The dance scene in Northern Virginia is thriving, thanks to the hard work of some of the area's most talented and dedicated dancers. Olga Fadeyeva is one of the most prominent figures in the region. She has taught company classes for CityDance, served as a ballet teacher for the Manassas Dance Company, and acted as dance director for the Madeira School in McLean, Virginia. Olga has also performed with Live Entertainment at Busch Gardens, The Old Country, in Williamsburg, Virginia, and was even the company's dance captain for a time.
Leanne Cordova is another leader in the Northern Virginia dance community. She studied with Mary Marshall at the Peninsula Ballet Academy and later at the Esperance Dance Theater. While in Oregon, Leanne started the largest adult ballet program in Eugene and received a Lane County Cultural Coalition scholarship to teach disadvantaged children in Mapleton, Oregon. She then went on to graduate cum laude with a BFA in Dance Pedagogy from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford.
Leanne is also a founding dancer of Ballet Fantastique (Eugene, Oregon) and has performed in Oregon, Washington, and internationally. Cordova has been an active member of the Virginia Dance Coalition (VDC), serving as both president and vice-president of its board of directors. The VDC works to bring together the Virginia dance community to promote collaboration and awareness about dance through performance and education. Her work has been featured at Capital Fringe, the Small Plates Choreography Festival, and the VDC gala, among other venues.
Jessie Fadeyeva is another dancer who has made her mark on Northern Virginia's dance scene. She returned to her alma mater, Almaty State Ballet Academy, to continue her teaching career and taught at the Almaty Institute of Contemporary Dance. Jessie is currently a freshman at university studying business and is a member of the dance team at the University of Cincinnati. Shelley Cordova rounds out this list of Northern Virginia's leading dancers.
She began her career at Hollywood Dance Company where she trained in ballet, tap dancing, hip-hop, jazz, contemporary music, and pointe. After graduating she danced for choreographers Emery LeCrone and Florian Rouiller at MovieUs Contemporary Ballet and was recently honored to be a guest of Company E at the Kennedy Center. Cordova also won the Grand Prize at Almaty International Festival of Traditional Dance.
