UC Irvine dance grad carves out gigs playing statues at parties

Fifteen years ago, Joshua Estrada-Romero couldn’t imagine getting paid to stand still while covered in gold, bronze or white body paint.

As a student at Cal State Fullerton, Estrada-Romero was majoring in business without a set plan after graduation. He said he took a beginning dance class to stay fit, which led him to “fall in love with the artistic side” of dance and switch his major.

The now-32-year-old, who earned a master’s degree in dance last year at UC Irvine, poses as Zeus, Cupid, Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker” and other sculptures at celebrity parties and corporate events for a Sherman Oaks-based company a few times a year. He was referred there by an instructor.

When he isn’t posing as a famous figure, Estrada-Romero teaches beginning dance classes at local colleges and manages Fuse, a nonprofit dance company.

To stay still for long stretches of time while playing a statue, he uses skills he learned in dance to control his muscles. He’s also careful to avoid fruits, vegetables and drinking a lot of water before performances to prevent bloating.

When someone stands in front of him or tries to distract him, he’ll stay focused by thinking of a movie or what’s behind that person, he said.

He breathes by inhaling through his nose and exhaling from his mouth at a normal pace, he said.

“I’m used to moving so much, I didn’t think standing would be such a difficult task,” Estrada-Romero said. “Even for a few minutes your body tenses up and you get the urge to move.”

For an event in 2011, Estrada-Romero posed as a bronze statue sitting on a bench. It was one of his easier gigs, he said.

One of his favorite jobs was posing as a bronze cowboy for Sylvester Stallone’s Halloween party. Instead of standing frozen, he “scared” guests and interacted with children.

Work as a living statue fuses art, entertainment and dance, which helps keep his assignments interesting, Estrada-Romero said.

“I’m not putting on the same suit and shoes to go to the same office every day,” he said. “I love going to new places and creating art.”

Priscella.Vega@latimes.com

Twitter: @vegapriscella