Ariana Martinez

Assistant Instructor

Ariana Martinez began her journey in the arts as a child, growing up surrounded by music and dancing. As an adolescent she began her training in dance, acting and vocals through musical theatre. During this time she also began to train ballet, tap, and jazz under the direction of Deborah Agrusa at the academy, Deborah’s Stage Door. She received 6 years of classical vocal training and performed throughout Metro Detroit, Michigan & Charlotte, NC under Jennifer Kincer and Sonya Gable-Wilson. 

She spent a year attending Columbia College Chicago where she fell in love with performing jazz and R&B, influenced by the music she grew up hearing. 

In 2018, she moved to Charlotte and rediscovered her love for Latin dance by training salsa, bachata, merengue and pachanga under Rodrigo & Wendy, RW Latin Dance. She trained for 2 years on their teams, performing throughout Charlotte and NC. 

In December, 2020 she attended her first Samba and Capoeira classes with the NC Brazilian Arts Project and instantly fell in love with African Brazilian arts. She is currently a member of the Equipe Faisca Samba team under the direction of Adriana Blanco and working towards her first belt in Capoeira under the teaching of Monitor Peruca and International Capoeira School, Mestre Esquilo. 

Her love and dedication to arts of the African Diaspora continues to grow and she plans to deepen her studies of Samba No Pé, Afro-Brazilian dance, and Afro-Cuban dance in the coming years.