".... There is a remarkable fluidity governing Essner's phrasing; her movement sequences connect so organically that one's eyes remain forever married to the seamless choreographic action."

Lisa Jo Sagolla- Backstage Blog

"Choreographers who work in an expressionist vein tend to be overwhelmed by influence- by Martha Graham, with her heavy-handed symbolism, or preachy Alvin Ailey, or abject Pina Bausch. But Erica Essner, a recent transplant from San Francisco, takes up big and dark subjects without resorting to expressionisms's broad strokes."

Apollinaire Scherr, The New Yorker

Erica Essner's dances have a stiff-limbed elegance that makes them awkard and graceful at the same time . The choreographer also has a good eye for detailed complementarities, so when seemingly disparate movements fall into unison, these movements seem natural and logical."

Rita Felciano-San Francisco Bay Guardian

"expresses sweeping obsessive passion in physical terms, with a body intent on stretching itself to every extreme."

Eva Yaa Asantewaa, Village Voice

"Frequently powerful...striking display of stormy passions."

Jack Anderson, The New York Times

"Erica Essner, whose Back to Tijuca, an inventive group piece for transient couples, was consistently, unself-consciously quirky in the best way. Akiko Furukawa stood out for the cheeky nonchalance of her performing."

Jennifer Dunning, New York Times

Jacob's Pillow INSIDE/OUT 2009
"In Moon Uprising on the outdoor stage on Wednesday, the Erica Essner Performance Co-Op moved with magically soft vibrancy. Essner is known for the evocative power of her gestures and for making old-fashioned angst feel new again, but in this sextet to Miguel Frasconi's percussive score, a wafting peace prevailed. The steps seemed not to end so much as float away over the deep valley that serves as the stage's backdrop, or into the feathery canopy of trees overhead."
Financial Times

The Rio de Janeiro Choreographic Center
This spring some of the company went to Rio by invitation by Regina Miranda the director of The Rio de Janiero Center. We went for two weeks to colloborate with Brazillian dancers on a new piece. We were overwhelmed by the beauty of the culture both music and dance. The dancers were fantastic and all had extensive backrounds in folkloric dance, one was a musician who turned us on to some very unique brazillian music. The project began what we hope is a new and long relationship with The Rio de Janiero Choreographic Center, we hope to bring the dancers here for a more extensive colloboration. The project we created is titled "Back to Tijuca" named after the area of the center, it was presented in New York as part of a season in May 2007.

Jacob's Pillow INSIDE/OUT 2006
July 20, 2006
On a beautiful summer day the company presented a full-program on the outdoor stage at Jacob's Pillow. Featuring a new duet created in residency at The yard last summer, the show was a smash sucess! Miguel Frasconi performed live to Falling from Stillness, and the fabulous trio, Wen-Shuan Yang, Akiko Furukawa and Erin Hunter performed Fractured Tango. Finishing the program was Stop Motion featuring high-flying lifts and non-stop dancing. The company had a great time and we hope to return again to the legendary Pillow to dance in the footsteps of our elders.

Alaska Dance Theatre, March 27-29, 2008

The company had a great time performing in Anchorage for Alaska Dance Theatre, the facility was fantastic and the staff was wonderful. I was commissioned to create a dance on the company and the dancers were great and came up with very interesting movement. I was impressed with their technical abilities at the ages of 15-24 they were quite advanced. The work we made was titled "Dreams of a great land" and was performed on a double bill with the company. The dance was based on the dancers impressions of Alaska and the native people and their experiences growing up in Alaska.

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Joyce SoHo 18th Anniversary Season June 13-18, 2008
In June, the company performed to full houses at Joyce SoHo presenting an excerpt of our new work MOON UPRISING.

The company recently hired Fran Kirmser Development Director who helped us throw a great opening Gala for the show.

Central Park SummerStage August 8, 2008

It was a beautiful night and it was great to perform for a diverse group of New Yorkers who obviously loved dance as they ran to secure seats the minute the gate opened.
Miguel Frasconi played beautiful live music for our new work MOON UPRISING and the company wowed the audience with awesome partnering.

"The earthy new quintet is built of warm, swoopy vocabulary, with lots of dips, low lunges, and a supple, curving use of the torso. .."
Lisa Jo Sagolla of BACKSTAGE BLOG