Ria Martens early studied ballet and modern dance.Upon her first meeting with Lynn Simonson, who she has been assisting for years, she fell in love with jazz dance. She followed Lynn Simonson to New York, where they founded the Uncompany. Keeping New York as a base, ria Martens started teaching all over the world. (e.g. Jacob`s Pillow, etc) Since 1987 she is heading over the jazz department of the Institute of Higher Education in Tilburg, Netherlands.