Originally from Havana, Cuba, Riolama Lorenzo began her ballet training with her mother, Maria Eugenia Lorenzo, and at the Martha Mahr School of Ballet. At age 14, Ms. Lorenzo was chosen to study at the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. In 1993, Ms. Lorenzo was the recipient of the renowned Princess Grace Award and continued her dance training at New York City Ballet's prestigious School of American Ballet. While attending the school, Ms. Lorenzo originated a role in Jerome Robbins' world premiere of 2 & 3 Part Interventions for the 1994 Spring Workshop. The following autumn she became an Apprentice with New York City Ballet and was then invited to join the company in Spring 1995.

While dancing with New York City Ballet, Ms. Lorenzo appeared in countless works in the company's vast repertoire, including ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Robert LaFosse, Garth Fagan, and Eliot Feld. She has danced principal roles in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™, Jewels (Emeralds), A Midsummer Night's Dream, Union Jack, Serenade, Agon, and Apollo; Jerome Robbins' Antique Epigraphs, The Concert (Mad Ballerina), Fancy Free, The Four Seasons (Summer), Glass Pieces, The Goldberg Variations, Les Noces, and I'm Old Fashioned; and Peter Martins' Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty (Carabosse), and Fearful Symmetries. In addition, she originated roles in Robbins' West Side Story Suite and Brandenberg, and in Peter Martins' Concerti Armonici and Reliquary.

Ms. Lorenzo joined Pennsylvania Ballet as a member of the Corps de Ballet in September 2002, was promoted to Soloist in September 2003 and to Principal in March 2005. Her featured roles in the classical repertoire include Odette/Odile in Christopher Wheeldon's Swan Lake, Sugarplum Fairy in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™, Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Carabosse in The Sleeping Beauty, and the title roles in Giselle, Cinderella, James Kudelka's The Firebird, and Roland Petit's Carmen. She also danced leading roles in Paul Taylor's Company B; Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free, The Concert, and In the Night; George Balanchine's Apollo, Raymonda Variations, and Dark Angel in Serenade; Peter Martins' Fearful Symmetries; Mauro Bigonzetti's Kazimir's Colours; Matthew Neenan's Le Travail; and William Forsythe's In the middle, somewhat elevated. Ms. Lorenzo has also originated feature roles in Neenan's highly acclaimed 11:11, Keep, At the border, Penumbra, and As it's Going; Peter Quanz's Jupiter Symphony, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Requiem for a Rose.

Ms. Lorenzo has had the opportunity to dance internationally throughout Europe and South America and was one of Pointe Magazine's Standounts: 12 Favorite Performances of 2009. In addition to her performing career, Ms. Lorenzo has led master classes in Philadelphia, New York, and Miami. Ms. Lorenzo also holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Science from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. In August 2007 she became the mother of a baby boy, and in July 2011 she gave birth to a baby girl.