She trained at Choreography High School Floria Capsali in Bucharest and The Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow.
[2] In 2015, at age 17, Velicu joined the Romanian National Ballet, which was directed by Johan Kobborg.
[4][5] In 2017, she danced The Chosen One in Pina Bausch's Le Sacre du printemps, and was praised by critics.
The Guardian noted, "her performance has the power and stagecraft of an adult but the sobbing terror of a child.
[8] In 2018, at age 19, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance for Le Sacre du printemps.