Eleanor Pernia
Founder

In 1962, drawing on her many years of experience as a professional dancer in the theater and on television, Eleanor founded the Eleanor Pernia Studio of Dance.  The Studio has since been successful in providing a dynamic, nurturing environment for virtually all aspects of dance training.  In addition to introducing dance to students of all ages, Eleanor has created and coached successful competition teams.  Eleanor's goals have been, and will continue to include expanding the benefits of dance to other aspects of life such as poise, self confidence and creativity.

Jesi Olfky
Faculty Member

Jesi graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in May 2010. She received a Bachelors of Arts degree at that time. Jesi started dancing at the age of three at the Eleanor Pernia Studio of Dance. Throughout her 15 years of training with the studio she learned tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, and modern. She also competed for many years with the studio's Star Struck Competition Team going on to win many solo and group awards. Jesi has been teaching at Eleanor Pernia Studio of Dance since August 2006 and in the past 2 years has choreographed many dances that have won various awards in competition. Jesi loves teaching as well as all of the kids she has the opportunity to work with.

Rachel Weene
Faculty Member

Rachel is currently attending Towson University.
She is majoring in Exercise Science and after will attend Graduate School to become a physical therapist. Rachel started her dance training at the age of three at Eleanor Pernia Studio of Dance. While attending the Studio, she has learned ballet, pointe, tap, jazz, hip hop, lyrical, modern, musical theatre, and even some ballroom. In her last two years dancing at Eleanor Pernia Studio, Rachel was a member of the Star Struck Competition Team where she won numerous awards for solos and group dances. Rachel enjoys teaching and hopes that she can share her love for dance with all her students.

  

Olga Gracheva
Artistic Director

Growing up in Tyumen, West Siberia, Russian Federation, Olga's early dance training was provided by teachers from the Kirov Ballet School, Saint Petersburg, Russia.  From the age of seven she studied ballet, lyrical, modern and added ballroom dancing as a young adult.  Between the ages of twelve and twenty she participated in city and regional competitions and was a regional finalist five years in a row.  She has also competed internationally.
Olga graduated from Tyumen State University, West Siberia with BAs in Dance, and French Language and Literature.  Before coming to the United States she owned and operated her own dance studio in Tyumen for ten years.  Olga is also a ballroom dance instructor and has been involved in international ballroom competitions.
She is eager to share her unique dance background and international experiences with the students of the Eleanor Pernia Studio of Dance.  In addition to continuing the successful competition teams Olga looks forward to expanding the dance syllabus offered to ballroom and belly dance.

Marissa Montanez
Faculty Member

Marissa Montanez was trained at several studios in the state of Maryland including Elite Dance and Gymnastics, under the direction of Starpower Competition's Gary Pate, and the award winning Spotlight Studio of Dance, under the direction of Wyndee McGovern. Marissa has also been a member of the Howard County Ballet, a performance group based in Ellicott City Maryland, as well as JazzFusion, a pre-professional dance company. In 2002 Marissa, along with JazzFusion, performed at the prestigous Jazz Dance World Congress. Marissa received her undergraduate degree from Towson University, where she was a member and captain of the nine time National Champion Dance Team. Marissa has been teaching and choreographing for the last 7 years, and has worked with dancers all over the Mid-Atlantic Region. Recently, Marissa has been offered a posiition at the traveling "Wild Dance Intensive", along with a star studded faculty of choreographers and dance professionals, to educate young students about their options for a future in dance.