JESSA MENDOZA CIRCUS & DANCE CHOREOGRAPHER

Jessa Mendoza was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey and was raised in New York City, in the early 1980’s, where her mother danced as a New York City’s Rockette and her father danced in productions featuring Madonna, Run DMC, Michael Chambers “Boogaloo Shrimp”, and Bruno Falcon “Pop N’ Taco”. At age 6, her family moved to Cypress, CA, where she began her training under the direction of Carol Salisbury, the founder of Chorus Line Dance Studio and former company member of Rhapsody and Tap. Jessa continued her training in all styles of dance with Ms. Salisbury until receiving a scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School in 1994. After attending the SFBS, Jessa moved to Tucson, AZ, where she became a company member for the Tucson Ballet Company for two years, dancing lead roles in The Nutcracker, Cinderella, and Swan Lake.

In 1997, Mrs. Mendoza returned to Southern California, to pursue her career in dance and acting. She attended California State University, Long Beach, where she majored in dance. She also received her certification in Pilates and became an educator in body awareness through Health and Fitness. She began teaching Pilates for LA Fitness and Equinox where she continued to grow as a master trainer.

Mrs. Mendoza continued her career in dance and performed with top Artists such as Will Smith, Ricky Martin, and The Backstreet Boys. She has also worked with Bobby Richards, whose accolades include performances in “You Got Served” and various music videos with some of the top performing artists from around the world; Mark Ericson from ABT and Phantom of the Opera; and Mia Michaels from “So You Think You Can Dance”.

In 2002, she became a Senior Choreographer and Principal Company Dancer with The Metropolitan Ballet Company under the direction of Monique Melton. Jessa has continued to dance with the MBC for the past eight years, and has many accolades with the company. She has choreographed countless of award winning pieces for the company and danced in many lead roles, including her lead roles in “The Nutcracker” and “The Passion”, in which she portrayed the immortal character Carmen. The performance was held at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center and the prestigious Kodak Theater. She also traveled with the professional dance company to Cesena, Italy, where they won the 2007 International Grand Prix Italia.

In 2006, Mrs. Mendoza became the Director of the Dance Department at Fairmont Preparatory Academy, a California Distinguished Private School. She established and grew the liberal arts program at Fairmont and developed her own creations on stage for their performances. Jessa has been honored with many top dancer awards herself, as well as top choreographer awards for her countless pieces nationally and internationally throughout her distinguished career. Jessa’s countless wins with her choreography throughout the competition industry, gave her a spot in the judging world of dance where she assisted as a judge in the dance industry.

Jessa has collaborated and assisted in choreographing pieces for dancers and assisted as well as danced for choreographers such as Mia Michaels, Brain Friedman, Alonzo King, Monique Melton, Heidi DeBrincat, Terry Schulke, Yumi Nakatani, Oscar Zhang and many more.

In 2009, Jessa joined forces with “Just Plain Dancin’”, the #1 rated dance studio in the nation, owned and operated by Terry Schulke and assisted by both her daughter’s Mandy and Amy Schulke. She was an instructor and trainer for the studio for 2 years.

In 2010, she added Studio Fusion Dance Center to the list where she taught as a master teacher and master choreographer in dance as well as the studio woman’s fitness center. Mrs. Mendoza continues to grow as an artist accepting jobs nationally and internationally as a choreographer, judge and teacher.

In 2011, Jessa joined forces with “Fembody Fitness” where she became the studio’s Master Instructor as well as Master Trainer. She trained all new incoming staff to teach fitness and pole classes at the studio. Jessa worked closely with the Fembody staff so they could continue to grow their fitness instruction skills. Jessa was also the head trainer and choreographer for the “Fembody Pole Team”. Her job was to train the entire Pole Team in: Conditioning, strengthening, flexibility, pole tricks with transitions and choreograph the teams pole routines. Jessa’s years of dancing and choreographing has helped her transition into the Circus industry with ease. Jessa was the Co-Founder of Fembody by Night… A Pole Show!! Where she was the creator, choreographer and producer/director of the Pole showcase until 2015. She also became a Judge for the pole fitness industry. Jessa continues to grow her dance, pole and fitness skills as well by training with the top professionals in the dance, aerial and pole fields.

In 2015 Jessa finally decided to take her years of dance and aerial arts training and opened Rok Your Assetz Fitness Aerial training center with her husband and has grown the business over the past 2 years to become one of the top aerial training centers located in Orange Co Ca. With her love and passion for the arts, Jessa decided to sell RyA fitness in 2017 and return back to her roots in teaching kids and teenagers dance and aerial arts.

After selling her business she joined South Coast Conservatory located in Orange County and became the artistic director for the Aerial arts program as well as a master dance teacher. Jessa developed and created the curriculum and syllabus for the Aerial arts program and serves as their leading teacher, choreographer, and trainer for the program. Jessa’s main focus is to train students between the ages of 9- adults to help them develop training skills that will one day lead them into the professional Circus industry. Jessa is the head coach for the competitive competition team and is the Director and production coordinator of all Aerial events for SCC. Jessa continues teaching dance classes as well as specialty classes for the studio. Jessa continues to judge throughout the dance and circus industry, as well as host workshops, and intensives. In 2020 Jessa was officially accepted into the Cirque du Soleil database as a choreographer for Cirque du Soleil shows. As Jessa continue to grow her accolades, she helps create multiple productions for shows and founded magic in motion aerial arts fest. For the past 4 years, Magic In Motion has been a platform for artist within the industry to bring their creativity and artistry to the stage.

In 2024 Jessa joined Go 2 talent agency to bring her choreography and knowledge within the circus industry to both television and film. She also joined forces with WDM, World Dance Movement and serves as a judge and workshop instructor. Jessa continues to travel hosting workshops and intensives, and continues to judge throughout the industry. She looks forward to what the future holds for her!