Brooklyn Egli

Brooklyn Egli has been a part of Ascend since its opening in 2020 and trained with members of the Ascend faculty for 11 years. She has achieved many merits as a competitive dancer including top ten placements, honorable mention at California Dance Classics, and received scholarships to the Institute of American Musical Theater in NYC as well as Inaside Chicago Dance summer Intensive. She also attended Point Park University’s summer intensive, in Pittsburgh, PA, where she now trains year-round as a ballet concentration with a minor in Forensic Science. In the 2024-25 school year, Brooklyn competed in Ballroom dancing at Ohio Star Ball and placed in the top three for all Latin and American Rhythm dances in both bronze and silver divisions. Brooklyn was privileged enough to travel to Greece and train with the Odyssey Dance Lab in the summer of 2025 where she was able to travel and perform in Athens, Ancient Olympia, and Lefkada. She has also continued to lean into her passion for choreography and teaching. She has been lucky enough to set solos as well as returning to her high school to set a larger group piece. In 2024, a solo she choreographed placed in the top 12 in the senior division at Youth American Grand Prix in Pittsburgh. She was lucky enough to set a few solos at Ascend and cannot wait to watch them perform! Brooklyn is grateful for all the opportunities and support Ascend has provided and is excited to see where her future in dance takes her!

Julian Rodriguez

Julian Rodriguez began training with Ascend since its opening in 2020 and was training with members of the Ascend Faculty for 7 years prior.  Jules is now in her third year in the Fordham/Ailey BFA program in New York City, where she is a double major in Dance and Spanish. She is well-versed in Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, and Jazz styles, with a specific focus on the Horton and Graham techniques at the Ailey School. 

Jules has performed works by Adrienne Hurd, Burr Johnson, Alisya Razman Adam, and Adam Barruch while at the Ailey BFA program. She has also attended a variety of intensives including Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet Intensive where she performed original work by Nick Korkos, Zeitgeist Dance Theater’s Trainee Experience where she performed an abridged version of Barak Marshall’s Monger as well as original work by Francisco Gella, Hubbard Street CREATE Intensive where she performed original works by Alexander Anderson, Gianna Burright, and Morgan Clune, and FLOCK Winter Intensive where she learned FLOCK repertoire.

Recently, Jules attended Orsolina28, where she learned Marco Goecke and Jiří Kylian repertory, performing an excerpt of Woke Up Blind by Marco Goecke on the Open Air Stage. Additionally, she attended DART Dance Theater’s intensive in Berlin, where she learned choreography by various European choreographers, including Johan Inger, Jiří Kylian, Tess Voelker, and Máté Mézáros from Ultima Vez Company. Jules’ future goals include dancing with a contemporary or modern company, either in New York or abroad, such as NDT, Batsheva, Gauthier Dance, DART, Graham, or Gallim. She strives to be forever experimental in her art, combining technical skill with a pursuit of artistic excellence and curiosity.

Brynn Summers

Brynn Summers has been a part of Ascend since its opening in 2020, and trained with members of the Ascend faculty for a total of 8 years.  After graduation Brynn went on to train with New York Dance Project where she received a full tuition scholarship. The following season she was promoted and danced with them professionally for another full season where she performed in classical works such as Swan Lake and La Bayadère as well as contemporary works by choreographers including Robert Battle, Maleek Washington and Davis Robertson. In the summer of 2025 Brynn joined Ballet Hispánico as a Pa’lante Apprentice. So far she has performed excerpts from Company repertoire including Doña Perón, Buscando a Jauan, Sor Juana, and Guajira. She has also performed works choreographed by Rodney Hamilton, Simona De Tulio, and Jamal Callendar. She is excited to see where the season at Ballet Hispánico takes her!

Paityn Lauzon

Paityn grew up in Phoenix, Arizona where she received her early dance training at Arizona Dance Artistry with Melissa Chowdhury, Samantha Gobeille. After the closing of Arizona Dance Artistry, Paityn continued her studies with Melissa Chowdhury and Kristina Nadjafi at Ascend Dance Academy. Paityn went on to study at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where she graduated in three years with a Bachelor of Science degree in Ballet and Astronomy/Astrophysics. While at IU, she studied under notable dancers and educators including Carla Körbes, Michael Vernon, Kyra Nichols and Sarah Wroth. Throughout her studies Paityn placed in numerous competitions, the most notable being first place at the Arizona Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters Ballet and Contemporary Dance Competition, where she then proceeded to rank top 5 nationally in 2021. Paityn was also recognized as a Premier Young Artist and Founders Scholar at Indiana University. Upon graduating college in 2022, Paityn began dancing professionally with Nevada Ballet Theatre as an apprentice. She was quickly promoted after one season and is currently a company artist with NBT. 

Some of her most memorable performances include, The Waltz Girl in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Für Alina by Edwaard Liang, Deuce Coupe by Twyla Tharp, and the role of Giselle in Giselle.

Nora Kyle

Nora Kyle trained with members of the Ascend faculty for 8 years and has participated in summer intensives at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and Ballet Met training programs. While participating in our Peak Company she was one of two dancers to receive the New York Dance Experience Scholarship award from Starbound. Upon graduation, Nora was accepted to University of Hartford’s Dance Performance Program, University of South Carolina’s Betsy Blackmon Dance Program, and Texas Christian University’s School of Classical and Contemporary Dance. Nora is so thankful for the faculty at Ascend and their consistent belief in her in realizing her goals. She believes the teachers at Ascend have not only helped prepare her as a dancer but as a whole person and have provided her with a community she is proud to say she is a part of. Nora is excited to be attending Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas where she has received scholarships and is majoring in Ballet.

Kendall Sokal

Kendall Sokal trained with members of the Ascend Faculty for 10 years. She was accepted into GCU as a Dance Major, Michigan State and University of Arizona as a Dance Minor and Western Michigan’s dance team. She is forever grateful to her teachers at Ascend for everything they have given her and for being able to be back to dancing with us for her senior year. Kendall is attending Michigan State University as a Kinesiology Major and Dance Minor.

Makenna Gibson

Makenna Gibson has been dancing with Ascend since it’s opening in 2020 and has participated on our Peak Company every season. She is excited to be attending The University of New Mexico with Scholarships from Kiwanis Club of Carefree and UNM. She will be majoring in Dance this coming Fall.