2025 UTeach Fine Arts Outstanding Educator Award

Meet Karla Hardaway, our 2025 UTFA Outstanding Educator Award recipient. She co-founded the North Texas Ballet Folklorico Contest and co-authored Mexican Folkloric Dance. She specializes in integrating culture and identity through Latin American and Mexican Folklore dances for K-12 students. Karla holds a Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Texas Woman’s University (2008) and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance Choreography from Jacksonville University (2017). Karla has presented nationally on the educational role of Mexican folkloric dance and is a former performer with Ballet Folclórico Nacional de México Aztlán. Recognized as the Texas Dance Educator Association’s Educator of the Year in 2020 and K-12 Dance Educator of the Year in 2019, she has helped numerous Texas schools start Folklorico programs.

Currently, she is a Dance Instructor, Drill Team Director, and Folklorico Dance Company Director at Creekview High School in Carrollton, Texas, where she is committed to helping students embrace their culture and achieve higher education through dance. UTeach Fine Arts expresses our appreciation and congratulations to Karla for being the 2025 UTFA Outstanding Educator Award recipient.