Erica Frankel
Freelance Dancer -- Senior Associate, Manager of Student Life
Freelance -- The Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at NYU
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Knew that I wanted to be living / dancing in New York City.
Studied dance seriously from age 3.
Went to NYU for a conservatory-level training in Dance.
Fell in love with modern dance and made a lot of friends & contacts.
Simultaneously became involved as a college student in Hillel.
Graduated and began dancing and auditioning and also was offered a job at the Hillel.
Continued balancing these two, complimentary and parallel careers for five years!
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Freelance Dancer -- Senior Associate, Manager of Student Life
I am a freelance modern dancer and a Jewish educator working with college students.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Art
Education
Communicating / Sharing Stories
Day to Day
I arrive at work at 10am and spend the day meeting with Jewish college students. Some of these meetings are 1:1 over coffee to hear students' stories, some are 15:1 with my student intern team, and some are 25:1 in a class I teach on "Judaism as Art." I'll sometimes leave early or in the middle of the day for 3-4 hours of rehearsal or for a performance and then come back to work or work from home on administrative responsibilities.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
A high schooler looking to pursue modern dance should try to audit dance classes at the college programs they are most interested in, and should decide what is more important to them: living in a city with a vibrant dance scene versus going to school at a "traditional, campus" college.
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"You're not going to make a lot of money, and New York is an expensive city."
