Meet Johana

Johana Brito

Dance Teacher

Johana Brito was born in Maturín, a city in eastern Venezuela. Her dance journey began at the age of 7, when she became a dancer in the group “Nationalist Dances Carricitas”. Throughout her adolescence, she continued her training in Dances Guarapiche, two of the most important academies in the region. There she had the opportunity to receive classes with excellent dance teachers such as Yolanda Moreno, the prima ballerina of Dances nationalists, Patricia Moreno, Gudelia Castillo, Levi Mucharrafit, and many others.

She temporarily withdrew from dancing to focus on her studies until obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in Public Accounting at the Universidad de Oriente, Núcleo Monagas. She then moved to Caracas and started working in the banking area. All the while, her desire to continue dancing was intact, as she was so attracted by Latin rhythms. This led her to enroll in the Caribe y Punto dance academy, where she learned to dance Cuban Salsa on a Wheel Casino Style. There, she met her now husband, who was also a student at the academy and they started their beautiful family together. At that time, she also became certified with the Evenfit School in Count 32 Latin Rhythms and with the Venezuelan Fitness Foundation as a fitness instructor for group classes.

Johana has also formed the BriDance Academy Dance and Fitness Studio back in her hometown with her sister and friend, who are both dancers as well. There, adults are served with dance fitness classes and children with nationalist dance. An interesting fact is that their partner at BriDance is on the Autism Spectrum which motivates them to work for inclusion through their program.

In 2021, Johana and her family came to the US for better life opportunities. One fine day, while browsing Facebook, she came across MOVE Inclusive Dance, and immediately took action to become a volunteer. She describes her first visit to the studio as “love at first sight” and left feeling motivated to bring her talents to the wonderful programs MOVE already had in place. She now leads the Latin Dance Class on the second Saturday of every month and she feels so excited to be a part of the teaching staff.