Faculty
Cynthia Donavin
—Artistic Director
Cynthia Donavin founded the
Classical Ballet Academy of
Northern Virginia in
1991 and
the Classical Ballet Theatre, a not-for-profit performing troupe, in
1995. A native Washingtonian, Ms. Donavin studied
under the auspices of Oleg Tupine, Mary Day and Ben
Stevenson.
After graduating from the Washington Ballet Academic School,
she was awarded a full scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet.
Ms. Donavin has performed with the Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, Washington Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Dayton Ballet, and the Washington Opera. Her repertoire includes Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, La Sonnambula, Raymonda, Serenade, Paquita, Les Sylphides, Lifeline, Billy the Kid, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Scotch Symphony, and The Nutcracker.
Ms. Donavin’s extensive career includes work with such notable choreographers as Frederick Franklin, Marjorie Mussman, Alun Jones, Jean Paul Comelin, Stuart Sebastian, and Peter Anatos. Ms. Donavin earned her B.S. in Kinesiology from University of Maryland and is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Arts Administration at George Mason University.
Dina Fadeyeva
Ms.
Fadeyeva was born in Almaty,
Kazahkstan and received her training at the acclaimed Almaty State
Ballet Academy.
Ms. Fadeyeva danced with the Almaty State Theatre of Ballet and Opera from 1985-1989. In 1989, she went to Moscow, Russia to study at the Gitis Choreographic Institute where she studied under Marina Semynova; she graduated in 1994. From 1993-1996, Ms. Fadeyeva taught at the Moscow Institute of Contemporary Dance as well as being a guest artist with many companies in Moscow. In 1996, Ms. Fadeyeva returned to Almaty State Ballet Academy to continue her career in teaching and taught at the Almaty Institute of Contemporary Dance. In 2000, Ms. Fadeyeva participated in the International Festival of Traditional Dance in Almaty and won the Grand Prix.
In addition, many of Ms. Fadeyeva’s students have won prizes in International Ballet Competitions in Moscow, Budapest, Lausanne, and elsewhere. In 2005, she choreographed her own production, “Triumph of Athena” with music by Mahler, for the Almaty State Theatre of Ballet and Opera. That same year, Ms. Fadeyeva accepted a teaching position with the Ballet Royale in Maryland and came to the United States.
Margaret Leigh
Margaret Leigh, one of Northern Virginia's most prominent jazz teachers, has been teaching jazz and ballet for over thirty years. She was born in Athens, Greece, and trained at the Ralou Manou Institute of Dance.
She came to the United States at age 17 and trained at the Washington School of Ballet. She attended the College of William and Mary, with a minor in Dance Education and a major in Elementary Education. While at William and Mary, Margaret was a member of Orchesis, a national modern dance company. She performed with Orchesis and was a student choreographer for four years.
After graduation, Margaret got her masters degree in Reading while continuing to teach dance and perform with local dance companies. She trained with well-known jazz choreographers such as Gus Giordana, Nilo, Toledo, Tim Robert and Frank Hatchet. She performed with and choreographed pieces for the Atrium Dance Company, Dance Theater Expressions, and The Reston Players, among other groups. She has taught jazz at Classical Ballet for seven years.
Meghan Rudorfer
Meghan
Rudorfer was trained at the
Classical Ballet Academy of Northern Virginia. Summer training programs
included the Joffrey Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and the Central
Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.
Upon graduation from the Classical Ballet Academy she pursued her career at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. While in New York, Meghan performed with Graham 2nd Company, to include roles in Acts of Light, Appalachian Spring, and Serenata Morisca. Her teachers include Pearl Lang, Denise Vale, Virginie Macene, Kevin Predmore and Jennifer Depaulo and Marjorie Mussman.
Since leaving the Graham Company, Meghan has returned home to join the faculty of Classical Ballet Academy, once again. She is honored to be able to work with the incredible faculty at the Classical Ballet Academy and Theatre.
Alisher Saburov
Alisher
Saburov hails from Tashkent,
Uzbeckistan. He was
introduced to ballet by his mother who was a ballet teacher and former
professional dancer. His father was a professional musician. At the age
of 10 Alisher auditioned for the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow.
