I am Oriana Romero. Born in Caracas, Venezuela on May 15, 1984.

Dancer of traditional and Latin dances, teacher, theater director, singer and independent producer.

 

Today I am only going to talk about my experience in dance, that wonderful and magical world.

 

I started my dance training at the age of seven in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Throughout my life I lived in many places in my country and in each place I was always in training as a dancer in traditional rhythms such as drums, joropo and Calypso.

At the age of 20, in 2004, I started university in the specialty of Performing Arts (Theater Direction, Theater Production and Traditional Dance) at the Pedagogical Institute of Caracas, Venezuela while also studying the specialty of Dance at the Bigott Foundation in the same city. I have received classes with Important Dance Masters in Venezuela such as Yolanda Moreno, Marjorie Flores, Julio López and Alberto Blandin.

I was part of the choreographic laboratory "Ku, state of latency" for two years.

 

As a dancer, I have danced on important stages in my country and have won national awards and recognitions in salsa, samba, and traditional Venezuelan dance at different festivals.

I remember that when I was studying at the university and in the ballet, I tried to be the best to be able to transmit all the knowledge to my future students, I always wanted to be a dance teacher.

 

Then, in 2014, I founded my Odanz Dance Academy, it was a super enriching experience, Odanz was nominated as a revelation group for the National Dance Award "House of the artist". 

We were winners of the second national place in the Venezuelan fusion dance category, third place in free salsa, third and fourth place in bachata, first and second place in Latin dance (salsa and samba), first national place in the category of traditional duet.

I was nominated for the National Dance Award "Todo por lo Nuestro".

 

All my life has been dedicated to dance and theater direction, these have been the best 30 years of experience in the art world and I do not regret for a second everything I have lived, learned and created.

I am demanding and a perfectionist with myself and with my students.

 

We can all learn to dance, it is a long road and a lot of discipline, but it takes a lot of love and enjoying what we are doing, dance, as well as theater, is cathartic .

 

I think that the first step to learning to dance is to know the origins of each dance, we cannot simply start dancing a choreography without knowing where it comes from or why it is danced that way.

 

Dance is my life, it fills me, balances me and fills me with energy.

 

"I am not interested in movement, I am interested in what moves people."

Pina Bausch