MFA Graduate in Dance of the University of Maryland. She is a performer, choreographer and teacher. Her focus is the interaction between dance and technology, as well as the relationship between classical, contemporary and folk dance styles. A ballet dancer from the age of ten, she went on to complete her undergraduate degree in Systems Engineering and graduated Magna Cum Laude. As a dancer, she has performed in Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, Hong Kong, and the US. She was a Soloist at the Ballet Municipal de Lima, and finalist at the XIII International Ballet Competition. In 2005, Vannia received the Best Dancer and Choreography Award in Argentina. In Washington DC, she has performed with Nejla Yatkin’s NY2Dance, Maryland Dance Ensemble and Teatro de Danza Contemporanea. Vannia has also been an e-Business Consultant, Communication Manager at the National Dance Council-Peru, and a journalist for DanzaHoy e-Magazine. Among the artists she worked with at the University of Maryland are John Jasperse, Tere O’Connor, Donna Uchizono and Victoria Marks. Vannia was awarded the Anne Zirulnik Student Scholarship for exceptional promise in Dance Education in the NDEO Conference in New York in June 2009. She is an International Consultant, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Vannia Ibarguen Dance Arts (www.vanniaibarguen.com)