Meet The Coaches
Alex Coffelt
Owner
Alex began dancing at 16 years old at Infinity All-Stars as part of their hip-hop program where he attend the 2013 and 2014 Dance Worlds placing within the Top 12 teams. He was also on the Herndon High School Varsity Cheerleading team where he earned 2 District Titles and 1 State Championship Title. Alex joined Velocity during Season 1 dancing on their Senior Co-Ed teams. He has attended 10 Dance World Championships competing against more than 25 other countries. Alex has won 2 World Championships and other Top 5 placements as well.
Alex began coaching directly out of high school at Herndon High School working with the program for 3 seasons. Alex was also assistant coach of the James Madison High School Dance Team for 2 seasons from 2018-2020. He joined the Velocity staff in 2017 working with all age groups specifically in the Hip-Hop and Pom categories. Alex’s most recent accomplishment as a coach was leading the Senior Hip-Hop Small team to 5th in the World in 2023.
Alex attended George Mason University for undergraduate school majoring in Kinesiology. He then attended Marymount University to receive his Doctorate of Physical Therapy and graduated in 2022. After passing his licensing exam, he now works at OrthoVirginia as a full-time outpatient orthopedic physical therapist. Alex loves sharing his passion of anatomy with his dancers and focusing on injury prevention and strengthening.
Ayesha Ahmed
Owner
Ayesha has grown up in Vienna, VA attending OLGC and PVI. She then attended Christopher Newport University and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Minor in Communication Studies in 2021. Now, she is pursuing her Master’s in Public Administration, emphasizing nonprofit management. Ayesha’s 9-5 includes working in nonprofit advocacy to advance healthcare legislation through Congress.
Ayesha has been dancing for 22 years taking styles such as Ballet, Pointe, Cecchetti, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Pom, and Hip Hop. In high school, she started All-Star dance with Velocity under Suzanne Mansfield, competing on Velocity’s Senior Hip Hop and Senior Pom teams. and quickly realized this program is a family. Throughout college breaks, she would teach classes and camps and come back to visit her favorite coaches (all of them!). She took dance classes through the dance minor program in college, taking Ballet, Jazz, Modern, and Tap. Today, you can find Ayesha at any adult dance class in Northern, VA!
Ayesha’s coaching philosophy is garnering confidence through dance, pushing each other to be the best you can be, and holding each other to exceptionally high, but achievable, standards. Ayesha is so excited to continue to spread her love of dance to every Velocity Dancer!
Kelly Elias
Owner
Kelly was born and raised in Northern VA, where she began her successful competitive dance career at the age of 7. Kelly danced at Creative Dance Center in Chantilly, VA focusing in the styles of jazz, lyrical, contemporary, and ballet. She danced on Westfield High School’s Varsity Dance Team all 4 years competing at the prestigious Universal Dance Association National Dance Team Competition. Meanwhile, she coached Stone Middle School’s Dance Team which placed first every year.
Kelly attended West Virginia University in 2015 and earned her Bachelor’s degree in 2019. After graduating, Kelly began working for Velocity Dance full-time. She quickly fell in love with coaching at Velocity and found an interest in all-star competition. She believes in facilitating growth for all dancers while helping dancers find their confidence and edge, inside and outside the dance studio.
Francesco “Frenchie” Pignatiello
Hip-Hop Coach
Frenchie has lived in Northern Virginia his whole life and is currently attending George Mason University majoring in Geospatial Information Systems. He started dancing 11 years ago under former owner, Suzanne Mansfield, at Infinity All-Stars. Frenchie joined Velocity Dance during its first season where he proceeded to win the 2019 World Championship in the Open All-Male division. He has also received a World’s Silver Medalist title in 2018 and two-time Dance Summit Champion. In addition to Velocity, Frenchie was a member of the immaBEAST Dance Company and trained with professionals. These include dancers from both the East and West coast including Monsters of Hip Hop and The Kings. Frenchie works with all ages to expand and challenge their hip-hop tricks and movement quality performance.
Shelby Tucker
Jazz and Lyrical Coach
Shelby was born and raised in the Northern Virginia area. She started dancing at the age of 11 with Strictly Rhythm’s competitive dance program. She attended Hayfield Secondary where she was an integral part of their Varsity Dance Team.
She graduated in 2018 from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA, with a BFA in Dance studying under the direction of Donna Faye-Burchfield. She studied Modern, Lyrical, Contemporary, Hip-hop, African, Jazz and Improvisation. In college, she continued her studies and performed around the world in places such as Israel, Paris, Brussels, and Lille. Shelby was also selected to represent the school at the Camping International Dance Festival at the Centre National de la Danse in Pantin, France. She has created and shown work in Philadelphia and New York as well as dancing in a movie and independent dance shows. Shelby also works at SolidCore promoting fitness and wellness.
Jill Mohamed
Ballet Instructor
Jill began her professional ballet training at the Milwaukee Ballet School. In 2013, Jill received scholarships to train at the Joffrey Ballet School New York and continued her training in New York until 2016. Jill trained with the American Repertory Ballet on scholarship for two seasons, and in 2018, became a professional dancer with the Manassas Ballet Theatre. Her repertoire includes soloist roles in The Nutcracker, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Les Sylphides, and La Pratique Fantastique. Jill has been a ballet instructor for several years coaching competitive students and sharing her knowledge and love of dance with all ages of dancers.
Lauren Capozzi
Showcase Instructor
Lauren was born and raised in Northern Virginia. She danced growing up, training in a variety of styles such as hip hop, ballet, jazz, tap, lyrical, and Cecchetti. At an early age, Lauren fell in love with sharing her passion for dance with young dancers. Throughout high school and college, Lauren has taught classes and camps for dancers of all ages through NOVA!
Lauren attended Christopher Newport University, continuing her training in ballet, jazz, and modern. Through her collegiate experience at CNU, Lauren was a part of CNU Dance Concert, performing in annual dance showcases. Lauren graduated with a BA in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Teaching with a concentration in Elementary Education. Lauren is currently a Kindergarten teacher and is thrilled to be apart of the Velocity family!
Naevi Tingey
Hip-Hop and Jazz Coach
Naevi, from Pleasant Grove, Utah, started her dance career at the early age of 2 years old. She trained in ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary, lyrical, pom, tap, tumbling, and ballroom. She competed competitively all through her youth winning various overall awards with her solo and team routines. In high school she received the award of Dance Sterling Scholar and represented her school at the state level. In college Naevi danced with the BYU Cougarette Dance Team for 4 years where she was team President. She competed at the D1 NDA College Nationals and won 3 first place National Titles in hip hop and 2 first place National Titles in Jazz. The BYU Cougarettes were selected to represent the USA at the ICU Dance Worlds Competition where one year she won a Silver Medal in Hip Hop and the next year won two Gold First Place Medals in Jazz and Hip Hop. Naevi spent a summer touring China performing dance routines with the BYU Cougarettes. In addition to her impressive dance accomplishments, Naevi has had a passion for teaching dance since she was 16 years old. New to the DMV area, she currently works in Communications at a government contracting company. Naevi is very excited to be teaching dance at Velocity and to help push dancers technically.