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Tena Scalco Vogel
Tena began her ballet training at age six with Veronica Gaw of England, and continued her primary training
for the next seven years with Pat George Mitchell, founder and director of Longview Ballet Theatre. Tena is a charter member
of the Longview Ballet, being its youngest member chosen for full company the first year of it's conception. Tena was the
first recipient of the prestigious Ford Foundation Scholarship at age 11-12 from throughout the East Texas-Louisiana area,
and was awarded the Ford every year thereafter through age 17. She was one of 300 out of 2000 children chosen from all over
the United States to study at the School of American Ballet, the training ground for the New York City Ballet. She was not
only awarded full scholarship and tuition to the school, but was given full scholarship to the Professional Children's School
to finish her education. Some of the famous teachers she was tutored by were Stanley Williams, Suki Shorer, Muriel Stewart
and legendary ballerina Alexandria Danilova. She was chosen to perform at the School of American Ballet's Annual Workshop
two years standing. While in New York she was given the opportunity to also study with Arthur Mitchell, director of Dance
Theater of Harlem; Royez Fernandez; American Ballet Theater, and many others. Later after graduation from Professional Children's
School, she attended Texas Christian University on full scholarship as a dance major, given two years credit in college for
her New York studies, studying ballet and modern dance, and dancing as a soloist with the Fort Worth Ballet. Tena has been
brought back to dance as a guest numerous times with Longview Ballet (her home company) in the productions of Coppelia, Nutcracker,
Romeo and Juliet, and several ballets commissioned for her dancing. She has been a guest choreographer for LBT on several
occasions and is well-known for her choreography of pageants as well as drill team officer's dances. She was a member of the
Kilgore College Rangerettes and is a member of the Rangerettes Forever, where she acts as chaperon for summer camps. She has
worked with the Longview Arts Council on bringing dancing into public schools. She is presently the director and owner of
her own dance studio, which services over 100 students,bringing to them fifteen years of teaching experience. Tena lives
in Longview with her husband, Von and her children Anthony, and McKenna and has two daughters in college, Jade and Shae.
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