Meet Our Team!

**Jessica Vela**
*Director*

Jessica was born and raised in Orange County, California, where she began her dance training at the age of 13. Jessica later joined the Tustin High Dance team, training in Jazz, Lyrical, Hip-Hop, Prop, Pom, and Kick. She participated in many competitions, such as USA Dance Team/Drill Nationals, NDA Dance Nationals, Jamz Dance Nationals, and Miss Dance Team Drill Nationals. Jessica also had the opportunity to perform in the annual Tustin Tillers Parade, Assembly/ Football dance performances, and even participated in a special guest performance at the Clippers Half-Time show.
After high school, she attended Orange Coast College, where she continued her dance training and studied Ballet, Modern, Hip-Hop, West African styles and Drumming, Latin styles, Jazz, Dance Composition/Repertoire, and Improvisation under the faculty of Linda Sohl- Ellison, Amelie Hunter, Jose Costas, Monti Ellison, Shana Menaker, Amythyst Fritzler, Kathy Kahn, Kari Jensen and Jeff Mayor. She has participated in Fall and Spring dance concerts, performing faculty and student works, and premiered her first college choreography. Now, Jessica is an alumnus of California State University, Fullerton, where she pursued her dance career as a dance major and trained under Debra Noble, Alvin Rangel, Muriel Joyce, Gladys Kares, and Lisa D. Long. Her choreographic works have been premiered at both Fall and Spring dance concerts at CSUF, and she was also given the opportunity to take her piece, "The Dogma Affect" as a guest piece at Fullerton College. In 2017, Jessica was presented with the Outstanding Student Scholarly and Creative Activities Award. She attended the American College Dance Festival Association, where she had the privilege to perform "Windows and Doors," choreographed by guest artist Leslie Scott and study from numerous University professors.
Furthermore, Jessica currently leads an award-winning competition team, performs at the Disneyland Resort, and loves teaching in the dance community. She is also a certified Bounce Fitness instructor and takes delight in teaching in the fitness community. Jessica has developed a great passion for dance, choreography, and teaching, thus leading her to pursue her biggest aspiration, having her dance studio (Dance 4:13), where she will continue to inspire her students to develop their voices.

Andrea Cerda

Andrea was born and raised in Orange County, California, where she began her dance training at the age of 4. Andrea started dancing at local recreational centers once a week, doing only ballet. By age 7, she started training in different styles at The Learning Spot Dance Academy.

Andrea has performed in several recitals for The Learning Spot Dance Academy, performing in lyrical, contemporary, ballet, pointe, jazz, and jazz-funk pieces choreographed by Lauren Charman and Jessica Vela. She’s competed in many dance competitions, such as Spotlight, Showstoppers, and Kar, where she was the runner-up for America’s Favorite Dancer and a Dancer of the Year finalist for Rainbow. She has also performed at The Festival of Children at South Coast Plaza, Día del Niño at the Orange County Fairgrounds, and the OC Fair during the summer. Andrea was also part of a music video, alongside Jessica Vela, for upcoming artist Yasmeen.

At 16, Andrea started working as a substitute dance instructor. She is currently teaching PreBallet and Strength, Turns, and Flexibility classes. Working with Jessica and Lauren, Andrea has learned many styles, and most importantly, she has been inspired to continue with her dance training. Andrea is attending Santa Ana College, where she continues to enhance her dance training and further her career by transferring to a 4-year university and working towards her Bachelor’s degree.

Toni Nava

Isabella Harris

Izzy is originally from Sacramento, California, where she began her dance training at the age of 5. She began to take her training seriously when she joined Leighton Dance Project’s pre-professional company in 2013. In this program, she focused on competition dancing and concert work, training in jazz, contemporary, ballet, modern, tap, and hip-hop. She believes it is important to be trained as a versatile dancer; however, her passion and expertise lie in contemporary jazz and ballet.

At 15 years old, she began to work as a teaching assistant for beginning and intermediate jazz, contemporary, and ballet classes. At 17, she joined a professional dance company, CORE Contemporary Dance, as an apprentice. During this time, she developed her artistic voice and choreographed her first pieces for Leighton Dance Project. Izzy continued her dance training at the University of California, Irvine, where she was able to continue performing and exploring her choreography. She recently graduated from UCI with a B.A. in Language Science and plans to pursue a career in speech pathology. Now, Izzy plans to continue her education, continue growing her experience as a dance teacher and share her knowledge and love of dance with her students.