Shakti Movers

Photos by Mark Thompson

Erica W received her BFA in Ballet and Modern Dance from Texas Christian University. Professionally, Erica has had the privilege of performing with several dance companies and productions, including: tompricedance, Lydia Johnson Dance, Eva Dean Dance, Rachel Thorne Germond Dance, Tania Perez Salas Compania de Danza, Dawn Lau Dance Company, and Pergine Spettacolo Aperto. In addition to dancing, Erica is the owner and creative director of The Yoga Common, a yoga studio and teacher training program in both New York City and Austin. This is her fourth season with Shakti Moves Dance Company. She would like to thank all of the SMDC dancers for their friendship, support, and inspiration.

Jessica began dancing at a young age in her aunt’s basement studio, and developed a love/hate relationship with it from then on. The cost of formal training was out of reach, so she immersed herself in whatever ways she could – taking any and every class offered at her public school. She went on to study dance in college at the University of Washington, but ultimately graduated with a degree in psychology instead. Nonetheless, something always pulled her back. She became immersed in the Austin dance scene upon moving here in 2015, and soon thereafter met Erica Santiago and began dancing with Shakti Moves. After four seasons, she decided to return to school for a graduate degree in Social Work, where she focused on neurobiology and somatic approaches to trauma work. She is thrilled to be dancing with Shakti Moves again after completing her degree last year. 

Crea is one of Shakti Moves Dance Company’s first company members and has been with SMDC on and off for six seasons. She likes to say she's been dancing since long before she was born, performing on stages all around Texas and taking classes in New York from the womb. Her true start into the dance world was around 4 years old in a sweet little studio in Fort Worth Texas. As time went on, Crea danced in studios in Austin until she finally decided it was time to retire, at the tender age of 8. That didn't last very long. Once she found out about the dance team in her middle school, there was no question whether she'd be on it. Having always had dance at her fingertips, Crea believes dancing is as innate as breathing. Exploring the body as not only a mover but a scientist has given her a passion she plans to follow fully into midwifery, supporting other innate movers in bringing their children into the world. When out of the studio, Crea loves spending time with her beautiful daughter, window shopping, people watching, and propagating small desert plants.