Ms. Erica

Dance is more than a form of expression. And for Erica, dance is more than movement: the essence of dance is joy, the joy of creating connections and expressing emotions. Dance has become a joy for Erica that sustains and endures when life is easy or hard. She loves teaching but her real enjoyment comes from watching her students find this joy for themselves, or seeing the wide eyes of a five year old on stage for the first time, or witnessing senior students dancing their last dance.

Erica has been teaching for 22 years and has won many choreography awards. Her dance journey began with Miss Nancy at the age of 5. From that moment it became more than choreographed steps. Her love for dance continued to grow as she learned various dance styles. She was an officer for the award-winning Pioneer High School Dance Team receiving numerous Super Dancer Awards and 1st Runner-Up Miss USA Cal State Dance. She professionally danced for the Golden State Warriors, the San Jose Saber Cats and the San Francisco 49ers Gold Rush Cheerleaders.

Erica specializes in teaching creative dance, lyrical, and jazz but she has a well rounded background in all styles of dance. She loves the adrenaline of hip hop but feels on fire in street jazz. Erica is part of the talented team of choreographers for the Doize Dream Team. She is also a talented cosmetologist who is in high demand from dancers during prom season.

While working as a professional make-up artist and stylist, Erica's love for teaching took over and has been her main focus for the last 15 years. She has been recognized for her choreography regionally and nationally. Her experiences as a pro cheerleader left her with a need to instill in her dancers the confidence, strength, courage, and ambition she learned throughout her life and career in dance. Her emphasis is power and meaning behind every movement and the understanding that anything is possible if you just believe and make it happen.

Erica feels honored to be able to share the things she has learned and continues to learn in order to help her students grow, not only in dance, but in confidence they can take with them throughout life.