Maria has been dancing for over 30 years and teaching for 12 years. Born to a Puerto Rican mother and a Peruvian father in New York, she has always been intrigued with the arts. Dance has always been a part of her life – Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Freestyle, Hip Hop, Reggae, and more. In elementary school, she started taking Ballet and Tap Classes. As she got older, she began to use her talent in creating dance patterns and became captain of her dance team crew, who participated in many local events including the Puerto Rican Day Parade.
As the years passed by, “life” and it’s many responsibilities forced Maria to put her love of dance aside, but she never lost her passion. In 2002, she relocated to Florida and decided to get back to what she loved doing. Maria began training with several local dance schools and later become an instructor. She taught at the Simone Salsa Dance School for seven years and started the Brandon site of the school with O’Neil Brown, where they were the lead instructors.
After many years of being an instructor, Maria decided it was time to live out her own dream of opening a school of the arts. She opened Dancin’ Motion School of the Arts in 2010 where she has taught over 1000 students of different ages, ethnicities, and walks of life!
Being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2003, Maria realized that dancing has saved her life! “The feeling inside of you when you are able to free yourself and be you is beyond words. It is a way of healing yourself in which I feel no other medicine can do for you.” Maria wants to be able to share this passion with the rest of the world and make others aware of how important and beautiful it is for a person to find whatever it is that frees them!