Jaelyn Fellona, Director of IBT, has studied with Petrus Bosman at the Virginia School of the Arts. After graduating early from high school, she joined the International Ballet Theater as a Soloist under Vladimir Shoumeikin and Alexander Boitsov.
Ms. Fellona has toured the United States, Canada, and Europe dancing leading roles in Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Paquita, Bolero, and Le Corsaire, as well as many other character roles. Working at IBT has also given her an opportunity to be coached by such famed ballerinas as Irina Kolpakova and Alla Osipenko.
In 1998 Ms. Fellona was invited as a guest artist to perform at the French and Russian Embassies in Washington, D.C. to celebrate Alexander Boitsov’s 25th Anniversary Benefice.
Ms. Fellona speaks fluent Russian: her fascination with the Russian culture started when she was first exposed to the language during long hours of ballet classes taken with the Russian-speaking troupe of IBT. She has recently returned from St. Petersburg, Russia after spending an entire academic year perfecting her Russian language skills at the St. Petersburg State University.
Ms. Fellona first taught ballet while still attending West Chester University in Pennsylvania. At that time she successfully trained students of a local dance studio to compete at the Youth American Grand Prix in New York City where in April 2004 they placed top twelve at the NYC International Finals.
A convinced follower of the Vaganova teaching technique, Ms. Fellona strongly values commitment to excellence, hard work, discipline and artistic growth in a positive environment. She is accustomed to ask the very best of her students while giving in return the care and attention each student deserves.
Ms. Fellona finds most important to pass on to her students the love of dance, “for this art form is so much more than technique”.