She created and founded the National Ballet of Venezuela with her sister Margot Contreras [Wikidata].

[1][2] Contreras began her ballet studies in Caracas with Argentine teachers Hery and Luz Thomson in an experimental class that opened at the Andrés Bello School around 1945.

Upon her return to Venezuela she entered the newly created Ballet Nena Coronil in 1953.

Irma Contreras has been a guest teacher of numerous ballet companies and has taught workshops on the Cecchetti Method.

In 2004 she published the book Danza Clásica, nomenclatura y metodología (English: Classical dance, nomenclature and methodology).