McAllen dancer has tangoed with Brad Pitt

She was just a junior at McAllen High School at the time, but Liz Ramos showed enough potential even then to get singled out in a crowd. A scout noticed her at a dance competition at South Padre Island and encouraged her to apply to dance school in New York City. That planted the seed. She had always held quiet dreams of dancing for a living, but until then, they had always been just dreams. After graduating, she and her grandparents followed her ambitions, and a scholarship, to New York City. The bold move marked the beginning of a career that (if trends continue) could be a lengthy and prosperous one for a girl who even at the age of 8 knew she wanted to dance.

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Job: Dancer, choreographer, actress

Hometown: McAllen

Now lives: Los Angeles

You've seen me: On tour with Earth, Wind and Fire and Gloria Estefan

What she's doing now: In New York, helping choreograph for two Broadway productions, Guys and Dolls and The Adam's Family.

Long term goal: Act on a TV show or in a movie

What she misses about the Valley: Her friends who still live here and the family-oriented atmosphere. "When you live in L.A. or New York, you know them (people) but it's not the same RGV feeling." She also missed the Sandwich Mill.

Her favorite career experience so far: While all her projects have had some significance to her career, Ramos' voice changes to a tone of utter excitement when she recalls her three years on tour with Earth, Wind and Fire; half of that time she spent as choreographer. "I'm just a girl from McAllen. I never imagined going to Monte Carlo, Dubai, Japan three times, Alcopulco and just being part of that family and being on stage."

Fun fact: She met her fiancé while working on the musical Mambo Kings.

On the shaky entertainment business: While she is an actress and a dancer, Ramos said she has recently been getting more jobs using her dancer skills and that has helped her keep busy during this current slump the entertainment industry has been going through. "It (dancing) is what's happening now," she said. "And there aren't a lot of castings going on because of the holidays." Los Angeles is also still recovering from the recent writer's strike, which "made a huge jolt in this business," she said.

Favorite musical: Joey's Last Jam

Favorite movie: Dirty Dancing

‘The day I danced with Brad Pitt'

She had been called in to help with the tango scene for a movie called Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which was no odd occurrence. Choreographers frequently need bodies to play out scenes as they create steps, so she headed to the Universal Studios lot none the wiser that just a few hours later she would be body-against-body with one of the sexiest men alive. "Unbeknownst to me, I ended up having to partner dance with Brad (Pitt)," she said. "I died and went to heaven." Step by glorious step, Ramos taught the tango to the jeans- and boots-wearing Pitt, whom Ramos calls "a wonderful creation." "Needless to say I was at a loss for words. I probably sounded like an idiot talking to him." she said. "But it was great."

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