Meet Our

Leadership Team

dance with us

Meet Our

Leadership Team

dance with us

Nice to embrace you!

San Antonio Tanqueros was founded as a Texas nonprofit organization in 2023 through the efforts of community members Nhora Prieto, Antonio Gragera, Sophia Azoubel, and Raquel Beechner. As of 2024, we are a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3), so your kind contributions to us are tax-deductible.

Jenia (Evgenia) Espe

President

Jenia has been dancing since 2018, beginning with ballroom classes and then falling in love with Argentine Tango in 2021. She started dancing because she had always wanted to — but for a long time, didn’t have the time or the courage to begin. Once she did, she discovered that dance is not just movement — it’s a way to be fully present, to connect, and to step out of the rush of daily life.

For her, dance — like art — is a pathway to beauty, presence, and aliveness. It reminds her to feel more, to listen more deeply, and to stay connected to the joy and ache of being human.

Outside of dance, she is an aspiring artist exploring watercolors, acrylics, and ceramics (and yes — centering clay is a spiritual practice!). She is married to Arne, who also dances tango, and she is the proud mother of two grown daughters — and now a grandmother to a new, amazing little girl. A future tanguera, no doubt.

N. Sophia Azoubel, Esq.

Director and Treasurer

As co-founder of San Antonio Tangueros, Sophia brings her business, legal and organizational development experience to form and administer this nonprofit.

As a relative newcomer, Sophia eagerly embraced the art of Tango, and her passion and dedication for the craft has allowed her to grow as a dancer. Sophia became a student of Angela Avila and Roy Montejano in early 2022, and thanks to that exposure and instruction Sophia now travels extensively to expand her skill set, as well as to promote Tango as part of the world’s “intangible cultural heritage” as declared by UNESCO.

Originally from the small South American country of Uruguay, Sophia relocated to California where she obtained a B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Mount St. Mary’s University and a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law. Sophia has been a San Antonio resident since 2003.

Raquel Beechner

Board Advisor

Raquel Beechner is a local San Antonio artist, born in Mexico City, and raised throughout Central and South America. She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Our Lady of the Lake University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Education Degree from the University of Texas in San Antonio. Her teaching career spanned 42 years in which she created learning opportunities through art, theatre, and dance for children of all ages throughout many public schools and colleges in the San Antonio area.

Raquel’s goal for our Texas nonprofit is to create a safe and welcoming community of dancers where all can learn, practice and grow in the art of Tango.

Raquel is passionate about creating art and dancing Tango. Of Tango she says:

“If life should not be measured by every breath we take, but by the moments that take our breath away, then Tango is just the thing to do that all while connecting with a kindred spirit.”

Our Board of Directors and Advisors

are all volunteers with a passion for growing Tango in San Antonio and beyond.

Benjamin Kurata

Secretary

Ben’s dance journey started with a motor vehicle accident that severely injured his lower back in 1990. As part of his physical rehab, he took basic classic ballet lessons to improve strength, balance, and flexibility. From there he moved on to jazz dance, and eventually found his way in ballroom dance (not forlong).

After a major work / lifestyle relocation from New England to South Texas in 2008, Ben and his partner,Anne Pearson, were checking items off their respective life checklists when they worked their way down to a common “to-do”: Argentine Tango. Together, they started dancing the “Tango” in the early 2010’s.

Fast forward (“quick – quick – no slow”) to February of 2025 when Sophia Azoubel (founder of the Tanguer@s) and Jenia Espe (current President) asked Ben to join the Board of Directors of the Tanguer@s. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ben (for the most part) is learning to overcome his scale defining introversion and borderline OCD and accept that every dance has imperfections. But once every so often, he and his dance partner hear and feel the same music, are motivated to move the same way, and for one song (or maybe a tanda), everything spontaneously comes together and in a very imperfect world. a moment of Zen happens.

Leah Gundrum

Creative Content Advisor

Leah began dancing Argentine tango in 2017 and never looked back. Since then, she has danced at milongas around the world and studied with renowned maestros, continually deepening her love for the dance. What draws her most to tango is its power to transcend language and cultural boundaries. No matter where she is in the world, tango offers a shared language of connection, presence, and expression.

As much as she loves traveling to dance, tango has taught her the importance of cultivating community where you are rooted. For Leah, San Antonio is a beautiful place to do just that. What she loves most about the tango community here is the genuine willingness to show up with curiosity, to keep learning, and to connect with each other, the music, and the moment.