Erica Castro

Dance Instructor

ABT(r) Certified Instructor

PBT Certified Instructor

Erica Castro began dancing at the age of two, studying under Valerie Sullivan in Portland, Oregon. As a scholarship student at Pacific Ballet Theatre School and The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre, she trained with Patricia Brewer-Jones, Elena Carter, Joseph Wyatt, Carol Shults, Fred Locke, Nancy Davis-Lane, Meg Potter, Pamela Hayes, and Sandra Baldwin. As a scholarship student, she performed as Clara in The Nutcracker, as well as in Dennis Spaight’s Crayola, Gloria, and the pas de deux in Irish Suite. She attended summer intensives under full scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and Burklyn Ballet Theatre, touring with Burklyn Ballet Theatre to Edinburgh, Scotland where she performed in Peter & the Wolf and in Joanne Whitehill’s Blue Danube. She joined Colorado Ballet for their 1998-99 season, dancing roles in The Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, as well as George Balanchine’s Serenade and Stars & Stripes.

Erica began teaching ballet in the Portland/Southwest Washington area in 2008. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Humanities (magna cum laude) with foci in Women’s Studies and Dance in 2010 from Washington State University Vancouver, a Certificate in Social & Environmental Justice in 2010 from WSUV, and her Master in Teaching in 2011 from WSUV. In 2010 she was honored with Washington State University Vancouver’s Distinguished Woman of the Year Award, and in 2011, she was offered a fellowship with The Martinez Foundation. She was then presented with a fellowship with WSU’s STEM Education Partnership, and was accepted into the doctoral program, researching mathematical identities and the relationship between dance and mathematics. She has taught at The Portland Ballet, Washington State Ballet, Dance Works-Vancouver City Ballet, Burklyn Ballet Theatre, Southwest Washington Dance Center, Johansen Olympia Dance Center, Evergreen Dance Center, Vancouver School District, and Evergreen School District. Erica is currently on faculty at The School of Oregon Ballet Theatre, Virtuosity Performing Arts Studio, and Portland Public Schools.