Stephanie Keeton has spent more than four decades in dance — first as a young student obsessed with the language of movement, then as a professional performer on stages across Texas and beyond, and today as one of Austin’s most sought-after instructors, choreographers, and wedding-dance coaches.

She began classical ballet at age five, drawn to the discipline and quiet drama of the studio. Ballet gave her the vocabulary — line, timing, musicality — that still anchors every style she teaches. Through her teens she trained six days a week, performing in company productions and picking up early exposure to jazz and modern technique that would later shape her contemporary work.

In her twenties Stephanie fell in love with flamenco and the Latin partner dances — salsa, cha-cha, bachata, bolero, merengue — and began studying under teachers whose lineages trace back to some of the great companies and tablaos of the twentieth century. She trained in Spain and in Mexico, absorbing not just the steps but the cultural context: the compás of flamenco, the conversational lead-and-follow of Cuban salsa, the ballroom precision of international Latin. That breadth is what defines her teaching voice today — precise technique when it matters, warmth and play when technique alone won’t carry a room.

As a performer she has appeared with Ballet Nacional, Aztlan Dance Company, and A’lante Flamenco, and has toured regionally in ensemble and featured roles. She has choreographed for weddings, quinceañeras, corporate events, private clients, film shoots, and community performances throughout Central Texas. Her signature Salsa Aerobics class — a Ritmo Lab staple — has introduced hundreds of Austinites to Latin rhythm as a lifelong fitness practice, and now runs weekly to a devoted, cross-generational crowd.

Her wedding choreography practice is where a lot of Austin couples first meet her. Over the past decade she has coached hundreds of first dances, parent dances, and full wedding-party numbers — everything from a three-lesson polish job to fully custom, multi-song productions with lifts, costume changes, and live musicians. Couples come in nervous and leave with a performance they’ll rewatch on every anniversary.

Beyond the studio, Stephanie is a mentor to younger dancers, a frequent collaborator with Austin arts organizations, and a longtime advocate for cultural preservation of Latin and flamenco dance forms in Texas. She has judged local competitions, guest-taught at universities and community programs, and served as movement director on independent theatre and film projects. Ritmo Lab is the umbrella she built to bring all of that work — classes, choreography, performance, coaching, and consulting — under one roof, with a single throughline: dance is for everybody, and every body.

When she is not teaching, Stephanie is usually rehearsing her next piece, mentoring an emerging choreographer, or out at a milonga or salsa social somewhere in Austin — because the surest way to keep the work honest, she’ll tell you, is to stay a dancer first.