Meet Our Judges

LAURA BAXTER-Director of Finance/Contests

Laura coached at Surrattsville High School from 1998-2005 and then turned to judging with MAPDA in 2006. She has a passion for dance and giving back to performers. She judged for many seasons before becoming the Director of MAPDA from 2009. In her currently role, she manages registrations and competition logistics.

YVETTE ANDERSON- Director of Operations

Yvette is the current Director of Operations but has served as a Head Judge as well as Judges Coordinator with MAPDA since 2009. Yvette has danced since the age of 13 and was a member of her high school and college dance teams. Her dance background includes jazz, modern, tap, and hip-hop. Not only has Yvette coached high school dance teams, which include an all star team, but she has also worked with dancers who danced on broadway, the NBA, and also the NFL. Yvette currently dances with the Artistic Dance Xpressions dance company in Fort Washington, Md

MONICA SMOTHERS

Monica's love of dance started at the young age of 6 year's old and consisted of ballet, tap and jazz. All through her adolescent years, the arts stayed close to her heart. She was a member of the dance team all 4 years in high school and soon after, followed her passion to study dance at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she also graduated with honors. While at the University, Monica went on to showcase several of her pieces in the annual choreographer's showcase, which gave her recognition within the DMV area as well as parts of NYC. Monica has been a certified MAPDA judge since 2010. Her motto is "Dancing makes everything better and that makes me happy."

NADINE GREGOIRE Nadine Gregoire has been involved with competitive dance for over 25 years. Trained in jazz and modern dance, Nadine was a member of the Eleanor Roosevelt High School Pom team, winners of the 1999 MD State Pom Championships and 2001 Pom semi-finalists at the UDA National Dance Team Championships. She started her coaching career in all-star dance with her teams winning several national titles. Nadine then moved on to coach local high school dance teams. She lead one of her teams to become the 2009 Montgomery County Division III Champions. Most recently, Nadine was the head coach of Catholic University's Dance Team in Washington, DC. Nadine currently serves on the Executive Board of the Maryland State Dance Team Association. This is Nadine's ninth year as a MAPDA judge.

SHANEIL TURNBULL

Shaneil Turnbull's passion for competitive dance was ignited when she became a member of her high school Pom Squad at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, MD. During her time on the squad, the team won multiple county and state championships and also several bids to the UDA National High School Championships in Orlando, Florida. For the last 14 years, Shaneil has been coaching high school Pom squads in Montgomery County. She spent time coaching at both Springbrook HS and Seneca Valley HS before accepting her current role as Head Coach at Clarksburg HS in 2018. Throughout her decade of coaching, a number of her teams have accomplished top 3 finishes at the Montgomery County Championships. Under her direction, Clarksburg has accomplished consecutive top 3 finishes. In 2023, her team made Clarksburg history by winning the Division 3 County Championship title for the first time since 2007. Shaneil has also worked as a consultant for both high school and collegiate dance teams and high school Cheer teams. She is a founding member and current Executive Director of the Maryland State Dance Team Association (MSDTA), a professional organization established to improve, educate and support dance team coaches across the state of Maryland.

KENDRA MACKO Kendra began dancing around the age of five, from then on through high school she trained at various studios where she focused on Jazz, Tap, and Ballet dance styles. She also was a member of her high school Pom Pom squad for three years, where she was a co-captain in her 3rd year with the team. While in college she choreographed and executed various routines with her sorority step team. In her adult years, she took Jazz and Hip Hop classes at Joy of Motion. Kendra also danced with Beyond Limits Dance Ensemble where they performed Modern, Hip Hop, Liturgical, and African dance pieces. She later danced with the dance ministry at her church for three years. She also found great joy as she Co-coached
for the dance team at Capital City Public Charter School. She has served as a judge with MAPDA since 2015.

SANDY ANDERSON As a lifelong dancer, Sandy has had experience with dance for the majority of her life. She served as an assistant coach at Oxon Hill high school for 4 years as well as being a certified MAPDA judge for over a decade. She is very passionate about the art of dance and uses this platform as an opportunity to help shape and mold the next generation of dancers,

KESHAUN VALENTINE

Since KeShaun was a little girl, she was always involved in extracurricular activities that included gymnastics, dance and cheerleading. KeShaun was a part of her Pom Pon squad all 4 years at Surrattsville High School and her senior year, she then became captain. After high school, she attended Johnson C. Smith University where she joined the dance team.

Upon graduating from college, KeShaun tried out for both the NFL (Carolina Panthers) and the NBA (Charlotte Bobcats at the time) cheerleading teams. That was one of the most exciting highlights of her dancing career. She also tried out for the AHL cheerleading team and became a professional cheerleader dancing for the professional hockey team called Charlotte Checkers (Checkmate) and enjoyed every moment of it . After professional cheerleading, KeShaun went on to train to become a certified Zumba instructor once she moved back home to Maryland,

KeShaun has been a certified judge with MAPDA since 2023. She says, "I believe everyone has a gift and purpose in life and I have found mine!"

Amie has been judging with Mapda for 15+ years. She graduated from Surrattsville High School in 2000 where she was a member of its Pom and Dance team for 4 years. She was an officer during her tenure, ending as Captain her Senior season. After graduating High School, she attended The Ohio State University, majoring in Mathematics and Minoring in Dance. She took classes in Dance History, jazz, modern and interpretive dance.

Amie is currently coaching All-star Cheer. She has been doing so for the last 7 years. She is USASF certified for levels 1-4 and is coaching a level 6 INT-NT for her second year. She attended the Cheerleading and Dance worlds in 2023. It was an amazing experience that she is looking forward to in 2024.

Amie is excited to begin another year with MAPDA and all of its participating schools. She loves the inspirational quote, "her DREAM becomes reality, her PASSION is ignited, her FUTURE is bright, DANCE Is about more than the steps, it's about LIFE lessons." Good luck this season!

AMIE CROSS

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