About Us

AVA Dance Company offers adult dance classes to dancers of all levels and backgrounds.  Founded by former professional dancer Leah Mariner, her vision is to offer a fun and motivating community for adults to exercise their passion for dance.   AVA Dance Company's mission is to provide adult dancers the opportunity to enhance their technique, learn cutting-edge choreography, and stay fit and active. 

Founder and Director

Leah Mariner

Director of Digital Marketing

Lauren Hight

Director of Operations

Wendy Rich

Founder and Director Leah Mariner has been dancing and sharing her passion for dance with others for over 20 years. Leah danced professionally for the Washington Wizards for three seasons, serving as co-captain of the team during her third season.  During her time with the Wizards she had the opportunity to dance in Rio de Janiero, Brazil at the NBA 3x Events; Atlanta, Georgia for the annual All P-R-O Dance Convention; as well as New York City for the 2015 NBA All Star Events.  Leah has also performed in the Cherry Blossom Parade alongside renowned artists such as Lance Bass of N'Sync, Jay Sean, and Elliot Yamen.  Leah was featured on CBS-affiliate WUSA9 discussing her career as a professional dancer and has performed live on FOX5 News. 

Leah was born and raised in Long Island, NY, where her dance career started.  Throughout her 22 years of dance experience, Leah has taught several genres of dance to both children and adults. Her choreography has won leading scores in competitions, and under her mentorship, dancers have grown to superior levels.  Leah has always loved sharing her passion of dance with her students and is thrilled for the opportunity to help dancers fulfill theirs! 

Lauren's love for dance didn't develop in the studio, but instead on the field & court! Born & raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, she performed in her first pro-dance style halftime routine at age 12 with the Philadelphia Jr. Pro Soulmates & Platinum All Stars dance teams. Over her 6 years with the teams, she travelled the tri-state area to dance in arenas and stadiums for thousands of NBA, NHL, AFL, MLL and NCAA fans as well as with the Harlem Globetrotters and at Madison Square Garden during their inaugural lacrosse season. 

Her degree in communication, graphic design and leadership from Cabrini College brought her down to the DMV to launch her career as a Digital Content Coordinator with 10 of DC + Baltimore's top radio stations. When she's not behind the scenes at a local venue or capturing content for work, she's expanding her dance training with her favorite community...AVA Dance Company! Since moving to DC, AVA has been a consistent source of support & growth for Lauren and she's thrilled to share that love with our dancers and to be a part of such a special team! 

Wendy grew up in a small town in Upstate New York where she began her dance career at the Marya Kennett Dance Center. Her love for dance quickly grew as she expanded her training to a variety of styles including ballet, pointe, jazz, tap, modern, lyrical, and hip hop. She often traveled to Broadway Dance Center in NYC for classes and workshops. She graduated from Penn State University where she earned a BS in Finance and was a member of Rêve Dance Company for four years, serving on their executive board. After graduation, Wendy moved to the DMV to work full-time as a federal consultant and continued her dance training with AVA Dance Company. Wendy loves sharing her passion for dance with the amazing dancers in our community and is excited to be a part of the AVA team!

Classes 

AVA Dance Company offers a variety of dance styles to all adult dancers.

The classes available are outlined below: 

Jazz ​

Jazz dancing is a form of dance that showcases a dancer's individual style and originality. This type of dancing is energetic and fun, consisting of unique movement and technical elements such as leaps and turns. Class typically consists of stretching, warm-ups, across-the-floor, and learning a combination of choreography. 

Hip Hop

Hip Hop is a popular form of dance usually characterized by "funky" movements such as popping and locking, breaking, etc.  Hip Hop often incorporates loose or structured, upbeat and energetic movement set to popular music. Class typically includes: stretching, conditioning, warm-ups, and learning a combination of choreography.  

Contemporary

Contemporary and Lyrical dancing is a more relaxed, expressive style of dancing that allows for more fluid, graceful movement rather than structured steps, as in traditional ballet dancing.  It combines elements of several dance genres including modern, jazz, lyrical and classical ballet. Class typically consists of stretching, warm-ups, across-the-floor, and learning a combination of choreography. 

Heels 

Heels class infuses sultry jazz movements with street jazz vocabulary leaving you feeling strong, sexy, and empowered! Wear your heels and get ready to get sweaty!  

Turns & Leaps 

This class will focus on dance technique.  Class will consist of deep stretching, conditioning, across the floor, working on leaps, jumps and turns!  

Performances

AVA Dance Company's Performance Series Showcase 2020 has been canceled due to COVID.  Please check back for more performance opportunities in 2021. 

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Our first Performance Showcase in 2019 was a HUGE success!

Check out some of the highlights from this amazing showcase

Class Schedule

View our schedule to sign up for a class today! Class style and instructor varies every week

Download our booking app to view our class schedule and book classes in one easy click.

Join us for our open level dance classes!  

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5/5 - 7pm Jazz with Kayo & 8pm Heels with Candess

5/9 - Happy Mother's Day: No Class

5/10 - 6:30pm Outdoor Hip Hop with Ashleigh

5/12 - 7pm Heels with Jules & 8pm Hip Hop with Christie

5/16 - 2pm Street Jazz with Maya & 3pm Hip Hop with Christie

5/17 - 6:30pm Outdoor Hip Hop with Cierra

*** Cancellation Policy: Classes must be cancelled within 3 hours on our booking app. 

Videos

Check out our latest Concept Video!

Choreography: Leah Mariner 

Videography: Understand the Vision

Susan

I’ve loved AVA’s weekly classes since I discovered them this past spring. There is a pretty wide range of offerings, so there’s really something for everyone. Also, I appreciate how AVA brings in professional guest instructors just about every week. It’s cool to see and learn from different choreographers. Leah, the studio’s director, is also a super encouraging and friendly teacher, so no matter how much dance experience you have, she welcomes everyone with open arms. Can’t recommend this place or the people enough!!

Bethany

I’m so incredibly happy I found out about Ava Dance Company! I’ve danced my entire life and stopped shortly after college, and have been looking for convenient adult classes to take weekly ever since. Leah and her team provide classes for all levels! From beginner to advanced, each class provides the opportunity to challenge yourself and to simply have fun filled sessions with an abundance of positive energy and dancers who are looking to improve their skill set while having fun! I look forward to Wednesday’s every week to experience a new style of dance, from hip hop to burlesque to heels class... there’s something for everyone. It’s worth every penny and then some!! Thank you for being so amazing Ava Dance Co!

Ashleigh

I have been dancing for a long time and I am in awe of every aspect of AVA! 

Starting with the founder/director Leah. Leah is one of the nicest people I've ever met! Her love and passion for dance is beyond inspiring.  She genuinely loves every single dancer and she supports you in and out of the studio.  No matter your dance level, she makes the class fun.  I feel as if some studios are not an inclusive environment, but I can say I have never felt that vibe while at AVA. 

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