Faculty
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.
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.
