Drew Ornelas

Drew Ornelas was born in Quincy, Washington and began doing musical theatre when he was sixteen. After performing the role of Rolf in The Sound of Music, he began taking dance more seriously and received a full ride scholarship as a Bachelors in Fine Arts candidate at Belhaven College. There, Drew was introduced to modern dance, trained vigorously in ballet, and was a part of the college dance company. In 2007, he moved to San Diego, continued to train in a variety of dance styles, and co-founded and co-directed the dance company Dark Horse Dance Productions. It was leading Dark Horse that led Drew to meeting Barbara Rinaldo, the Director and Owner of San Diego Danceworks. In the six years of running his own dance company, Drew also danced for and collaborated with Barbara for many years. In 2014, he joined Visionary Dance Theatre as a company member and danced professionally with them for three years performing in works by Jeanne Travers, Caryn Ipapo-Glass, among others before following other interests in administration and business. During that time, Drew continued to teach and perform for San Diego Danceworks as well as performing around town in pieces by Marty Dorado, Ramon Montes and Trixi Agiao. Last year, Drew returned to Danceworks as an instructor and is excited to work with former and new students in a great environment. Drew is also currently a company dancer, teacher, and administrative assistant for Mounarath Powell Dance.