Leah is a Dance Theater artist, choreographer, instructor, and writer. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan where she has also taught several classes from Dance Composition and Improvisation to Musical Theater and Site-Specific Dance.

As a choreographer, Leah has created work for Global Women Performing Arts Festival (South Korea), Michigan Opera Theatre, Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra (El Amor Brujo), the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, Detroit Dance City Festival (Best Choreography Award winner 2022), Eisenhower Dance Detroit (Mosaics Concert), University of Michigan’s Gilbert and Sullivan Society, RAD Fest, and the 2019 ACDA Northeast Conference gala, among others. Leah is a recipient of the Copperfoot Award (2019) and a Maggie Allesee Choreography Award finalist (2020). In 2022, Leah was an artist in residence at Greywood Arts in Killeagh Village, Ireland. Her recent screen dance, Blue Burrow, won best experimental film at Experimental Music & Dance Film Festival (Toronto), and is an official selection of American Dance Festival’s Movies by Movers, Inspired Dance Film Festival (Australia), Tokyo International Short Film Festival, Dance Camera Istanbul, and Paris International Short Festival, amongst others. In 2022, Leah directed and choreographed evening-length Dance Theater work, Once there was not, a dark and surreal exploration of impermanence and ambiguity in which six dancers dodge Death, the oldest friend, only to find purgatory in a pub, forgetting and remembering bits of life along the way. 

As a performer, Leah’s extensive career spans concert and commercial dance. Credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Francesca Zambello’s Show Boat, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, Across the Universe, the MTV Video Music Awards, and more. She has danced with recording artists from Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, and Nicki Minaj, to The Black Eyed Peas, Nancy Sinatra, and The Roots.
Leah has had the pleasure of performing at venues such as Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and the Royal Palace of Istanbul. She has toured throughout the United States and abroad, and spent six months living and performing in Athens, Greece. Leah has worked with world-renowned artists including Julie Taymor, Jerry Mitchell, Franco Zeffirelli, Daniel Ezralow, Mark Dendy, Annie-B Parson, Frank Gatson, Ben Wright, Francesca Zambello, Michael Grandage, Fatima Robinson, Rebecca Taichman, Sam Mendez, Judd Apatow, Margherite Derricks and Baz Luhrmann.

As a writer, Leah has contributed to Dance Spirit Magazine, Detroit Metro Times, DancePulp, Essay’d Detroit, University of Michigan’s Confucius Institute, and Ann Arbor Observer.

https://www.Leahfayeodonnell.com