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.

Leah’s current choreographic research is steeped in non-linear streams of consciousness and natural landscapes that highlight humanity’s interdependence with the earth. 

Her work, often playful, dark, and surreal, has been seen at American Dance Festival, Global Women Performing Arts Festival (Korea), Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Inspired Dance Festival (Australia), Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, ACDA, Detroit Opera Theater, and Michigan Museum of Natural History, among others. She won Best Choreography at the 2022 Detroit Dance City Festival, was a 2020 Maggie Alessee Choreography Award Finalist, and a 2019 Copperfoot Award recipient. Leah was an artist-in-residence at Greywood Arts in Ireland where she also studied Body Weather with Frank van de Ven. 

Most recently, she presented her evening-length performance Once there was not at the University of Michigan, and was a 2024 guest artist at Wayne State University (Detroit).

As a performer, Leah’s extensive career spans concert and commercial dance. Credits include the Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, 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