RALUCA GEORGIANA SHIELDS has been working professionally as a dancer, choreographer and actress for the past five years, since 2001. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and her MFA from Columbia University; and has had extensive training in Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Ballroom, Hip-Hop and Adagio. She first began Ballroom dancing 11 years ago, and after having trained with Sandra Fortuna, Richard Diaz, Viktor Kanevsky, and others, competed as an amateur in Championship level Standard and Pre-Champ Latin. Since relocating to New York in 1998, Raluca focused more on Hustle and Theatre Arts, as well as choreography. Some of her titles include: 3rd Place at the 2001 World Hustle Championship in Las Vegas, 1st Place at the 2002 World Hustle Championship in NJ, and 3rd Place at the 2002 Hustle USA Competition. She has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and other Off-Broadway venues. Some of her choreography credits include: "The ThreePenny Opera," "Jacques Brel," "The Boyfriend," "The Fantasticks," "Leader of the Pack," among others, for the Dwight School Off-Broadway productions; and "Ragamuffins" and "Interaction" for the Fildwith Ensemble Theater.

In 1998, she met her current husband on the dance floor, and has been working in the wedding entertainment business with him since 2001.

Raluca has been teaching at Stepping Out since April, 2006, and has brought her wide ranging talents as a dancer/performer/choreographer to the Studio and her students.