Tekina-eirú founded Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance (PRFDance) in 1997, and since then, has become an expert resource on the Mainland US for Puerto Rico's (PR) cultural traditions. She regularly returns to La Isla for research, ongoing training and mentorship with generous folklore masters such as Modesto Cepeda (Escuela de Bomba y Plena), Joaquin Nieves Caldero (Guateque de PR), J. Emanuel Dufrasné-González and Nelie Lebrón-Robles (Paracumbé), Eric González (Gibaro de PR), and Tata Cepeda (Escuela de Baile de Bomba Dona Caridad). She has taken drum-making workshops with Papo DelValle and Juan Fuentes. Tekina-eirú is mentored in her native traditions by (Chief) Cacike Caciba Opil Veguilla of the Concilio Taino Guatu-Ma-cu A Boriken, and is the recognized Tekina Suania (of the Americas) for El Concilio. Ana María has studied a variety of dance forms in New York and Austin, including classical ballet under Arletta Howard-Logan and Mexican folkloric dance under Roy Lozano, Chuy Chacon, Raymundo Guzman, and Jaime Guerrero (Monterrey, MX). Her past credits include mainstage performances on the Paramount and Zilker Hillside theatres with the Roy Lozano's Ballet Folklórico de Texas professional company (1993-1997) and character dance roles with Austin Dance Ensemble. She co-choreographed and danced in the Cenzontle music video "La Bruja" (1998). Ana María is honored to have co-directed and shared the stage with Modesto Cepeda and Cimiento de PR (2001), Los Pleneros de la 21 (2002), Guateque de PR (2003/2007/2010), Paracumbe (2004/2007), William Cepeda with AfroBoricua (2005), Gibaro de PR (2006), Tata Cepeda (2007), El Concilio Taino (2008), and Los Tambores de Felix Alduen (2009).

Tekina-eirú is Founding Director of the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance & Cultural Center, and director and choreographer of PRFDance's performing company of dancers and musicians. Since 2005, she has enjoyed creating annual, original trilingual musicals (English, Spanish, Taino) that bring to light untold stories in Puerto Rican history, a blossomed skill under the mentorship of Rupert Reyes, Director of Teatro Vivo. She teaches traditional dance and music, Puerto Rican culture and history to children and adults. Tekina-eirú began studying classical piano at the age of 5, and learned to play barriles and panderos with Modesto Cepeda. She is advancing on cuatro with Adam Rosario, and is self-taught on guitar. Tekina-eirú enjoys composing native music on Taino earth clay and bone flutes, and of course, plays both Taino ceremonial and folkloric maraca. Tekina-eirú was named the Austin YWCA Woman of the Year for Arts (2005), and was recognized by the Taino community with Areito Award for Dance and Theatre (2009). Ana María holds a doctorate in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon, and is a Researcher at the IBM Research Human Ability & Accessibility Center where she has filed numerous patents for her innovations in Globalization and Multilingual Support of Human Language Applications.