZ. After high school, Cameo went on to attend one of the top three dance programs in the nation on full scholarship, The University of Arizona, and graduate with a BFA in Dance. After graduation she moved to Chicago to dance with River North Chicago Dance Company. Upon moving to California in 2011, Cameo spent some time dancing in the Disneyland parade. She is now living in Northern California teaching and competing on the swing circuit with partner and husband Ben McHenry. In addition to putting a number of memorable West Coast Swing routines on the floor, Cameo had been featured in other dance projects. In 2018, she was the recipient of a Northern California Emmy as part of the cast for an amazing video project, Baseballet II: Into the Game. |
Please join Alyssa, Cameo, Courtney, Katie, Sonya, and Tashina in this journey of personal development.