Sponsor Erica

Checks can be made payable and mailed to:
ARCOS Foundation for the Arts
c/o Adrienne Bellis
901 W. San Mateo Rd., Suite X, Santa Fe, NM 87505
Memo Line: Erica Gionfriddo

A native of Enfield, Connecticut, Erica began formal dance training at age 16 and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Dance Performance and Choreography, cum laude, from Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, VA. While completing her BFA she worked in residency with Second Wind Dance Company, Ekilibre Dance, and toured internationally in Spain and Taiwan. After a short apprenticeship she joined Moving People Dance in 2007 where she performed repertoire from resident choreographers and guests Robert Moses, Gail Gilbert, Arturo Fernandez, and John Lehrer.

As a certified Pilates Mat Teacher Trainer, GYROKINESIS® and GYROTONIC® trainer, Erica’s teaching style focuses on the individual’s capabilities. Her understanding of the physical and energetic body allows her to identify the needs of her students and push them beyond their limitations. Erica has brought this approach to hundreds of students nationally and abroad, and her students have continued on to top universities and companies. From 2007-2010 Erica served as School Director and Production Assistant for Moving People Dance Center where she honed her administrative skills while extensively teaching and choreographing for the student company. In 2010 she joined the faculty of Santa Fe University of Art and Design as ballet instructor for the then emerging dance minor program. In the spring of 2013 she was invited as a guest lecturer in the dance department at the University of Texas at Austin, and most recently she was awarded, along with his ARCOS co-directors, residency at three prestigious programs for the 2014-2015 season: Playa Fellowship Residency (OR), UCROSS Foundation (WY),  and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts (NE).

As a choreographer Erica is heavily influenced by the work of Robert Moses, Juliu Horvath and her artistic partner and mentor, Curtis Uhlemann. Her work tends toward emotional expression through aggressive partnering, asymmetrical staging, and her exploration of intention and quality with each performer. She has choreographed for ten-time world champions The Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps and been commissioned by Moorehead State University, Shenandoah Conservatory, Motion X Dance DC, and INTERDANSA where her work toured thirty cities in Catalonia, Spain.

Erica actively continues her own education in the art form of dance and performs with the company in addition to serving as Executive and Associate Artistic Director of ARCOS Dance.

Contact Erica via email

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