Placement was extremely competitive. 100 children auditioned for a
single opening at the Bolshoi Academy. Alisher was accepted and began
training 6 days per week from the age of 10 through 18. The rigors of
daily training included ballet technique, gymnastics, piano, historical
dance, character, pas de deux, musical literature, composition, history
of art, theatrical history, all in addition to rehearsal, productions
and regular academics. Yearly exams dictated the students return to the
academy. Alisher graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in 1989.
During his years at the Bolshoi Academy Mr. Saburov came to the United
States for the first time.
Upon graduation Mr. Saburov joined the Moscow Festival Ballet, under the direction of Marius Leipa, where he rose to the rank of principal dancer. Subsequently, Mr. Saburov was a principal dancer and teacher with the Kremlin Ballet where he traveled to Italy, China, Israel, Spain, Taiwan, China, Mexico, Hungary, Germany and France. He also appeared with the Deutch Opera and toured the the world again with ‘Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet.” Mr. Saburov has been coached by the great artists of the Russian Ballet to include Marius Leipa, Ekatrina Maximova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Mikhail Lavrovsky and Vadim Tedeiev.
Mr. Saburov has danced principal roles in the Golden Idol, Nutcracker, Napoleon Bonaparte, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Russian Fairy Tales.
After retiring from the stage Mr. Saburov received many offers to teach and coach young dancers from all over the world. He decided to come to the United States in 2002 where he taught and staged many classical works for the Manassas Ballet Company and School. Mr. Saburov joined the faculty of the Classical Ballet Academy in 2005. In 2006, Mr. Saburov became Ballet Master for the Classical Ballet Theater. This season Mr. Saburov returns to the Classical Ballet Theater as Associate Artistic Director.
Igor Sapotko
Igor
Sapotko hails from Minsk, Belarus
where he was trained in the rigors of classical ballet under the
direction of Alexander Kolidenko at the National Choreography Academy
of Belarus. Here he was schooled in academics as well as Vaganova
ballet technique, Art History, Music Theory, Piano, Character,
Historical/Folk Dance, Pas de Deux, Acting, Production and Rehearsal.
Upon graduation Mr. Sapotko went on to perform professionally with the Bolshoi Theater of Belarus, The Moscow Festival Ballet and The Bolshoi Theater Grigorovitch Ballet where he traveled to the United States, Japan, France, England, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Egypt, Singapore and Taiwan. Interested in expanding his contemporary repertoire he came to the United States in 1995 where he performed with the Sacramento Ballet, the Washington Ballet, the Milwaukee Ballet and the Manassas Dance Company. Here he worked with such notable choreographers and artists as John Clifford, Jean Pierre Bonnefous, Violette Verdy, Mark Diamond, Simon Dow, Ron Cunningham, Basil Thompson and Corrinne Binda.
His repertoire includes Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Trios Cliumph, Le Rendezvous, Gaite Parisienne, Don Quixote, Birds of Paradise, Western Symphony, Grande pas Classique, Four Temperments and La Bayadere among many others.
After retiring from the stage Mr. Sapotko has worked as a teacher, coach, Ballet Master and Choreographer, most recently at the Mogilev National School of the Arts in Belarus.
He now brings numerous years of experience to the Classical Ballet Academy of Northern Virginia and the Classical Ballet Theater.
Jody Skye Schissler
Jody Skye began her training locally in Reston, VA at the Conservatory Ballet. She furthered her training at the Joffrey Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School and School of American Ballet.
At the young age of 17, Suzanne Farrell sought out Ms. Skye and hired her into the Fort Worth Ballet. She then continued her career with Ballet Chicago Ballet Metropolitano de Caracas, Ohio Dance Theatre and performing as a guest artist around the country. Ms. Skye has danced a vast repertoire of Principal roles in such classics as the Nutcracker, Coppelia, Swan Lake, A Mid Sumner Nights Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Giselle and others. She has 20 years of teaching experience in outstanding professional schools in America to include Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Fort Worth School of Ballet, School of Ballet Chicago, Milwaukee Ballet School, Ohio Dance Theatre, and locally at the Conservatory Ballet.
Mrs. Schissler currently lives in Reston, Virginia with her husband Allen and their three wonderful children. She is happy to join the staff of Classical Ballet of Northern Virginia and honored to pass on the knowledge of the many amazing artists she has learned from and worked with, to the next generation.