Meet the Founders
Who Turn Passion Into Progress
We're Yana and Maksym Fedotov, founders of MYWAY DANCE. With decades of international experience in dance, education, and competitive sport, we've dedicated our lives to helping children and adults grow through movement.
As international dance champions, certified adjudicators, and lifelong educators, we combine world-class expertise with a warm, family-centered approach.
Our mission is to create a place where every student receives personal attention, professional coaching, and the confidence to succeed —whether dancing for fun, performing on stage, or pursuing excellence in competition.
Yana & Max Fedotov
Founders of MYWAY DANCE STUDIO
OUR STORY
We're Yana and Maksym Fedotov, founders of MYWAY DANCE. For more than 20 years, dance has been at the center of our lives. What began as a passion became our profession and eventually our mission—to educate, inspire, and help people discover their potential through dance.
Throughout our careers, we've worked as international competitors, professional coaches, choreographers, educators, certified adjudicators, entrepreneurs, and mentors. We've trained hundreds of students, created dance schools and educational projects, organized major training camps, worked in television and education, and represented Ukraine on the international dance floor.
Today, we're bringing all of this experience to California through MYWAY DANCE. For us, this is much more than opening another dance studio. It's an opportunity to build a new dance culture and community in the United States while sharing everything we've learned throughout our professional lives.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL FOUNDATION
Our approach to teaching is based not only on decades of practical experience, but also on professional higher education in choreography, pedagogy, physical education, and sports. This foundation allows us to understand dance from several perspectives—as an art, a competitive sport, and a powerful educational tool.
Yana Fedotova holds a Master's Degree in Ballroom Choreography from H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University. Her professional development also includes studies in modern educational systems, the Finnish education system, special educational needs support, and ABA-based approaches to working with children.
Maksym Fedotov has professional higher education in physical education and sports, complementing his extensive career as a competitive dancer and coach. His background combines knowledge of athletic preparation, physical development, competitive performance, and practical coaching experience.
We believe that a great teacher should never stop being a student. That's why professional development, international coaching, judging, and continuous learning remain an important part of our lives today.
BUILDING DANCE COMMUNITIES IN UKRAINE
Before moving to the United States, our work went far beyond coaching individual dancers. We created schools, educational platforms, training systems, events, and communities designed to develop the next generation of dancers in Ukraine.
One of these projects was PANIYANA Talent School, founded by Yana. The project grew into a network of five schools across Ukraine with more than 400 students. PANIYANA was designed as more than a traditional dance school—it combined choreography, physical development, creativity, performance experience, and personal growth.
Together, we also created TRUE CAMP, a large-scale educational platform for competitive dancers from across Ukraine. Twice a year, the project brought together more than 600 professional and competitive dancers for intensive training with international experts, legendary dance professionals, champions, and World Champions.
TRUE CAMP became a place where dancers from different cities, clubs, and organizations could come together, exchange experience, train at a higher level, and learn directly from some of the most respected professionals in the international dance industry.
YANA — EDUCATION, CHOREOGRAPHY & NATIONAL PROJECTS
Yana's professional career has always connected dance with education. In addition to coaching and managing dance schools, she developed educational programs, worked with children and teachers, and participated in national educational initiatives in Ukraine.
One of the most significant was All-Ukrainian School Online, a nationwide educational initiative created to provide children across Ukraine with access to professional remote education. Yana participated in the project as a choreographer and educator, creating movement and dance lessons available to students throughout the country.
Her contribution to Ukrainian education received recognition at the national level, including recognition from the President of Ukraine and the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. She was also recognized among leading physical education teachers through the JuniorZ initiative and became a Global Teacher Prize Ukraine nominee.
Yana's choreography experience also extends to major Ukrainian television and entertainment productions, including work connected with Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, and The X Factor.
INTERNATIONAL
COMPETITIVE CAREER
Competitive DanceSport gave us the foundation for everything we do today. For years, we trained and competed internationally, representing Ukraine at major competitions throughout Europe.
Maksym achieved strong results at numerous international competitions and competed successfully at major events in Slovenia, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, and other European countries. These years of international competition developed not only technical expertise, but also a deep understanding of what athletes need physically, mentally, and emotionally to perform under pressure.
Our competitive journey also brought us to Blackpool, home of the legendary Blackpool Dance Festival—one of the most prestigious and historically significant stages in the world of ballroom dancing. Competing in this environment alongside exceptional dancers from around the world became an important part of our professional development and international experience.
Those years taught us something we continue to share with our students today: success isn't created in a single competition. It's built through consistency, discipline, intelligent training, great mentorship, and the courage to keep growing.
PROFESSIONAL ADJUDICATORS
Our experience in DanceSport isn't limited to competing and coaching. Both Yana and Maksym have extensive experience as qualified DanceSport adjudicators. In Ukraine, we served as judges within the national DanceSport system, evaluating dancers at competitions and championships at different levels.
After moving to the United States, our professional involvement continued. Today, our judging credentials and experience include organizations such as USA Dance, WDO USA, and DSF USA, allowing us to remain closely connected to competitive DanceSport and its evolving international standards.
Judging gives us another perspective as coaches. We understand not only how to teach a dancer, but also what adjudicators look for on the competition floor and how strong dancers distinguish themselves at higher levels.
A NEW CHAPTER
IN THE UNITED STATES
Moving to the United States meant starting again in a new country—but not starting without experience. We arrived with decades of professional knowledge, hundreds of students behind us, international competitive experience, educational projects, judging credentials, and a clear understanding of the kind of dance culture we wanted to build.
That's how MYWAY DANCE was born in California. We're building a new brand from the ground up, combining European DanceSport traditions, modern teaching methods, professional athletic development, creativity, and the welcoming atmosphere of a family-oriented American studio.
And although this chapter of our journey is still young, the results are already appearing. MYWAY dancers are earning top placements at major U.S. competitions and National Championships, including Top-3 national results, while students connected with our coaching programs have reached championship and World Championship-level stages.
For us, these results are only the beginning.
WHAT WE'RE BUILDING TODAY
We have big ambitions for MYWAY DANCE. We want to use everything we've learned throughout our careers to build something meaningful here in the United States—a studio known not only for strong results, but for the culture behind those results.
We want our competitive dancers to dream big. We want our youngest students to fall in love with movement. We want adults to discover that it's never too late to dance. And we want parents to know that when they bring their children to MYWAY DANCE, they're placing them in an environment built around professionalism, education, discipline, respect, and genuine care.
We're building MYWAY from the beginning in America, but we're bringing more than 20 years of experience with us. Every class, every student, every performance, and every competition is another step toward the future we see for this studio.
This is our new chapter. And we're only getting started.
20+ YEARS
Professional Experience
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
Across Europe & the United States
400+ STUDENTS
At PANIYANA Talent School
NATIONAL TOP-3 RESULTS
In the United States
5 SCHOOLS
Across Ukraine
CERTIFIED ADJUDICATORS
In Ukraine & the United States
600+ DANCERS
At TRUE CAMP events
WORLD CHAMPION
Students
Facts & Figures
2 COUNTRIES. 20+ YEARS. ONE VISION.