Elaine Martinez was born and raised in Matanzas, Cuba. She received her training from the Vocational School of Art in Matanzas, Cuba, and the National Ballet School in Havana, Cuba, where she thrived as a student while also earning the respect of classmates and professors with her perseverance, work ethic, and talent. She danced a year in the National Ballet of Cuba under the direction of Alicia Alonso, where she had the opportunity to share the stage with great figures of the international ballet world such as Maximiliano Guerra, Julio Boca, Natalia Osipova, Vladimir Vasiliev, Tamara Rojo, and Carlos Acosta, to name a few. In 2007, Elaine made the life-changing decision to leave the company, her family, and her country. She was able to continue with their professional careers when she joined the Columbia Classical Ballet, under the direction of Radenko Pavlovich and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre under the direction of Terrence Orr. She has been teaching full time in the Pittsburgh area for the last 4 years, as well as averaging approximately fourteen shows a year as guest artist with different ballet schools and companies throughout the United States. Elaine has developed a great passion for teaching Ballet, and embraces her memories both as a student and a professional dancer to bring excellent experiences for her students to every class. Her goal is to have every student remember her as someone who gave her all to help them become better dancers, and to fill their minds with great memories like the ones she has about her stellar Cuban professors.