Maria "Valery" Ortiz was born in Ecuador, South America. Migrated to New York at the age of 2 years old. There she was exposed to many styles of dance and music from all around the world. At the age of 3 she was already a dancer but by her 5th birthday, her parents decided to move back to Ecuador. At the age of 7 she was competing in many local dance contest which took her to a national dance competition placing her and her cousins in 1st place. Returning to the USA was a hard hit but dance was her outlet. During her middle school years she discovered Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Hip-hop and Reggae. This was a new world ! Valery has been battling obesity since the age of 10. Today she is working hard to prevent obesity from taking over her life and those who surround her. While in this battle she has decided to share any thing she learns to help others fight their own battle.
