About Our Staff

Denise Foster Fumagali, TCRG  - Director
    Denise Fumagali is the director of Applause! Applause!  Performing Arts Center and the Aoibhneas an Rince Irish Dancers. She began her dancing career in Ballet and Tap classes at age 4 and added Jazz and Irish dancing along the way.  What started as a mother’s attempt to expose her child to the culture of her Irish roots soon landed her in Ireland, dancing in the World Championships. Throughout the last thirty plus years of Irish dancing, she has been a student of Maureen Malcom in Virginia and Michael Smith from Boston and worked with master teachers from Canada, England, and Ireland.  She has danced in both local and international competitions.  Most notable among her accomplishments are her title as Washington, D.C. Senior Ladies Champion (1982, 84) and her placements in regional and national competitions which qualified her to dance in the 1982 and 1984 World Championships in Ireland.
    After graduating from the College of William and Mary in Virginia with a B.A. in Elementary Education, she has returned to dancing as a teacher.  She is a member of Cecchetti Council of America, which qualifies her to teach the Cecchetti Method of Classical Ballet. She is also certified with An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha to teach Irish dancing.   After 11 years of teaching first grade and kindergarten in Fairfax and Loudoun County Public Schools, Denise resigned in order to devote more time to teaching classes and directing the company at Applause! Applause! Performing Arts Center. 
     Denise has also just recently become an independent certified instructor with the Baby Signs® program.

Maureen Eck - Irish
    Maureen Eck started dancing with her 2 older sisters when she was 4 years old.  During her dancing career, she was a student of Maureen Malcom in Virginia, Michael Smith from Boston, and Pauline Malone in Maryland and worked with master teachers from Canada, England, and Ireland.  At 10 years old, she qualified to dance in the World Championships in Ireland.  After taking time off from dancing and graduating from Clemson University, Maureen returned to Irish dancing as a teacher with the Aoibhneas an Rince Irish Dancers.  In addition to her classes at Applause! Applause! Performing Arts Center, Maureen teaches 2nd grade at Silverbrook Elementary in Fairfax Station.  She is currently working on her certification with the Irish Dancing Commission.

Mary Shelton - Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, Musical Theater

    Mary Shelton began her teaching career in 1995 as an assistant at the studio where she danced in Ithaca, New York.  She then went on to Oklahoma City University where she earned a B.S. in Dance Management.  After college she went back home to teach for a year before moving to the D.C. area.  Since 2002, she has taught for dance schools in Alexandria, Fairfax, Chantilly, and Sterling.  In addition to teaching, you can find Mary performing and taking class throughout the metro area.  Mary is very much looking forward to joining Applause! Applause! and sharing her love of dance with those around her.

Alisha Reay - Modern, Pointe
   

    Ms. Reay trained at Chicago City Ballet, followed by the Ballet Russe School where she achieved the rank of soloist and principal dancer. Ms Reay holds a certification in teaching the Vaganova method of ballet and also teaches character, modern, jazz and hip-hop. She was a founding member of the Union Street Dance Company in Valparaiso, Indiana and was the owner and manager of the Valparaiso Dance Connection before moving to the Washington DC area in 2001.
Ms. Reay has enjoyed teaching ballet since 1991 while continuing to choreograph and perform.