We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Veronica Mejia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Veronica , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The Most meaningful project to me would have anything to do with mental health. Which involves a lot of my classes. To be honest many of us dancers utilize dance as an escape goat; an outlet. We can have the worst day, but after a class we are all smiling, laughing and having a great time. However, I did teach one class that meant the most to me. It allowed me to be vulnerable with the class. The subject involved alcohol abuse within mental health awareness,
I spoke about my addiction within this class and used it as motivation to push out a beautiful choreographed piece,

With this project I was able to reach out and touch the souls of many dealing with personal issues that they were once scared to vocalize. Dance, as with many other art forms, is a form of expression, release, and comfort. And when so many powerful people come together and express their inner emotions…. It becomes something you can never describe. Just have to experience it for yourself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

22 years ago my sister decided to sign me up for dance classes. It was meant as an extra curricular activity. So I thought. Never would I have imagined dance to bring me to where I am today. I started dancing at the age of 11. By the age of 16 I became an assistant teacher and by 18 started teaching my own. Within this time frame, family pushed me to purse a different path due to judgement.
“Dance won’t pay the bills”
“Dance isn’t a real job”
“What’s your real plan”
All questions I got thrown at me which lead me to leave my passion for dance.
Fast forward 6 years later I started taking classes again thanks to my now husband who would constantly hear me complain of how much I missed dance. He pushed me Little by little with taking classes and I became addicted. It became my favorite part of the day, Then Covid happened.

Shut off from the world. No more dance. No outlet. I started seeing others taking free live Instagram classes so I started thinking to myself why not me? Should I try to teach a class? Will I be judged. With all these questions in mind I went for it and got nothing but love and support.
That’s the beauty of this industry, better yet, this dance community. The support, the love, the energy, the positivity. It’s intoxicating.
When dance studio spaces started opening up again, I decided to go independent and rent my own spaces to teach my own classes.
And the rest is still unwritten. From here started my journey, and I’m forever grateful.

Now I continue to use my voice and my talent to address humanitarian issues in the world. Yes I love dancing. But there is nothing more liberating than dancing with a purpose. Whether it’s for women’s history month, mental health, social justice, equality, and more. Dance shares a story, I just love when that story has an impact and I feel that’s what makes me different from the rest. The space I create is safe, it’s home for many, it’s an escape,

It’s nothing but love and good energy. After a class we are no longer strangers… we are friends, we are family.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Throughout my journey I wish there was more honesty. Taking dance growing up I feel like a lot of studio spaces for kids will take advantage of cost and money to make a buck. A lot of the time they do not care for your kid to make it in the dance industry. They just want to get paid. However there are some studios that make it their mission to assure your child has a future within dance if that’s what they choose to do.

Places that don’t care won’t challenge you and take it easy which ideally is not beneficial and a waste. Then there are other dance studios that will have your child in dance competitions by the age of 8.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Building a social media following is essential, and also so difficult. However, honesty is the best policy. When you are transparent with your followers you naturally attract those who share the same morals and ideology as you.

Not only being honest but just as you would want support you have to support others as well. It’s a win win. Community is everything. You can get farther with an army vs doing it alone.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @Ronnie_movez
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BVcu9weaa/?mibextid=wwXIfr
• Other: Tik tok: @ronnie1950

Image Credits

Ally Leon