Dance Instructor
Leanna began dancing since age 3, and began her ballet training at age 11 at Robert Thomas Dancenter in Ames, IA, under the instruction of Robert Thomas and Miyoko Kato Thomas, former Joffrey Ballet dancers. She was a member of the Iowa Youth Ballet for seven years and performed in Iowa State Center’s production of The Nutcracker Ballet for ten years, and in addition, she led rehearsals for certain roles for three years. Throughout her early years of training, Leanna had the privilege of taking master classes at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago for seven summers from company member Derrick Agnoletti and former members Kim Sagami, Willy Shives, and Suzanne Lopez, among others.
In 2017, Leanna graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in Dance and a certificate in Arts Entrepreneurship. During her time there, she performed in numerous concerts in both faculty- and student-choreographed work, and in 2016, her choreographic work was selected to be performed in the Dance Department’s Undergraduate Concert.
After two years in full-time youth ministry, Leanna is dancing with North Pointe Ballet for their 2019-2020 season here in Cleveland. Leanna has ten years of lead and assistant teaching and choreography experience at Robert Thomas Dancenter, Inspiring Dance, University of Iowa Youth Ballet, and Charlee’s Elite School of Dance, primarily in ballet and pointe technique to students of all ages. She is excited to be sharing in her love for ballet with her students here at BW CAS.
Read more on Leanna’s teaching philosophy and artistic inspirations here: https://mycreativecompass.org/Community/Cleveland-Artist-Spotlights/Leanna-Mullen