Information: Erica Goldman, teacher of Israeli dance.

Erica was born and raised in New York, where she first inherited her love of Israeli dance from her father, another folk dance fanatic.

While a student at Brandeis University in Boston, she performed with several area Israeli dance troupes and was the director of B'yachad (the university's student group) and Sa'adya. She branched out into other kinds of folk dance as a member and choreographer of the Mandala Folkdance Ensemble.

Erica was a principal dancer with the highly acclaimed Collage Dance Ensemble for a few years and competed with them at the Golden Karagõz Folk Dance Competition in Turkey in 2003.

In 2004, Erica spent the summer as the dance director of Camp Alonim at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, a Jewish overnight camp where Israeli dancing is truly an obsession among the campers. She was hooked; after working for nearly eight years for a software company in Boston, she quit her job and moved to Los Angeles and has been teaching Israeli dance full-time ever since. When she got to Los Angeles, she immediately joined the Keshet Chaim Dance Ensemble and danced with that Israeli performance company for about eight years.

While in Los Angeles, she taught Israeli dance at several schools and synagogues, including the New Community Jewish Day School where she also coordinated their long and short Israel exchange programs for tenth graders, in addition to running the popular "Mostly Couples" Israeli dance session.

She has taught from coast to coast: from Stockton Folk Dance Camp (2011 and 2013) to Mainewoods (2014), and on three other continents as well, including four cities in Brazil. In the Fall of 2014, Erica returned to the Boston area as a grad student and is currently studying hard and teaching Israeli dance at the Newton JCC.

Dances Erica has taught include Adama Veshamayim, Ahava Ktzara, Ahava Pshuta, Asal, C'est la Vie, Darkeinu, Debka Medabeket, Eretz Yisrael Yaffa, Hoppa Hpppa Hey, Jungle, Katonti, Kol Nedarai, LaLaLand, Leolam Be'ikvot Hashemesh, Lev Patuach, Olam, Or (line), Orot ve Ashan, Shalom Lachem, Shar, Shav el Admati, Sheyavo, Tirkedi, Yalla, and Yesh Sham Bama.