Miami Heat Dancers ‘Will Never Forget’ Friend Killed in Crash
Dance team’s director says performer was energetic, inspiring
By Juan Ortega
Orlando Sentinel
Nancy Lopez-Ruiz, 22, a new Miami Heat dancer, was looking forward to a poster shoot with her team next week in South Florida.
The 2010-11 promotional poster would have been one of several appearances she made this year after auditioning in July and joining the elite group of 27 dancers.
On Tuesday, four days after Lopez-Ruiz died in a traffic crash, the director of the Miami Heat Dancers remembered the great vitality she demonstrated over the past two months of rehearsals.
“I can honestly say she was the hardest-working dancer on the team this year, and her teammates would agree,” said the director, Janine Thompson.
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Lopez-Ruiz, who grew up in Bradenton and lived in Plantation, would have started performing for an audience of thousands next month when the NBA pre-season kicks off.
She often showed up early for practice and didn’t tire easily, Thompson said. Last Thursday was a good example.
“After working out before rehearsal, she still found the energy to dance full out, with full energy, the entire rehearsal,” Thompson said. “She will always be a part of our team, and we will never forget her.”
The crash happened at 9:38 p.m. Friday. Lopez-Ruiz was riding her motorcycle west in the right lane of East Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale police said.
A 2009 Mercedes that also was heading west on Sunrise veered onto a median in the 700 block, drove back into a westbound lane and struck Lopez-Ruiz’s Suzuki GSX-R, police said. The collision threw her from the motorcycle. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police are investigating whether the Mercedes’ driver, Mario Careaga, 42, of Fort Lauderdale, was driving while impaired, according to Sgt. Frank Sousa, a department spokesman.
The police inquiry, which includes toxicology tests, may take six months to a year, Sousa said.
Careaga could not be reached Tuesday for comment despite phone calls to his workplace.
In recent days, hundreds of people have posted messages about Lopez-Ruiz’s death on the Miami Heat’s Facebook site.
“Her dream of being a Heat dancer just came true,” reads one entry, “and before she could really enjoy the job of her life, something tragic like that had to happen.”
Lopez-Ruiz’s family scheduled her visitation from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Brown & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematory, at 5624 26th St. W. in Bradenton. Her funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Friday in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 3100 26th St. W. in Bradenton.
