Jay Romero

Dance Style: Ballet, Hip Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, Dance Team Technique

Jessica Romero (Jay) was born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago. She is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago, where she received her bachelor’s in Dance. She started dancing at Linda’s Dance Studio at the age of four. From 1996 – 2005, Jay performed with the well-known Mexican Folkloric Dance Company of Chicago, which is where her passion for dance began. With her training with MFDC, she trained under Pepe Ovalle and Matie Ovalle. After her time with MFDC, she went on to train in Latin and Ballroom under Tommye Giacchino and other instructors at Chicago Dance.

In 2010, Jay began dancing at Vaughan Dance Academy where she then was recommended to advance to their company. From 2010-2012, Jay performed and competed as a member of Innovation Dance Company hip hop troupe. She then joined Movement Revolution Dance Crew, a hip-hop dance crew from the south side of Chicago where she trained with Monternez Rezell. She performed at various Chicagoland festivals with Movement Revolution, such as Dance Chicago, Dance Live, Chicago Choreographer’s Ball, and many more. She returned to Latin in the social dance form with Chicago Bachata-Allstars where she was a 3-year member training under Zeke Ruvalcaba. With All-Stars, she had the opportunity to perform both locally and internationally at various salsa and bachata events where she has met and taken classes with other world-renowned Latin champions. She also competed at the World Salsa Summit with Evolucion Latina Dance Company where she won her first World Championship in the All-Female Bachata Shines division and placed second in the Coed Bachata Division.

Currently, she is the Assistant Artistic Director at Steadfast Dance Center, the head coach for the Plainfield East Dance Team, and a teaching artist for Joffrey’s Community Engagement Program. Her versatile experience in dance helps her create well-rounded dancers that can become adaptable to any genre. Jay enjoys fusing different dance styles to create choreography that is unique and versatile. She hopes to be able to travel the world sharing her choreographic and dance instructor skills.